Horse that HATES having his mane pulled

[Nickelodian]

My young horse was never taught to have his mane pulled. Being that he’s now a 4yo, 17+ plus monster of a baby, and he HATES having his mane pulled, I’m wondering if anyone has bright ideas or suggestions on how to either teach him, or at very least get through it with him. He’s fine to have it brushed or messed with, but as soon as I tease up to pull, he will toss his head, move away (front, back, or sideways), knock me off the stool, stomp, or generally be an ass. I have tried twitching and sedating. Even with dorm and ace on board he still is terrible. I had help last time, who did a neck skin twitch, a regular twitch, and sedation and I was able to get through it.

He’s a hunter, and has the mane of a lion, so not pulling is not an option.

sigh.

[Scribbler]

I’m a long mane person but lots of folks on COTH have reported good results from moving away from pulling to clever scissor work for length and thickness. The old idea was that pulling didn’t hurt, but if it bothers a horse that much, why persevere?

[BoyleHeightsKid]

Well you’re pulling his hair out and it hurts. Some could give a crap and some are sensitive to it. My gelding is okay until you get half way up the neck and then he’s ready to stomp ya. Have to tried just doing little sections at a time and pulling a lot less hair at once. Lynn Palm has a video on youtube on mane pulling where she doesn’t yank it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yr0vYytr24 Maybe that will help.

[Synthesis]

According to research, it hurts ALL of them but some tolerate it due to learned helplessness and others don’t.

After reading that study I stopped pulling manes and now trim with scissors and thinning tools only. My big eventing mare gets a nice tightly roached mane that gives the clean look of a braided neck on both sides and looks fabulous.

[bluepece2]

I use a solo comb with my mare, it’s just like pulling but it has a blade and cuts the hair instead of pulling it out. I used to use scissors but now we have a pony with masses of hair and it just doesn’t work for it.

[Nickelodian]

@bluepece2

I use a solo comb with my mare, it’s just like pulling but it has a blade and cuts the hair instead of pulling it out. I used to use scissors but now we have a pony with masses of hair and it just doesn’t work for it.

Do your horses have to have hunter braids done? I don’t know of any cutting that will work for that kind of braiding.

Roaching isn’t an option.

The mane pulling approach in the video above is exactly how I do it.

[Hej]

I know people who rub a topical toothache gel on the neck and then pull only a few hairs at a time with the fingers (not big wads with a comb).

Any gel with benzocaine will do, Anbesol is one but there are a lot of generic ones.

[M_al]

If you braid yourself, you have more latitude than (imho) if you hire braiding done since mane prep is 50% of great looking braids.

You can use a blade under the mane and scrape up and down to thin – works best on medium thickness manes … that is, full bushy draft manes will take a WHILE (like several sessions) to get hunter-thin manes even with this technique. Sadly, they no longer make the best tool (imho) ever for doing this, which was a wire-caged straight razor blade. I now use a regular straight razor … and have to be super ooper dooper careful as the phrase “what could possibly go wrong?” applies. Again, thin only from the underside!

After the mane is razored thin upwards from the crest, it can be shortened by scraping the blade along the bottom of the sections to shorten. Don’t cut, obviously, or it will look cut!

Try a little bit of thinning with an actual blade (again, scraping up and down at the root of the hair) and see if he will tolerate that. It takes a little practice/good technique to make it look similar to pulling but it does work.

Alternatively, as a distant 2nd recommendation, try anbesol for pulling. Put it on right on the section you’re going to work on for a few seconds then move to a different section and reapply. I personally hate doing this as 1) I don’t think it works super well and 2) use an applicator to apply. Your hands will get oddly numb. (Or figure out gloves, which I never did.)

Good luck!

[Hunter_s_Rest]

I had a horse that was really bad about having his mane pulled (a thin thoroughbred mane, but he hated it nonetheless) but I ccould easily do it with my fingers while I was riding him. Just take a section, backcomb with fingers, pull out long, move on the next section. I’d get his mane pulled in one one-hour trail ride this way.
For 20 years I’ve roached everything, but that’s how I handled one that didn’t like it previously.
And a spent top clipper blade can be used instead of a solo comb, which wear out quickly. Use it to comb (which cuts out a few hairs), backcomb, and use the blade as a blade to cut the longer hairs off. This will leave it ‘thicker’ at hte neck, but it looks very good if you take your time.

[mydogs]

I hate pulling mane. If I have to force a horse to do something because it causes pain, why would I continue to do it? Makes no sense to me. Besides, in my mind, pulling means I’m going to have baby hairs grow one day and they are going to stick up.

I use a Mane & Tail Thinning Rake (https://www.qcsupply.com/51135-mane-tail-thinning-rake.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqam1nsrn2gIVA4rICh13qAGgEAQYBCABEgK0zPD_BwE). Works like a charm so it doesn’t look like I use scissors.

One girl at my barn is really good at using cutting shears and scissors at an angle so the mane looks really nice without looking like she cut it.

Just like I no longer trim whiskers, I no longer pull mane.

[Samantha37]

My horse HATES having his mane pulled. I just bought the SoloRake on the recommendation of a friend. The reviews on SP look great for it.
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/solorake-15106

I show dressage and he has to be able to be braided- plus he has a very thick mane.

I’ll report back and let you all know how it works

[Nickelodian]

@mydogs

I hate pulling mane. If I have to force a horse to do something because it causes pain, why would I continue to do it? Makes no sense to me. Besides, in my mind, pulling means I’m going to have baby hairs grow one day and they are going to stick up.

I use a Mane & Tail Thinning Rake (https://www.qcsupply.com/51135-mane-tail-thinning-rake.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqam1nsrn2gIVA4rICh13qAGgEAQYBCABEgK0zPD_BwE). Works like a charm so it doesn’t look like I use scissors.

One girl at my barn is really good at using cutting shears and scissors at an angle so the mane looks really nice without looking like she cut it.

Just like I no longer trim whiskers, I no longer pull mane.

I think same question for the rake…does it work for hunter braided manes? I do not braid my own, so I must have a properly prepared mane.

[ToTheNines]

Have you tried pulling it after exercise? Maybe the pores are looser, I don’t know, but it makes a big difference for mine.

[bluepece2]

I don’t need hunter braids, I have to braid for dressage and that’s it as I do jumpers.

[Mozart]

I have a WB gelding that detests it too. It is easy to shorten the mane with a Solocomb, thinning is the problem. Here is what I do:

• I brush his mane frequently to just get out as much hair as I can.
• I work on his mane after every single ride when he is tired and the pores are open but I might only do a few pulls. It is super tempting to just leave it once it is pulled because pulling is such a nightmare but it does not help you in the end.
  -Alternate solo comb with pulling comb to keep him guessing. So maybe three passes with the solocomb then WHAM two actual mane pulls. Sometimes I can get in three pulls before he starts to react.
  -get him to lower his head, if at all possible. The hair comes out much more easily when the head is down. The worst is when the head is up and they are tense, my horse’s hair is glued into his pores when his head is up and the neck tense and tight. It is also comes out much harder if you pull down vs up.
  -copious treats. Pull pull treat. Pull pull treat. Only treat if he didn’t stomp you though, if he was merely “bad” as opposed to"horrible" lol

It has taken a long time but I now can do the lower half of the mane without sedation or twitching. Top half is still really tricky, I do the lion’s share when sedated.

That Solorake looks interesting though…looks like a furminator.

[IPEsq]

I’ve gotten thinning with scissors down to an art and can do it for hunter or button braided manes (yes, button braids are easier because they can be fatter). I have to say the way I do it is not necessarily the speediest approach, since I work in pretty small sections, but it does act like natural mane. The really, really fussy ones sometimes need breaks or a few sessions even without pulling. I’ve also found some of them to be more tolerant on certain parts of the neck and less tolerant elsewhere. Once you get it done the first time with whatever approach you take, the best way to maintain is to periodically touch up–even if you are not showing. Once it gets to a wild state again it takes much longer to redo. The trick with using scissors properly is to get the hair to lay down and to have various lengths as if you had done some pulling sessions. Then to clean up, you can easily select the long hairs just as if you were doing a touch up pull.

[Training_Cupid]

People have reported using nair to thin, here are some of the many old threads on this topic:
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/horse-care/90386-the-nair-no-hair-pull-mane-a-success
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/off-course/184152-mane-thinning-updated-with-pictures
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/horse-care/273151-mane-pulling

[PNWjumper]

I cut the manes of most of my horses who object, but occasionally have one that needs to end up in the hunter ring. My approach is usually a treat-based approach. And I start WAY before I have to get it done so that I can spend as much time as necessary. I pull a section and then hand the horse a treat. Pull and treat, pull and treat, etc. For one that really hates it you can just do it once or twice each day. Most of my horses have started looking forward to the treat and ignored the mane pulling.

With my older horses who allow it but don’t love it, I’ll give them a treat every 3 pulls.

I do have one right now who absolutely will not allow me to pull her mane. Fortunately she’s a jumper and so I just cut it. Can’t tell the difference visually, but god forbid I ever have to braid her! I need to get my act together and start doing the “one pull a day” thing with her, but I have yet to remember to do it when I’m tacking her up.

[kiwichick]

I also dont do it, it hurts ME!
I use a rake similar to pictured above, thinning scissors, and back comb and razor off.
As for really tidy vs a bit fuzzy plaits, I got 99 problems and a canter transition is 98 of them, dirty marks on my jods are one, and fly-away hairs from my braids are none.
I honestly dont think it makes any difference, you would have to have hawk eyes to see it from a distance, and if they want to take marks off me for that instead of the egg shaped circle I just did, then I cant do much about that.

My horses are hairy hairy too, the rake thins it pretty well and if I do it while they are eating ive never had a single reaction.

[baysandgrays]

For my mane pulling nightmare horse, I buy the “Grooming and Thinning Knife” from Dover. I keep 3 or 4 of these on hand at all times (best results when sharp). You can cut and thin a mane without pulling, and it will not look like you took scissors to it if you do very small pieces at a time. In fact, I get compliments on my 'mane pulling." Because my mare is super sensitive, I never do the whole mane at once. I do about a 1/4 at a time. She doesn’t so much as shake her head when I use this knife. My mare has a thick mane. I can probably do her full mane 2-3 times with one knife before it gets a little dull.