Mane care of friesian in the pasture 24/7..HELP!

[LaurenP]

I recently rescued a Friesian cross out of a kill pen, and I’m not sure what to do with his mane since he is in the pasture 24/7. I’ve never had a long haired horse before, so this is all new to me! His mane is pretty long, and I want it to stay that way. Should I put it in loose braids? His pasture has lots of trees, so I’m concerned about it getting stuck on something. This horse LOVES to roll though, so I’m wondering if I should try loose braids? One loose running braid? Oh, and said horse HATES baths.

I’ve also noticed that he has been bleaching out a bit in the sun. If you have a black horse-what shampoo do you recommend? Any tips/tricks?

If you have a Friesian, or similar breed, do you do any clipping? I want to keep his mane, tail and feathers natural, but I don’t want him to look like a hot mess. I should add- I live in Texas. And it sure does get hot in the summer!

Finally, when riding should I braid it first? Or keep it loose? His mane is pretty great, but it gets all tangled up in the saddle pad/reins easily.

So basically, I need all the help. TIA!

[tinah]

Running braid is good, although with my long maned girl I just keep the tangles combed out, and it still comes down a couple inches below the bottom of her neck. Make sure he’s got a fat supplement for his coat. Black as knight tests, so be aware if you are showing. I’ve heard of leaving fly sheets etc on horses to help bleaching, but my here lives out. 24/7 and would hurt themselves or tear it up or die of heat stroke in the summer. So I settle for really dark, and feed alfalfa pellets and rice bran.

[2tempe]

We have a couple friesians at our barn. One has maybe 8 long individual braids; they get redone every couple weeks. The other has some sort of running braid arrangement. Living in central Fla, here’s what I can tell you: both struggle with the heat/humidity. One doesn’t sweat, the other has much shorter work sessions when it gets to this time of year… They are both subject to some skin issues, specifically on the legs.

I can understand your wanting to keep the hair, but if it were my horse, the feathers would go and I’d shorten the mane to a “regular” length. (did that with my Lusitano. Re the bleaching, hard to manage if he’s out 24/7. When really hot and humid, monitor him closely to be sure he is not stressed…

Some good information on the breed: https://dunstanpark.com/2013/03/22/friesians-dream-or-nightmare-part-i/

[Magicboy]

With PREs, I use a running braid when I ride. For turnout, I just let it loose. I think it helps keep flies off

[luvmyhackney]

I used to braid individual braids and then braid the together in a french braid. I use a fly sheet 24/7 in the summer no issues. Mines dark seal bay and cooler in his white fly sheet. Make sure he’s on a good fat supplement to keep the hair nice. I just fed flax when we had Friesians at the barn. You can trim up the legs if you like. I keep ours long and just thinned them out a bit in the summer.

Ours always had trouble cooling in the summer so we would go often and sponge them down with an alcohol/water combo in the pasture.

[MissAriel]

I’m with 2Tempe on this. Keep loose working braids in and keep an eye on the horse as the temperature gets higher. A few Friesians I know have a hard time with our warm weather, and it isn’t as bad here as TX gets. And don’t neglect the skin under the feather - they are prone to all kinds of skin issues there.

Be ready to trim mane and/or feather if that is what it takes to make the horse comfortable. He won’t care what he looks like, but will care if he is hot and itchy.

[MCF1991]

Agree with MissAriel. I would advise that since you live in TX cut all that stuff off. His mane is going to make his neck sweat for sure and his legs will certainly get fungus if he does not “like” baths or isn’t bathed regularly. If he’s out 24/7, he is going to bleach no matter what but you could try putting spray on sunscreen on him in the mornings. You can keep all his mane and feathers if he learns to handle the baths but I can’t imagine dealing with washing those legs regularly. I went to a VERY well known dressage barn to bodyclip one year and all the freisians were covered in scurff. Very disappointing.

[SuckerForHorses]

Do not do a running braid for turnout. When they lower their heads, it will rip the hair out.

I would either 1) roach the mane if you don’t want to deal with it and he has a neck that will look nice with a roached mane, or 2) Loose braids.

My Arabian mare has a long thick mane, and hers stays in about 6 regular braids, braided loose. If she gets caught on any tree branches, it breaks the rubberbands before anything else gets yanked on.

In the summer I take it down, brush, and re-braid, about once a week. In the winter, they stay in until they are looking ratty and then I take them down, brush, and re-braid.

[saitou_amaya]

My Friesian gelding usually has a running braid in turnout and also when being ridden. I don’t really like riding with his mane down because it gets tangled in the reins/my hands and can get pretty hot in the summer. I will take the mane down about once a week and put a good quality detangler like Eqyss in it. In the summer I will usually condition it a couple times a month. I’m not a big fan of 5 or 6 regular braids because if the horse rubs a braid and the hair falls out, you have a nice bald spot! I’ve seen it happen.

I would avoid totally clipping all of the feathers off. Yes, Friesians are prone to skin issues on their legs but in my experience clipping all the hair away makes them more prone instead of less prone. I think the feathers help protect the legs in some way. Now I will trim them up in the winter because they get a bit ridiculous, but in my personal experience of owning a Friesian 12 years, it seems like totally clipping the feathering does more harm than good.

Take heed to all the warnings about Friesians and overheating. Mine has had anihrodsis for about 4 years and Missouri summers are really hard on him. In the summer I will usually hose him before I get on, after I get off, and keep rides to less than 30 min. Ironically, I do body clip or trace clip mine in the winter because the amount that he sweats in the winter is excessive!

[MysticOakRanch]

I’ve had a few purebred Friesians and bred crosses for years. My crosses generally avoided the skin issues of many of the purebreds. One of my purebreds had skin allergies - although several of my Warmbloods did too. I never ran into issues with scratches although I did end up clipping feathers because we have so many foxtails. I got tired of those and preferred the clean leg look. I never had any issues with anhidrosis. From what I hear, heat AND humidity make this a higher risk. That would be Texas. I am in a hot and dry climate. Never ran into problems with any of mine other then the skin allergies.

The crosses tend to NOT get full feathers unless crossed with another hairy breed. So I clip the semi-feathers because I like the clean look. I currently have 3 Friesian crosses and a Welsh Cob cross. All get some level of leg clipping. The Cob is the hairiest of the group. Scratches is a risk in a damp climate. Your best defense is make sure the legs are dry at least part of the day. Hairy legs are a higher risk because the hair retains moisture.

The mane will break and be rubbed by reins so you need to either French braid when riding or do loose big braids. French braids don’t work for turnout because they stretch and tear when the horse grazes. Look at fences carefully. Horse head through fence results in loss of mane!

Fly sheets are horrible in hot climates. Sweat will cause more hair discoloration then plain sun. Black horses of all breeds can fade and bleach. Best defense is avoid the sun - out at night and in during the day. And a well balanced diet including omega 3s such as flax

[csaper58]

OP,

Keeping leg feathers on a horse in the muddy, humid, pastures of the southern US is problematic. If the horse does not like a bath that adds to the degree of difficulty.

Horses with ill kept leg feathers are subject to Chorioptic Mange, Lymphedema, Scratches and Staph/Fungal skin infections.

Please be very diligent in the care of our horse’s feathered legs and give clipping his feathers the serious consideration it deserves.

The feathers can also impact hoof wall quality due to how much dew/water they hold onto.

If you are leaning toward keep the feathers, ask your farrier and vet who he/she knows (that has feather legged horses) that have consistently healthy legs and speak to those people about the care required.

[Dbliron]

I’m one of those who clipped my Friesian’s legs, ears, jaw, bridle path (quite a long one, but not like with Arabians), and the top of the tail, every two weeks. I only braided her mane for competitions, in a running braid, and I pulled (yes, pulled) her forelock so that it was less heavy. All of that helped a great deal with maximizing cooling, and she looked so much more elegant that even her owner, who’d been wild about all the hair, decided I should keep clipping her regularly. The first time I clipped her I found half-healed scars throughout her feathers, from scratches, in spite of her having lived in a very arid climate. It took some messing about with various kinds of reins to find ones (Nunn Finer Eventa reins) which were easy to hold but which didn’t catch in the mane when I changed the rein length, but it wasn’t hard to sort out.

Her mane and tail were treated weekly with Dreamcoat, and I used Quicbraid in her mane when I put the running braid in. Sante Fe coat conditioner worked pretty well to prevent bleaching, as our summers are too hot for fly sheets.

My farrier was thrilled that I’d clipped her legs completely - he said that he often found scratches/mud fever lesions in the feathers on Friesians while shoeing them.