I hope the title makes sense. When I first got Pony Princess Fancy Pants, her mane was split. From mid-neck forward it was on the left and from mid-neck to withers it was on the right side.
Just today as I was on a trail ride contemplating doing mane-tidying-up when I got back home, I realized that the mane now all falls on the left side.
How / why?? Is it a result of her musculature changing from being under saddle?
CONGRATULATIONS, this a sign that you are riding correctly.
Step back and take a look at her. She should look beautiful. Muscles that are in the correct places like on the top line and not the bottom of the neck.
She is probably glowing with health.
Her mane is on one side of her neck. (We are not talking about a horse with a double mane).
She is a credit to you.
Yes you can tell how someone rides by looking at their horse!!!
So the mane on both sides is an indicator or an under-muscled neck?
Well, I think it depends. If there’s a cowlick, for example, then I think it would make sense for the hair to follow that pattern and grow accordingly. (My TB has a cowlick up near his poll and the hair does sort of swirl there.)
Thanks, SuzieQ . . . it was an interesting observation today - I hadn’t noticed it before. I remember last time I tidied up her mane that I ended up doing each side separately and now I could do it all on one side!
Or an incorrectly ridden horse
eg that is muscled on the bottom of the neck.
or a horse that is broken necked. This is a horse that the neck about a hand’'s width back from the poll is higher when ridden than the poll.
or a horse ridden with no contact.
ot a horse ridden with gadgets.
or a horse that leans or sucks back.
A horse that is correctly ridden has the poll the highest, is ridden lightly into contact and most of all the horse is happy.
The horses that have come here. Not only is the mane originally how PP described but it is unbelievable that you can not decide wich side of the neck it should be on. It seems to change daily.
It can take close to a year for it to be on one side.
Very interesting. I’ve never heard that. I was always told it indicates a horse is more ambidextrous rather than one sided.
I was once told that the mane will fall towards the horse’s stronger side, either left or right. Must check that out…
3 thoroughbreds. One stock horse/quarter horse. All had divided manes when they arrived. All have settled on the off side.
Sim’s worst canter side is to the left. Star’s worst canter side is to the right. Dodge is weaker on the right canter.
Twiggy good way is left. Bad way is right. No trouble with leads.
Yes I’ve always heard, and observed, that as a horse gets more flexible and less one sided their mane splits, flips and stands up. Horses that are out of work, one sided or have really long manes it tends to lie to one side.
That is the opposite of what I have found.
Work doesn’t mean it will change.
Correct work it should change unless a horse with a double mane which is genetic.
My mares mane has changed from right to mostly left. She hasn’t been ridden for years due to IR and subsequent laminitis issues. One foot is now slightly clubbed.
Oh my goodness. Where the mane falls depends on how the collagen fibers are arranged in the hair, and where the follicle is located in the skin. The way you ride your horse has nothing to do with where the mane goes. I prepped dozens and dozens of weanling, yearling and 2yo race horses for sales, and we had to get the manes lying over on the right side. Note the weanlings and yearlings were not ridden, and the 2 yos were, and there was absolutely no difference in what the manes did. It has everything to do with the natural hair growth pattern and thickness of the follicle. Thick wiry hair follicles want to stand up and thinner finer hair follicles will lay down easier. Oh and I did a few broodmares too.
To train the easy manes, we just wet them down and brushed them on the correct side. The wiry cowlicked ones got training braids. The manes were a bit longer (the weight holds it down) than one would have a mane on a competition horse that gets braided or banded for show.
no, no… it has to do with if its a full moon or not, same as with high tides
That has been my observation, too.
I’ve found the exact opposite, getting on about 10 horses a day. It has everything to do with genetics and grooming.
Lawd this argument right now :lol:
Well wait…my gelding had a thin mane at 2.5 and it fell on the left side, but now he has a thick mane and it falls on both sides (evenly, not split, he has a “butt cut”), so omergerd what does that mean?? :lol:
It means I don’t give two poops about his damn hair and when I pull it I just pull it wherever it is at the time since it flips back anyway. I generally drag it all over to the off side and pull it, knowing it’ll flip back as the shorter under hairs grow and push the top hairs back to the other side. It’s HAIR.
Let’s do horoscopes based on whorls next! My horse has a double whorl in the middle of his head and a whorl on each side of his neck. Is he destined for greatness? 
Yes and it means that PP’s pony must have changed genetics!
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