New Haffie owner here! Haffie experts, I could use some input

[downen]

So I’m a 60 year old former eventer who has fallen head over heels for an adorable, chunky little 13.3 hand Haflinger.

Moto Moto came to me through a friend who brought him and a bunch of his buddies up to IL from a farm in Kentucky that was shutting down. They guesstimate his age at 12-13 based on his teeth. He’s broke under saddle and I suspect he used to drive.

My first question is mane management. He has enough mane for three horses, and I’m wondering the best way to maintain it. I have it tangle-free and brush it regularly, but I’m wondering if keeping it in loose braids is better?

The forelock has been detangled but there is a big lump at the base I don’t know what to make of. At first I thought it was a matt, but I have had no luck untangling it, and I’m not 100% certain where the skin ends and the hair begins. Could it happen where a matt is there so long it pulls the skin up and makes a permanent lump?

Those are the only real pressing questions I have now, but if anyone has any Haffie words of wisdom for me, thanks in advance!

Here is the little love bug:!

[Scribbler]

So cute!

I disentangled a Luso who had been on a field for a year using a lot of baby oil. Her tail had a solid lump in the middle, I used a whole bottle of oil and it took over an hour but no hair loss at all. The main I ended up cutting through some loopy dreads but only minimal loss. I’d put baby oil all over the forelock work it in, let it sit, see how it goes.

[SuzieQNutter]

As above you can use the oil for wood floor that smells really nice or even WD40 which is mostly fish oil.

Good luck.

[OfCourseItsAnAlter]

No, WD-40 does not contain fish oil. And no, you shouldn’t use it as a mane detangler.

[shiloh]

Please never ever use baby oil. It leaves a nasty sticky residue which is a beast to wash out. Use something like Show Sheen and start with a large wide-tooth comb and try to work from the bottom up and pick out the knot. You may have to resort to scissors but only as a last resort. You may have a large knot of hair underneath. If you HAVE to cut it out it’s not so bad as it is underneath and the weight of the top of the forelock will keep it from sticking up like some kind of demented mohawk.

BTW, he is very cute. That’s a LOT of blonde hair! lol

[LSMarnell]

I’m not a Haffie expert but I’m around a lot of them. They are air ferns. Watch the weight because they are prone to laminitis.
No, please do not use WD-40 on any horse. I’d use cowboy magic and a lot of time/elbow grease.
They are loveable horses but have a mind of their own and despite the small size, they are DRAFT ponies. They are hard on fencing. Electric is your friend.
Also, the big, strong, neck can work against you in a lot of riding situations (along with the pony mind) Make sure you are installing the fundamentals and continually reinforcing them or you’ll be regretting it!

[TheDBYC]

@LSMarnell

They are loveable horses but have a mind of their own and despite the small size, they are DRAFT ponies. They are hard on fencing. Electric is your friend.
Also, the big, strong, neck can work against you in a lot of riding situations (along with the pony mind) Make sure you are installing the fundamentals and continually reinforcing them or you’ll be regretting it!

Yes. Lordie, yes. I worked for a carriage company that had a pair of Halflingers & a pair of Percheron. Guess who were hell on wheels (pulling wheels?) to deal with at gigs?

I love the Espana spray in conditioner/detangler. Spray liberally into damp mane & tail post-bath. Let air-dry. Tangles literally fall out with no brushing needed.

[EssexFells]

Get the hottest fence charger you can find. Every haffie I’ve known is just a nightmare with fences.
And be really strict about manners–whether it’s ingrained in the breed, or conditioned into them by novice owners, haffies can be bullheaded.

[SuzieQNutter]

@OfCourseItsAnAlter

No, WD-40 does not contain fish oil. And no, you shouldn’t use it as a mane detangler.

Well there you go. I googled it and it was a myth put out that I did not know was a myth.

[pony_baloney]

Manley Long Hair detangler is great. Not too silicony and works great for my furry pony. SmartPak carries it.
When I ride I do a running braid for the mane. Forelock stays as is for fly protection.

[TheDBYC]

@EssexFells

Get the hottest fence charger you can find. Every haffie I’ve known is just a nightmare with fences.
And be really strict about manners–whether it’s ingrained in the breed, or conditioned into them by novice owners, haffies can be bullheaded

Yup! Imo, it’s the result of draft genes & body type + pony attitude + the tendency for people to not consider them “real” draft horses due to their diminutive height. In most cases, the 3rd point being the biggest contributing factor. Similar to how many folks treat mini horse stallions like dogs instead of actual stallions & end up with the rankest little SOB of a horse imaginable.

I owned full-sized pulling draft horses for years. Sold them when we moved & I could no longer keep them at home. Few boarding barns are well equipped for their needs. They’re built to be heavy on the front end because that’s how they generate power for pulling. ( If you think about it, drafting is actually pushing from the horse’s perspective, too.) Add in their bulk & it’s no wonder they tend to pulverize the physical plant of riding horse facilities. And they’re smart & catch on quick. It may start with the horse innocently leaning over the fence trying to grab a mouthful of that beautiful grass. But unlike his riding horse compatriots, his lean is designed to move huge loads so boards snap & fencing nails give way. If it happens a few times he quickly figures out that fences are just cute suggestions , not boundaries to be respected.

Same with cross ties. I would be a millionaire if I had a dollar for every time I’ve watched someone who is inexperienced at handling full drafts insist on crosstying the horse & then freak out when the horse breaks the fittings as he innocently turns his head to scratch at a fly. With some horses, it’s a sheer strength thing. With many others though, it looks like they’re genuinely expecting the ties to support their weight like harness traces would & are shocked when they lean on the ties & they give way. Once watched a huge “Percheron X” (cough, cough, Percheron crossed with a Percheron, cough cough) at a dressage barn I worked for literally fall into the aisle in an explosion of broken double-eyed snaps & tack trunks & vacuums crashing to the floor. The fact he almost fell to his knees makes me think that he had casually leaned with the full expectation of the ties holding him.

[Arelle]

I have a mini with a mane the size of a full horse.

I keep it in a running braid and wash/condition/detangle weekly. The trick is to start with a wide tooth comb and then finish with a fine tooth comb. If I just use a brush or a wide tooth comb, it will get the majority of tangles out - but it doesn’t get the stuff closest to the skin, which turns into the mat you’re seeing.

Depending on the mane, braids like a reiner might be helpful. I say depends because I have a mare with textured hair (seriously, it’s partially curly despite her being full APHA) and anything I do with her mane ends up with knots all over the place.

[ThreeWishes]

Beautiful Haffie! I would work on the forelock base mat with a detangler and a toothed comb one hair at a time. I do think a mat at the base like that can cause so much pressure that you lose a bunch of hair. More importantly in my experience is to put lovely new pony on a diet pronto. So much easier to grow/ fix that beautiful hair than it is to fix the hooves of a metabolic chunky monkey. Best wishes. Your new Pony is

[Scribbler]

I’ve had good luck with keeping long full manes and tails unbraided. Just finger combing with a detangler when it starts to clump up. You might want to braid the end of the tail into a bag if it’s really muddy in winter.

I feel like it’s much easier for a horse to rub out a chunk of mane when it’s in long braids.

The worst enemy of tails is rubbing the butt. I try to keep my mare clean underneath to minimize this. I think mares rub more than geldings.

Watch the tail and keep it trimmed to about the fetlocks so he can’t step on it and pull out hairs.

Blue shampoo is your friend if you have a big appearance somewhere.

[downen]

First of all, thanks to everyone for responding! Love all the helpful tips, and feel free to keep 'em coming!

I just had the shoer out and showed her his forelock lump, and she recognized it right away as a big skin tag from an old injury. Said I was lucky he has such a full forelock to cover it, she’s seen horses with skimpy forelocks with a skin tag like that and it’s not pretty. Anyway, no need to detangle. I think I’ll leave his mane and tail unbraided for now and just keep it detangled daily. He’s at home and I feed twice a day, so easy enough to do.

Thanks for all the concern about his weight, I’m on it. I managed an IR/Cushings Welsh pony for 14 years so it’s not my first rodeo. We don’t have a dry lot here so a grazing muzzle has been ordered, and he spends most of his time on the Jenny Craig paddock, which still has grass but not as much as the pastures.

The shoer said he has really deep gravel on both fronts and wants to put shoes on, so before that happens I’ll have the vet out to do baseline X-rays on his fronts. Since I don’t have a history on him we can make sure he doesn’t have any rotation from a previous founder. Once he gets feeling better in front I can start working him, and that will help with the weight loss as well.

Thanks for the draft horse stories, too! I’m loling about the fencing… years ago I had a little black QH that “checked” all of our fencing and found it lacking, so hot wire has been installed between the boards of the paddocks to prevent any leaning. Even the gates are shored up because that little QH bugger used to lift the tube gates off the hinges and free everyone, then proudly parade around with the gate around his neck. So we’re good on fencing, and my little Haffy, although spunky, has been a total gentleman since he’s arrived. The woman I got him from said he’s the nicest Haffy she’s ever met, so I think I got lucky.

Thanks again, everyone!

[atlatl]

Check out the Haflinger Alliance

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@Miss_Motivation

[StormyDay]

Just chiming in to stress getting a muzzle on ASAP. Every single one I have ever met had serious issues with laminitis because their owners thought just a little grass wouldn’t hurt them. It also seems to be that they are a little more prone to the cascade effect in laminitis leading to founder; even if you catch it still in laminitis and do all the right things they still have rotation. Just be super duper careful.

[downen]

Cool, thanks @atlatl!

[downen]

The muzzle will be here tomorrow, no worries. I’ve done this dance with my Welsh pony and I get it. He was great until he wasn’t, at about age 18. Rotated 11 degrees in one foot and 7 degrees in the other practically overnight. My amazing shoer was able to correct him to normal again, and we kept him relatively sound with Prascend and careful management until he was about 22. I do not want to watch another animal go through that again, believe me.

Edited to add: That’s why I’m getting xrays done on his fronts, in case he’d foundered in the past, I want my vet and shoer to have a good picture of what they’re working with, as well as a baseline reference going forward.

[Miss_Motivation]

Oh you are in for some fun now! Yes to what everyone said upthread… although technically Haflingers do not have draft blood in them- they are pocket warmbloods! Some are much heavier than others, and some are very fine and look like Arab crosses or Welsh crosses- lots of different models in this breed. They CAN be very single-minded about things. And they are STRONG. Thank goodness because then they can cart ol’ ladies like me around for assorted shenanigans!

I’ve done all kinds of horse stuff- hunters, reiners, APHA, etc… but Haffies are just the ticket for me now. I was having so much fun with them I even started a fun Haflinger club with some Covid-bored friends last year, and now its A Thing, the Haflinger Alliance mentioned upthread. www.haflingeralliance.com Lots of good info on the site and photos and silliness too- our logo is called Sassy and you’ll soon learn that’s how Haflingers roll!

Feel free to reach out here or via Haflinger Alliance if you have any questions… have fun!