I don’t find that the mane keeps flies off of them. If anything I find that the thick double mane can overheat them. Not to mention the burrs, the mud and etc., Cosmetically of course I don’t blame anyone for not liking roached manes! I mean its just personal preference afterall. I know I still love to see a well-kept, silky mane, but with my little draftie…it just ain’t happening…lol
very few horses look nice with a long mane....and what a nightmare for them and the owners unless they are bubble wrapped halter horses...somewhere deep in my youth I learned that a horse that worked for a living had no need of a long mane...that prejudice has never left me :)
we have been roaching along with the standard spring maintance...they almost seem relieved...and we keep the forelock cut off as well...as for flies....that is why we are blessed with the spot on type products....Roach the forelock! This is a fancy look–like the horses ridden by Roman Centurions. Plaiting is too swish for a stallion.
Then why not shave the tail if keeping a mane neat and tidy is so much work - keeping tails is work as well?
Really - we LOVE our horses and ponies to look good and horses HAVE manes and tails. I can’t imagine roaching any of our horses or ponies just to save time grooming. And I certainly can’t imagine showing that way in any disciplines.
Personal preference but I must be in the majority because I haven’t seen any roached manes at any horse shows I’ve attended.
my draft cross has a roached mane. It looks great on her. I love it. It always looks neat. It’s SO easy.
I braid her forlock for shows. It takes about 2 minutes.
I have 4 horses. The 2 Standardbreds have these huge, thick manes. Ugh!!! So a couple of years ago I started roaching them. The horses are happy because they’re not being “tortured” (their word, not mine :winkgrin:) and I have gotten so many compliments. They have beautiful necks. It’s not because I’m too lazy to keep them pulled. My little half-Arab cannot stand to have his mane pulled. It obviously hurts. So I found a way to shorten and thin it via the clippers. But I’m intrigued by the website that was earlier posted. Looks like the way to go!!!
ps brushing a tail in no way compares to a pulling mane. I don’t think any of the horse owners that raoch are too lazy to groom. 
http://www.mysticoakranch.com/sporthorse.html
The top horse (my stallion) has a long mane, in a french braid. The chestnut has the roached mane.
I don’t think there was a rule NOT allowing a roach in dressage, I showed my old Morgan gelding 10 years ago in dressage with a roach. Now - the Morgan show circuit passed a rule against the roached mane - hehehehe, I guess because of me:lol: We seldom showed on the breed circuit, bleah, but I took him out one year to a Morgan show and whooped butt, we were 10% higher than the 2nd place horse, the owner (a big name in the Morgan world) filed a complaint against my horse’s MANE of all things… The next year, they changed the rules. But in open dressage, a roach is allowed - there are no rules requiring braiding, no rules requiring a short or long mane, whew…
[QUOTE=FriesianX;3093866]
… the 2nd place horse, the owner (a big name in the Morgan world) filed a complaint against my horse’s MANE of all things… [/QUOTE]
Wow! Talk about desperate!
Someone filing a complaint against a roached mane is the karmic opposite of a dressage judge saying “nice tail” as her only comment. It means they really didn’t have anything else to go on!
And from USEF dressage rules
DR121(6):
Any decoration of the horse with extravagant items, such as ribbons or flowers, etc. in the mane, tail, etc., is strictly forbidden. Braiding of the horse’s mane and tail, however, is permitted.
DR206 Equipment and Turn Out.
1. Braiding is optional.
So braiding is not required. My personal opinion is that either braiding or a roached mane looks nice. And I’d rather see a neatly roached mane than a poorly braided one.
Boozles gets roached in late spring and looks fabulous. (I leave her forelock loose, cause we don’t do more than 1 or 2 very basic schooling shows.) It grows out over the winter, and is actually now exactly how I’d prefer it to be. Alas, it is a double mane, her crest is 2" thick…
We’ve always gotten positive comments on the roach, and she is very vain about her neck!
[QUOTE=ise@ssl;3093786]
Then why not shave the tail if keeping a mane neat and tidy is so much work - keeping tails is work as well?
Really - we LOVE our horses and ponies to look good and horses HAVE manes and tails. I can’t imagine roaching any of our horses or ponies just to save time grooming. And I certainly can’t imagine showing that way in any disciplines.
Personal preference but I must be in the majority because I haven’t seen any roached manes at any horse shows I’ve attended.[/QUOTE]
lol…you are just determined to be a little unpleasant aren’t you? Just because you do not like the look, that does not mean that you need to be assumptive about the people who do 
Why do I shave my mare’s mane and not her tail? Well, unlike her mane, my mare actually uses her tail to fan off flies and perhaps even cool herself. Unlike her tail, my mare’s mane simply overheats her, and when mane is as thick as hers, pulling makes it stand straight on end, and cutting (god forbid!) creates a whole new mess. It looks untidy in braids because of its sheer volume. My neat and tidy solution? Roaching.
Yes I love the look, yes I love the convenience, but in the end, my horse’s comfort is most important.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I appreciate that you are ‘old school’ as you put it…but please don’t assume that people who roach their horses’ mane do so out of laziness.
[QUOTE=ise@ssl;3093786]
Then why not shave the tail if keeping a mane neat and tidy is so much work - keeping tails is work as well?
Really - we LOVE our horses and ponies to look good and horses HAVE manes and tails. I can’t imagine roaching any of our horses or ponies just to save time grooming. And I certainly can’t imagine showing that way in any disciplines.
Personal preference but I must be in the majority because I haven’t seen any roached manes at any horse shows I’ve attended.[/QUOTE]
You obviously haven’t met the right mane yet. I struggled with my horse’s mane for a couple of years. Being a draft cross, he inherited the thick draft horse mane. I pulled, tried thinning, practiced braiding for hours, and his braids were never good, he was miserable with all of the pulling and thinning I tried to do.
His braids always looked like this. Then I met a Fjord with a roached mane, and noticed how nice it looked. I roached my horse’s mane, which now looks like this. Wouldn’t you agree that our turnout is much better with the roached mane?
Believe me, it is not out of laziness. I’m an eventer, and would love to have some mane to grab “just incase”, so roaching his mane was somewhat of a last resort. It’s easy to assume that roaching is out of laziness, but most people have good reasons for doing so.
I have been in the barn this AM shedding and clipping horses. I have an 18 yr. old ASB gelding who has an incredibly ugly mane. I’ve had him for 15 yrs. and I have roached his mane for 14 of those yrs. He doesn’t go anywhere or do anything, but it looks better then that awful mane! He got a shave today and he looks lovely. I own a lot of Arabians and I would not do this with them, but it suits the saddlebred.
I think I was mixing up my venues. It may have been a horse that showed in dressage and the owner wanted to show Arabian also. It was probably the Arabian show worlds rules. This was at least 15 yrs. ago.
[QUOTE=ise@ssl;3093786]
Then why not shave the tail if keeping a mane neat and tidy is so much work - keeping tails is work as well?
I do prefer a bobbed tail as well…
I’m not trying to be unpleasant - just because I feel roached manes on competition horses look terrible. We never pull manes - we thin them and we have horses and ponies with manes that range from thin to ultra thick. Wouldn’t roach any of them. And as a breeder I’m pretty darn sure I wouldn’t sell any if I did.
I think roached manes look great, but it really depends on the breed. I believe in doing whatever is appropriate for the breed’s traditional turnout. One of my horses is a Morgan and I would never pull or roach his mane (yes, he has a bridle path).
I’ve never heard of horses not selling because of roached manes. I think it looks very smart.
[QUOTE=tartanfarm;3092859]
I have a mars comb for the dogs but never thought about using on a mane. do you just comb it through from the root?[/QUOTE]
Yep. I have the triple wide, coarse one. I just brush the mane straign and comb it through from the root.
[QUOTE=Anselcat;3093893]
Wow! Talk about desperate!
Someone filing a complaint against a roached mane is the karmic opposite of a dressage judge saying “nice tail” as her only comment. It means they really didn’t have anything else to go on!
And from USEF dressage rules
DR121(6):
Any decoration of the horse with extravagant items, such as ribbons or flowers, etc. in the mane, tail, etc., is strictly forbidden. Braiding of the horse’s mane and tail, however, is permitted.
DR206 Equipment and Turn Out.
1. Braiding is optional.
So braiding is not required. My personal opinion is that either braiding or a roached mane looks nice. And I’d rather see a neatly roached mane than a poorly braided one.[/QUOTE]
In the Morgan world, a free and flowing mane is required except a braided mane is allowed in hunter classes. The dressage and reining classes use to fall outside of the breed show requirements, and follow the USEF rules of their specific disciplines, so the complaining competitor (who was also a breed show JUDGE) figured she could bully her way into a win. Show management actually had to call and get a ruling from USEF :lol: It was the LAST breed show I ever attended, ugh. The politics in the breed show circuits is so much more vicious than what we see in open dressage…
I agree, some horses are SO uncomfortable with pulling a mane. I don’t think it is just convenience, it is better for the horse. When you have horses with VERY thick manes, pulling can be an every day event, and the horse can be sore ALL THE TIME.
[QUOTE=Tamara in TN;3094231]
I do prefer a bobbed tail as well…
What is bobbed?
I’ve always heard the term used as synonymous with docked (shorten tails by taking some of the bone, too). Is it?
[QUOTE=citydog;3094620]
[QUOTE=Tamara in TN;3094231]
What is bobbed?
I’ve always heard the term used as synonymous with docked (shorten tails by taking some of the bone, too). Is it?[/QUOTE]
I’ve also heard the term ‘blunting’ the tail, I think that is the same as a bobbed tail. And nope, no taking bone, definitely not! Just cutting off the end in a blunt, straight line. I don’t know if bobbing specifically refers to cutting it VERY short or not. I love very short blunt tails, but in fly season it’s not very practical.
I’m not trying to be unpleasant - just because I feel roached manes on competition horses look terrible. We never pull manes - we thin them and we have horses and ponies with manes that range from thin to ultra thick. Wouldn’t roach any of them. And as a breeder I’m pretty darn sure I wouldn’t sell any if I did.
Wow, so folks’ number one priority when buying your horses is the horse’s hairstyle? I think you need to find new buyers. :lol:
And roaching hardly is for the lazy person. It takes skill and time to perfect a roach job. As for time-saving, well, my mare’s mane grows fast, and I have to re-clip her roached mane every 2-3 weeks. That’s more often than many folks thin out manes.
