I can’t get anywhere near my horse with clippers. Not sure what happened before I got him, but it’s a no go.
Is it possible to do a decent job of roaching a mane with scissors?
NJR
I’ve done it.
Best to use kitchen shears & go slowly as you near the neck.
Not so much to prevent snipping skin, but to give you a nice, even line.
You can also invest in these:
http://www.jacksmfg.com/Roaching-Shears,855.html
For Clipper Therapy:
Try leaving your clippers running as you groom.
Put them near where you’re working so he can hear them.
Once he is used to the sound, try running them on his body - blades up, so he gets to feel the vibration w/o any actual clipping happening.
Even my clipper-shy horses seem to like having their chin whiskers trimmed.
You can be a couple inches away from actual contact & still clip whiskers.
Yes. I use scissors almost exclusively. I don’t show the mule, so I never bother getting the clippers out to tidy up. I just trim with the scissors and it looks fine.
I use these large, heavy-duty scissors that I bought on amazon.com.
It’s possible- my friend keeps her horses mane roached with scissors (he also hates clippers, and at 24 that is a battle she’s not going to pick!).
Go slow, use a stool and one of those long combs. She combs up to desired length and then cuts off the excess. She also uses those purple whisker shavers, it comes out really nice.
I had one that would not let clippers touch him. Vaccuum, hair-dryer, leaf-blower? Fine. Clippers were not.
I exclusively used the scissors. My suggestion is to start small and take it over a few days, not all at once. I would lop/shear to the almost-length I wanted (enough to make it stick up, but a little longer than the finished product). Wait a day or so for the hair to start to stick up, and then take scissors and shear the outer rims (like they do for fjords, at an angle).
I always got compliments on his hair-job and IMHO the scissors had a more refined touch than the clippers.
there are scissors made specifically for roaching…they are called roaching shears and have curved blades, blunted tips, and are made for horse manes.
http://www.jacksmfg.com/Roaching-Shears,855.html
for comparison between old and new - http://www.ebay.com/itm/1940-AD-OLD-KY-MULE-SHEARS-HORSE-SHEARS-JOHN-PRIMBLE-ROACHING-SHEARS-CLIPPERS-/221264374689
Yes, it’s possible but harder.
Regarding the Clipper Therapy: It really depends of what he’s scared of.
My mare is (mainly) scared of cords and doesn’t like her wiskers being trimmed…So despite 2Dogsfarm advice, she never calmed down depsite all my efforts. I bought a cordless clipper, used ear plugs, used some Atravet for a few times and now, she LOVES being clipped all over. (Except her nose/lips - I’m not a fan of clipping wiskers anyway…She loves when I do her face/ears) I no longer need Atravet or any calming supplements, don’t use ear plugs and just clip her while she’s loose in her stall eating…
I’ve always used scissors, never have used clippers before to roach.
I usually use heavy duty, curved “fetlock shears” (pony’s mane is tooooo thick to use regular shears). The curve helps me get the right shape to flatter his neck easier than straight shears too. I’ll “finish” with thinning shears to get the ends looking nice.
If the mane is already roached and has simply grown out, it’s easy enough to snip and shape, but I found when I first went from full (double, ugh) mane to roach, it was easiest to take it right down to a hogged mane, leaving just his forelock, and then letting it grow back. This also helped me FINALLY get ride of the wicked dandruff he had when I got him. I still routinely take it down to nothing but forelock over the winter (he’s blanketed in a neck cover due to our wet winters so I don’t worry about chilly crest, haha) to let his crest breathe and deal with any dandruff that may have popped up in the warmer weather. By spring he’s got a perfect little mohawk and I can easily maintain with the shears. In the fall when show season is done, his ponyhawk gets turned into dinosaur spikes for a couple months, before I have to give him his first full clip of the season (yay IR thelwells).
I have always done mine with scissors. I prefer kitchen scissors to the craft or home type scissors. I started roaching her mane last year and haven’t turned back!
A bit of tranq under the tongue makes life simpler. I do believe there is some residual memory, until eventually you can clip without. A roached mane has to be done frequently, tho.
Yes but don’t ask me how. My grandad could do a beautiful arched roach with scissors.
That was back in the 50’s and 60’s when clippers weren’t in the grooming cupboards of anyone but the very wealthy:)
I’ve never roached a mane but I do my geldings bridle path by sticking a comb in his mane and using that as a guide to cut straight and avoid cutting too close to his skin. I suppose if you wanted it cut straight across, not arched, you could use that method.
To get my gelding used to clippers, I bought a hand-held back massager from Wal-mart, its battery operated so no cord to worry about. It makes the same sound as a pair of clippers, eventually got closer and closer until I could rub it on him. Now he pretty much falls asleep while I’m clipping his body (legs are still ticklish)
I’ve never roached a mane but I do my geldings bridle path by sticking a comb in his mane and using that as a guide to cut straight and avoid cutting too close to his skin. I suppose if you wanted it cut straight across, not arched, you could use that method.
To get my gelding used to clippers, I bought a hand-held back massager from Wal-mart, its battery operated so no cord to worry about. It makes the same sound as a pair of clippers, eventually got closer and closer until I could rub it on him. Now he pretty much falls asleep while I’m clipping his body (legs are still ticklish)
I can see where curved blades would be helpful. I was going for a bit of a curve on this guy. I wasn’t planning on doing anything he had to be pretty for for the following few months and he hates his mane fussed with so I cut it off. I did need to cut then wash and dry then finish shaping because it was laying too flat after the first cut. It looked pretty cute growing out, too.
There is a nice video on youtube about how to trim a fjord mane. He uses scissors to do it. For a full roach I imagine you could use the same method and just cut it shorter.
yes, I use these scissors to trim a(n obscenely thick) fjord mane.
In theory I could roach it with scissors, but, dear god, just no… For that, I think I would need a lawn mower, not scissors or clippers!
I did my POA regularly with scissors, left it about 1/2-1" long, much better than right down to the skin. She looked like a Greek horse statue!
I did the bridle path on my old pony as a kid with scissors, don’t remember what kind, probably old sewing sheers handed on by my mother. Roaching her pony mane would have take several sessions, but it would totally have been possible. I used scissors on anything that needed trimming, fetlocks or chin beard that lasted too long into summer. Never even saw clippers back then.
Ha! Snaffled - I’ve bought those little four legged massagers, too. WalMart and about $9.00? The horse got to love them and get a nice massage, too.
