i have a quarterhorse buckskin 16 year old gelding with a fairly long thin and matted uneven mane. I want to roach his mane and let it grow out into a mowhock and then leave it mostly because i love the way it looks and also it wont get as mated and hot for him. i am worried about fliyes however should i roach or not?
also do you think it would grow enough to have a small mow hock by july fourth for the fourth of july parade he is going in if i do it it would be curly because i like the way it looks
I wouldn’t do it. The mane helps with fly protection, and also your horse has a pretty thin neck and I think looks better with a longer mane (not braided, lol). I would brush it out (use detangler periodically so it doesn’t get matted), and give a natural looking trim (using a solo comb, or scissors cutting vertically) to even it up.
I’ve always roached my mules’ manes, but never the horses’ manes, and I’ve never noticed any issues with flies related to the lack of mane on the mules. I wouldn’t base your decision on fly concerns.
When we showed halter, we roached if the horse had a gorgeous neck (like yours does) but we also used nose to tail fly sheets all summer --sun up to sun down. Pain to put on and take off each day, but wow! The coats were great looking. And we didn’t have to worry about no mane. But now that we no longer show --we no longer roach or use fly sheets.
I agree that the mane doesn’t do a lot for flies. The forelock seems more important for that purpose. Roach it if you want, and let it be a Mohawk if you want, but if it is thin, it may not stay standing up for very long. If you use a fly sheet with a neck, it will squish a Mohawk a bit too.
My Standardbred mare has a pathetic excuse for a mane. She grows a gorgeous, thick mane near the upper part of her neck and then it just sort of disappears. I roach it in the spring time when the weather is consistently above 10C and maintain it until the end of summer. Then I don’t touch it again so she has time to grow a mane before winter and it’s -40C temperatures hit.
My QH has a beautiful, thick double mane and I can’t bring myself to roach it, even though it would look great. So I keep it trimmed enough that it doesn’t wrap around my reins and hope for the best.
You can roach in a manner to accentuate the neck – a little longer in the middle – as though the neck was slightly arched. I like the look of a roached mane, easy to care for, never noticed a fly issue
2 Likes
^^This. I roached my dressage mare’s mane to accentuate her nice neck and we lived in Houston - flies o’ plenty. But I was good with care (incl. fly spray) and we never had an obvious problem. But I guess it depends on what you do with your horse and what you want.
Roach! One of our dressage horses has been featured in a few articles and the question always comes up “what’s with the mane?” He had allergies and would scratch and rub his mane to a patchy funky mess, so since he was 3 he has been sporting the Mohawk. We trim to accentuate his neck and it works very favorably in competition ring. “Lovely elegant uphill stallion” is one of my favorite comments from judges- he’s been a gelding since he was 2 but the hair gives him a lot of presence. My Appaloosa also has roached mane and I love the look. Very Trojan war horse. If you don’t want to wait the 2-3 months for it to grow a few inches, just follow the neck line with scissors or clippers but leave an inch or so.
Another vote for Roach ![](t!
It may not grow back as you desire, but at least it will look neater.
My TWH has a lovely thick mane, but grazing through my fenceline leaves him with the Equine equivalent of the Combover :rolleyes:
Thin in places & totally rubbed-out in others, maybe 85% nice. full mane left.
I roach every Summer & it grows right back - presently about 6-7".
He is developing the notched look again, so time for the clippers!
P.S.
I sometimes ride bareback, so always leave an OhSh*t! “handle” - a long lock of hair, maybe 4" wide? - at the base of his neck.
Also aids in mounting 
P.P.S.
the correct term is MOHAWK < so called for the American Indian tribe that wore this hairstyle [IMG]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8a/b8/38/8ab83872906f8e523c82dd77ce916f31.jpg)
Roach it if you want BUT it’s not going to grow into much of a Mohawk in the 6 weeks between now and the Fourth of July. Might get an inch at best, more likely just a stubble. Thing with trying to get a Mohawk is it will only last a couple of months before it falls over then you’ll either need to roach again or let it grow out unless you want to clip it at a couple of inches every couple of months, PITA.
Actually had friends years ago who were into Chariot Racing, they loved that Mohawk, used hair gel to keep it standing so they could look like Greek and Roman statues.
Roaching is not a bad choice on working horses in hot climates. Agree nothing to do with flies except the forelock, more likely a remnant of trying to stay warm at the base of the glaciers and problematic in hot, humid weather. Messes with the reins too, wet, sweaty mane gets matted on long rides so you see alot of ranch horses roached.
It grows back if you hate it, takes about 6-8 months to fall over cleanly though.
I’m not a fan of roaching manes, but that’s just me.
Some manes (and hair types) are more prone to getting “matted”. It just takes some extra grooming on your part.
1 Like
Ha! My mule grows the mane equivalent of a really thick, really stiff broom. It never mats - it’s way too stiff. And no amount of grooming could ever make it show ring presentable.
Please don’t assume that just because you, personally, have never experienced a mane that couldn’t be managed with “some extra grooming” that there aren’t manes for which the only viable solution is roaching.
1 Like
???
I think you are taking offense to my post, when no offense was intended. I specifically said that hair that is prone to getting matted requires extra grooming. And that’s exactly what I meant – no implied innuendos beyond that.
My gelding Red’s mane is long and has more coarse-type hair. The “underside” will really get matted and clumped, along with dreadlocks in the long hair, if I don’t take extra steps to prevent those things from happening.
I have noticed that some manes are prone to witches knots (dreadlocks) and others are not. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with the finenes of the mane either. I am not sure what it is. I have had manes which never get much care and never get matted and others that no mater what you try to do they end up with knots.
I accept that you did not intend offense, but to me, it did read that way (and still does). Just one of the many difficulties in communicating via internet forum.
You also said your horse’s mane does NOT get matted … so I’m not even sure how that applies to what I said anyway? I was talking about hair that does get matted; because that’s what I said! 
