Ever since I read about the ban in some European countries, I no longer trim mine. I figure, if it’s good enough for the Germans…
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:lol:
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Would you do it to your cat? I’m going to bet that’s a solid no. So why would you do it to your horse?
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Does no one else see a middle ground: trimming the muzzle whiskers to 1" or 1 1/2"? Doesn’t matter to me because I have a pretty non-hairy TB and I leave them alone, but when I was grooming for a friend competing at FEI I used to do that. Horses couldn’t have cared less (trust me, he’d tell you) and never saw any indication that he missed the rest of them. And it was a lot easier to keep them out of the drop part of his figure 8.
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This. I’ve trimmed and left long on my various horses over the years and never noticed any difference in behavior.
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This horse
Was on about year 6 of not having his nose whiskers trimmed because he was a headshaker on a program that worked and I wasn’t going to tempt fate. Can you tell? Because the only way a judge could was if we accidentally jumped into the judge’s booth.
After I stopped showing him I started trimming nose whiskers on the young horse because old habits die hard, and while I didn’t trim Robbie’s nose I started out in the breed world and did a lot of halter classes. 40 blade and baby oil was my 80’s mantra. But now I’m older and have less f***s to give so the current crop has whiskers.
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I trim the eye vibrissae on my Paint mare. If I don’t, they get 8 plus inches long, and she doesn’t like it when those long hairs get trapped under the cheeks of the halter or bridle.
I trim them to about three inches.
I ve never had this issue with any other horses, but the Paint mare has My Little Pony hair.
I shave the muzzle, but never the long eye ones. The longer they get, the more I laugh. Ears get the floofs taken out but not shaved. I shave the back of the pasterns/fetlock. Any goat hairs on the jaw are goners.
My shaving whiskers will not stop my sooper smart mare from banging the top of her head on her salt block when coming up from hay every.single.time. It also won’t stop her from aggressively smashing her grain into the bottom of the bucket because she prefers it pulverized. It does prevent the whiskers from getting trapped in the flash, which she violently objects to.
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I still shave the muzzle for two reasons:
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I know that there are supposedly anecdotal cases of horses hurting their faces but I have never ever heard of a case of this in my 30 years of being around horses. I have discussed this at times with trainers and horse friends and still have not heard of this causing a problem. I have shaved the muzzle of horses who had previous had long whiskers and they didn’t ever seem to have trouble navigating or bumping themselves.
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I work in medical research, so I am very evidence-oriented. I did a literature search on this topic a couple years ago and could not find a single source proving that the muzzle whiskers are in fact vibrissae, as are the whiskers around the eyes.
Without having ever heard of even a single a pretty clear cut case of a horse injuring themselves due to lack of muzzle whiskers or any scientific proof that the muzzle whiskers are vibrissae, I default to the clean aesthetic of shaving the muzzle. If anyone has found scientific literature to the contrary, I would be very interested in taking a look.
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I get lots and lots and lots of grief from people around me about my horse’s whiskers. I don’t trim them. I refuse to. They were put there for a reason so I leave them alone. With ears I only trim anything that sticks out beyond the edge of the ear. I leave anything within the ear alone for fly protection.
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I don’t trim whiskers and dare I say I LOVE my mare’s ear tuffs and think they are adorable. No trim for the ears either.
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Do you leave your own body hair untouched since it is there for a reason? (Sorry…I realize this sounds ridiculously antagonistic, which isn’t really my intention…just trying to a) justify my own position, and b) give some food for thought.)
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Everything is retired here and kept neat and tidy. Regular trimming every 6-8 weeks including eye whiskers (not cut all the way down), nose whiskers, and bridle paths. I leave the ears for insect reasons but when we showed more the ears were rimmed with clippers and only fully clipped for the big-big shows. I trim the eyes because with fly masks on it must get really uncomfortable having them bent over into the eye when trying to keep the pesky bugs off of them.
None of mine have ever had a whisker trimming issue and I have seen them still get close to a hot wire to sense it no different than they would if they had whiskers.
I have OCD about them looking unkempt. They stand quietly with no ill effects about being clipped; they actually fall asleep and seem to enjoy the attention. I certainly wouldn’t call it abuse.
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I play both sides of this fence.
I trim muzzle whiskers and shorten eye whiskers (but not remove totally) the day before Opening Day of formal hunt season and then again the day before Opening Day the following year. 
I stopped shaving the insides of ears clean when I started hunting and just trim the outsides and any major tufts that might be sticking out so it looks neater, but they still have hair to protect from insects in the ears.
I, too, grew up shaving whiskers and in my 40+ years with horses in my life have never once seen a face or eye injury come out of it. Or even heard of one. I think the not-trimming thing is probably a fad, personally, and in 20 years we’ll all be talking about “remember when people thought it was dangerous to clip whiskers??”.
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My mare came to me head shy and ear shy at a dangerous level. I see no reason to push clippers on her. I can curry her face and ears, put a bridle or halter on without incident now. No need to pick the clipper/scissor on or around her head battle.
Clip away! You do you. Just don’t be the rail bird making snide comments about my horse’s whiskers and ear tuffs that IMO are freaking adorable.
And no I don’t use a bonnet to hide them because ear issues.
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:lol::lol: Totally get it. I actually can’t do my mare’s right ear, so I often don’t bother unless she’s sedated for some reason (like hocks 1x/yr). I couldn’t possibly judge one way or the other at this point. Anyone who makes a decision for their horse’s well-being is a do-gooder in my book!
My point is, would you get it if you randomly saw me at a show? Or would you privately pass judgement?
Me personally, no. I stand by my comment that anyone who makes a decision for their horse’s well being is not someone I would judge. There are exceptions but not this. With that said, I’m sure there are people out there who would see that at a show and be judgy about it!
I think these days you are just as likely to be snarked at by the sanctimonious types if you do clip. Horse Culture Wars.
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I don’t really care if someone wants to leave whiskers…just don’t tell me it’s cruel and abuse if I don’t.
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