Monday, November 17, 2014

Let's Talk Hair!!

photo by Lauren - She Moved to Texas
I'm guessing most of you don't stalk my pony pictures QUITE this thoroughly, but if you do, then you've probably noticed that Courage's hair looks a little different than last year. It's not that I've forgotten how to turn a horse out properly. It's that I'm trying something new. Ho boy! Hair trend.

See, I've been watching pictures and videos of the big jumpers who go to the cool shows. Beezie Madden comes to mind, but I don't know how to get my hands on non-stolen photos of her. Anyways. Courage and I are aiming towards the jumpers and within the jumper ranks, I was noticing a fun trend I wanted to try.







photo by Lauren - She Moved to Texas
Noted: all photos not of Courage are by Lauren from She Moved to Texas and are used with permission. She will probably hate me a little bit for taking a few that aren't as perfect as the others, but I'm using the ones that illustrate my topic the best. 

Point is, manes are moving in the longer and thicker direction, while tails are staying thick and getting shorter. It's trendy. It's modern. It's cool.


photo by Lauren - She Moved to Texas
It's also wildly practical. The tail is up out of the way looking fabulous and not collecting dirt. The mane is thick enough to hang on to (I do that) or help keep flies off (Courage likes that). It's not as easily braidable (unless you do dutch braids), but I also hate braiding.

There are a lot of different examples floating around out there. I don't actually care for the mane of the bay in the second picture--it looks sloppy and scissored, which is always tacky.

he's so attractive. can't believe he's mine.

I don't let Courage do tacky (unless you hate stars, which means you need to get over yourself).

Thus, I've been carefully growing out his mane while keeping the ends maintained for a tidy but longer and fuller look. At the same time, I banged his tail. I want to keep it at this length for the time being and let it get a little fuller. Come spring, we'll see if I want to grow more length.

I'll be honest: after so many years of short, thin manes, I wasn't really sure I could deal with longer hair on a horse of mine. But you know what? I kind of love it.

30 comments:

  1. I love the longer, thicker look! Both of my girls are completely au naturale and I love it. :)

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  2. Does that mean Guinness and I are stylish? I do dutch braids on him, which requires TONS of hair. As an OTTB, that's tough to come by. So I bluntly chop his mane (using a bot knife, not scissors) at 5" long and don't pull a bit of it. It's ridiculously thick, and getting thicker every year. His tail, meanwhile, is usually banged shorter than most. He's on full turnout in a muddy pasture, and I hate muddy tails and braiding. I didn't realize this was new trend... are we trendsetters? ;)

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  3. Plus, if you do the jumpers, you don't need to braid until you do like, Grand Prix level ;)

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  4. I pulled like half of simons mane out in my lesson yesterday. I'm not even trendy but I need mane for survival at this point.

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  5. love the more natural mane! what's your technique on courage? i thought this was a great DIY, and i think i'll incorporate it into auto's mane care.

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    1. Oh! I will take pics and make a how-to later this week.

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  6. I like this trend, too! Tim's mane had clearly been cute with scissors shortly before I bought him (oh, the horror!), and since then, I've been keeping it a little bit longer and extremely thick. It also sticks straight up in the air no matter how many times I braid it down, which is a cute look.

    I do love a long, luscious tail though. Houston's tail makes me green with envy...

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  7. GASP! You, not having a horse with a perfectly pulled mane??? I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you. ;)

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  8. I love a thicker mane, but I'm not necessarily into the longer look. There is a fine line before you hit messy.

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  9. I love long manes, all of my guys have long natural manes. (Well, I'm attempting it whilst my QH has issue with sweet itch)

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  10. Have to admit, I'm not a fan of the long cut mane look. It reminds me of the awful mid 90's bowl cuts. I do love a banged tail though.

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  11. Yea, I'm with 900FBpony on this one... I like a braided up mane. I do like banged tails though, too.

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  12. I like that having a short tail is now a trend. Now my horse has one less loser thing to be embarrassed about.

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  13. The fuller, longer mane looks great on Courage - a testament to the neck muscling =) And I, too, love the short tail trend, since Hemie doesn't grow much of one...

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  14. i like the look of short, well-maintained manes... but prefer the utility of having a little something extra to hold onto. and then there's isabel, whose long flowing locks usually have me completely baffled lol

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  15. I am such a hunter princess, I don't think I could ever bang my horse's tail. That said, it does look GREAT on jumpers

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  16. I've always owned horses, with the exception of Yankee pants, that have insane manes and no tail. Bacardi has neither of each so that's cool. But Yankee was a wild child with hair. Always loved the look of a full mane, but without the length. I think itll look awesome on the C-rage

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  17. My horses' tails are banged, which I think looks nice. Gina has a very long, thick tail, while poor Moe has a short, sad, thin tail that no amount of product, process, or praying has helped.

    I'm kind of into the thick mane look- I love it when they have wild mohawks!

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  18. Blessed with an appaloosa who has a ridiculously thick made and tail, he's an anomaly really. It's so thick, I had to stop pulling it the traditional way because it just hurt him so darn bad. So I keep it a bit on the longer side and tidy it with a solo comb. His tail however, he often holds high like an crazy arabian when he goes around, so I keep it trimmed to his fetlock. My issue has been the mane condition...so I'd love to know how to tame a coarse, thick, half curly, half straight mane, I have not found the right mix of products yet to do it. I love a glossy, flat mane!

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  19. As long as it looks intentional, I am good with hair. I don't like long manes bur I think you mean comparatively long/thick which looks stylish with a ultra straight banged tail.

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  20. Yay, I don't have to kill myself trying to keep Roscoe's mane crazy short. I bang his tail, but could never go that short. Looks good on Courage though.

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  21. The longer jumper mane trend is totally cool with me, so long as the trend of leaving it longer but just chopping it straight off with scissors (which was very chic about 5 years ago) is gone! That drove me NUTS every time I saw it!

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  22. Chrome's mane looks about that length, but not that thick (his will never be thick), but it's only because I'm growing his roach out for the winter hehe. I think Courage looks amazing! So gorgeous! He looks awesome with a banged tail, but I don't think I could ever bang my horses tail. Maybe it's because we aren't jumpers hehe.

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  23. Looks good! I do the jumpers at rated shows and you see it all. I pull the mane and then even with scissors. You have to be careful with really thin manes not to pull to much. You are "supposed" to bang their tail at the hocks but I let mine go a little longer.

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  24. I love this look - minus the short tail unless its short naturally. I leave Pennys mane pretty long - and everyone makes fun of me! Its perfectly flat and straight and I can still do nice button braids for dressage. I love how her hair flies in pictures with it!

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100473730742490&set=t.89904871&type=3&theater

    Courage looks great!

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  25. Love the longer look, anything that requires less maintenance on my part is a win ☺
    #lazy

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  26. I saw the post title and it made me think OMG someone understands my hatred for messy riding hair/hairnet business... Insert foot in mouth when I read it...

    But all in all I love the new look for ponykins, personally I will always rock the traditional, but I admire those who rock the au natural!

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  27. R-Dawg can't get a thick mane or tail to save his life. I guess that means we will never be trendy

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  28. So my winter hair routine is trendy, you're telling me? Haha. No mane pulling under 50F + needing to trim up that tail so it doesn't get snow/mud icicles in it = exactly what you're talking about. Connor's is banged higher than ever right now, about midway down his cannon bone behind.

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