Training a horse's mane?

[ShinyGreenApple]

Well, Sawyer's mane is long enough now that it's no longer growing directly up However, the middle section is laying on one side, and the sections near his head and withers are laying on the opposite side. A few months ago, I tried putting it in some chunky braids. I took them out after three days or so, and his mane stayed . . . for a while. Then it flopped right back to his crazy bedhead look. The only tips I've found online say to put it in braids and leave it for a week, but I've found that leaving braids in the mane that long will cause a lot of the hairs to fall out when you do take out the braids. And I don't have one of those sleazy pajama things to put on his neck, either. Can some of my fellow horsey CSers help me out? We never had this problem with our mare's mane when she was young.

[Nyoibo]

It can't really be done, you can have it on one side for a while for shows and such, but you're not going to change it, it's the same as the part in human hair, it's there naturally, you can't change it, but you can disguise it.

[Fire_on_High]

Then it flopped right back to his crazy bedhead look.

[Seshat]

The only tips I've found online say to put it in braids and leave it for a week, but I've found that leaving braids in the mane that long will cause a lot of the hairs to fall out when you do take out the braids.

My hair does that. Everyone's hair does that.

Think about this: when you braid hair, you trap the hairs all together. This is fine - except that everyone sheds hair every day. In non-braided hair, some of that shedding falls out over the course of the day. That's why when you comb a braid out, you get 'so much' hair in the brush, even if it's only been braided for one day.

So if you have hair that's braided for a week, then take the braids out, a week's worth of shedding comes out when you brush the hair.


Braid his mane for a full 24 hours. Comb it out. Keep it. Braid his mane for a full week. Comb it out. Compare it to the 24-hours comb-out amount. If it's close-enough to 7 times as much, you can safely ignore the 'extra' shedding.

[RetailWorkhorse]

it's the same as the part in human hair, it's there naturally, you can't change it, but you can disguise it.

Sure ya can. Done it before (used to have a part on my right side, now it's on the left). Will probably do it again.

[DesignFox]

This is one horsie topic I have yet to learn the answer to. If I remember, I'll see if my instructor has an answer when I go to the barn tomorrow.

[DesignFox]

Hey LadyBarbarossa! I don't know if you got an answer to your question or not, but I came across something that might help you.

The following is from an article in USDF Connections April 2009 edition, written by Kathy Johnson and Valerie Eric. It's called "The 60 Minute Makeover"

According to the article, braid the mane on the side you want it to go on. Let the braids hang, and clamp fishing weights to the ends to train it down. The only down side is that the braids may itch, so your horse might start to rub on it. It is suggested to leave them in for as little time as possible.

Good luck!