How do you make a mane shorter but not thinner?

[iloveshearer]

Question in the title :)

[CurlyWurlyRach]

you attack it with a pair of sharp scissors :D

[iloveshearer]

Arrggg his owner would kill me lol :p

[Est]

No really, you do! (Not a pudding basin cut, I hasten to add :D )
I was shown this at a RS. It did a nice job on a horse with a long, thin mane that needed shortening and tidying, but without losing any more bulk.
Use thinning scissors if possible, but otherwise a normal pair will do.
Start exactly as if you were going to pull - take a small section of mane, and use a pulling comb or normal mane comb to backcomb it so you are left holding just the longer hair from underneath. CAUTION! You should only be holding a FEW hairs! Use the scissors to make a few diagonal snips into this longer hair, taking off between 1-2cm in length. Comb all the hair in that section back down, and repeat again. Work up (or down) the mane. Once you've done that, assess the new length and then repeat process over again until the mane is the length you want. By taking the length off gradually over a few sessions, you get a much more natural look with "feathered" edges, just like a good hairdresser would!

[KarinUS]

I do the diagonal snips thing, too. I copied it from my hairstylist. It's the way they cut your bangs at the better salons (so you don't end up looking like a first-grader)

[iloveshearer]

Ahah that does sound like it'd work nicely actually thanks! i'll give it a try! The idea is that i do it so it doesn't look too bad because his owner has only just come round to the idea that he WOULD look better with a short mane :p

[Jessey]

You can also use a solo comb, just like you are going to pull (back combing so you just have a few hairs left which you would normally pull out) and then just snip them with the comb at the length you want the mane rather than at the top :D

[parsharainbow]

yeah I always use a solo comb, they work really well on TB manes, I don't find them so good on Cob type manes though, they look cut for somereason :confused:

In fact someone asked me why my Mare's mane resembled a thatched roof last weekend :o , I won't be using it on her again as her mane is really thick and does need to be thinned, my TB boys look fine though :)

[iloveshearer]

I'm going to give it a go later, i'm just worried it'll look like i've cut it because it did look like that last time i tried and it looks reiculous! Thanks for your help :D