Showing Natives

[Lucy J]

Now that Maxwell is doing much better andnot wild anymore, I'd like to show him in hand, however, while i know you should show natives in their 'natural' state, i feel his mane needs tidied up a little, he has lots of short bits of mane on the left hand side of his neck and his forelock goes down to his nose (although that looks really cute!)

what tidying up / how much tidying up is acceptable for showing a native. I've trimmed his tail, but don't know what to do with his mane, its really long, but thats sweet, i just feel he looks scruffy.

help!

[kyanya]

What breed is he? The prep. for each breed can be slightly different

[Gemma16]

Thats a very good point Kyanya.

If he is dales or fell, you leave the mane as long as poss and just pull it a tiny little bit if it is really jagid, but so it still looks as naturel as it can.

If he is welsh, depending on his neck size you can pull the man qite short. I personally keep Taffy's quite long, but if your horse has a poor neck then a shorter mane would be better.

Connies, NF can be either like welshies too, but I have most commonly seen them with shorter more pulled manes.

As for Dartmoors, exmoors and shetlands, they seem to keep there manes quite long too, but tidy.

As for the bits of mane on the other side of his neck I would try to train it over all onto one side. I shouldn't matter if they are a little shorter than the rest as you can't really notice it when its all lying flat.

Hope this has helped a bit:D

[Mehitabel]

http://historicalfact.com/~es/horses/showing/natives.html

the grey in the pic on that page (petal) is a forester, she's pulled mane to about 6 inches, tail lightly pulled, feathers off, whiskers and beard off.

[Lucy J]

so 'natural state' in showing means simply not plaited, everything hairy comes off anyway?

oh dear, I've got 10inches x 6inches of mane to get rid of!!!

[Mehitabel]

depends on the breed. connies and foresters are generally pulled - you can go au naturel, but on them it tends to look scruffy rather than impressive. welshes are optional - you can go either way - and the others are left hairy. it suits highlands though -the long flowing mane and feathers look fantastic - but a forester just looks a mess! it is an option, and the ones who run out on the forest or are forest bred are often shown hairy, but you will look out of place in the ring in most cases.

[Mossy]

What breed is he? It really is critical as I don't touch Moss mane or tail apart from to make sure they are clean and not poo coloured. The Heavy natives really should not be touched. Have loook on the breed site as it should tell you "What is proper" for that breed.

[Lucy J]

he is a forest bred new forest. very hairy.

[kyanya]

http://www.newforestpony.com/misc/ShowTips.htm is specifici to the showing of New forest ponies, and the preparation.

[wildponies]

just to add to this thread - im thinking of showing my welshie ex-wild mare soon but she's really hairy.. can i clip? and should whiskers stay on or be snipped? Also how do you make a white horse whiter than white?!

[Lucy J]

i've heard that washing powder is good atmaking tem whiter than white, but for tails, i'd be worried about using washing powder on their skin. the dream coat shampoo is pretty good though.

just come back from the yard. Maxwell is so hairy, i don't know where to start! his forelock is so cute long, it will be such a sin to pull it!

[Gemma16]

Hi wildponies, you shouldn't clip your pony as it is to late and would interfear with the groath of the summer coat. It's going to take lots of elbow grease and white hair everywhere to get that coat out:D

[sozzie]

wildponies -whiskers should always be left as the horse needs them as a sensory aid.

Don't want to hijack Lucy's thread but really want to know whether you need to show a welsh pony with it's mane on the "correct side". The pony I'm about to loan has most ofher mane on the "wrong" side. is it worth training it to lie the other way?

[*Glitter storm*]

Special shampoos for white horses are good but if using washing powder use non-bio and only a little. make sure it all comes out tho because it gets very irritating on the skin. feathers should not be cut off they should be left, take off whiskers with a horse razor/clippers and the long 'cat' hairs under the chin, sometimes found along neck an underside of belly with clippers, these are the wiry hairs not the smooth fluffy ones taht are shorter. with natives try to pull the tail not cut it, its frowned upon. with larger welshes epsepcially in hand many people hack it quite short with a knife! a good tip would be to look in a showing book for your respective breed and check specific things from the pictures. good luck with your showing! i do that with my welshie ones!
xxx

[*Glitter storm*]

there is no rule about what side it goes on that i've heard of, if you want to spend the time you may as well but its not necessary.
xxx

[Gemma16]

I have just been looking at photos and found two ways i have had Taffs mane. I personally prefer the longer one. But this shows you can both have them long and short.
http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v96/Tafster/Taff_short_mane_pic.jpg

http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v96/Tafster/Taff_long_mane_pic.jpg

[Kanuma]

the easiest way to train a mane on to the correct side is to wash pony and put one of those licra hoods on them when youve got it on the correct side, do it the night before the show and normaly it should stay there for the show (i do it on both my conny and my arab, my arabs mane is rediculasly thick and is currently 2ft long, and it normaly lies on the wrong side but the hood makes it stay on the right side for the show!)

[Mehitabel]

for showing, it's better if the mane is on the correct (right hand) side.
lucy - leave his forelock - they're meant to have a lot of it. petal's is pathetic - i wish she had more.
just shape it - break off the edges so it goes down to a nice V shape.