Really long manes - tips / pics

JOJOBA

JOJOBA

Fluffy Bunny, apparently
Jun 22, 2004
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Edinburgh now. Sheffield in the holidays.
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Im gathering tips on how to grow a ridiculously long mane.

Bob's is quite spectacular naturally - but it has reached a point where it will no longer grow because when he puts his head down to graze it touches the ground and subsequently breaks off.

This also means that the front is shorter than at the bottom of his neck (which is spectacular - the longest tendrils are past his knees when he stands with his neck out relaxed).

So, because he now has a full neck rug to keep him warm I have put the mane into large plaits - loose at the top and tight at the bottom - and folded them over once to stop them breaking off on the ground (or getting eaten - he accidentally chews his mane sometimes as he eats!).

Bob is only 4 so has plenty of growing time left. The mane never really brushed, only carefully detangled when stuff gets stuck in it :p. It's in nice condition and very strong. When I do carefully brush/detangle it (maybe once every 8weeks) very little dead hair comes out - but that's probably because it falls out naturally in the field. I imagine I'll get more out now that it's in plaits. I live in perpetual fear of it getting eaten / broken / pulled out / cut off :o. He also has full feather and a tail which it left in dreadlocks - when these are unpicked it is 2/3 inches past floor level. When the weather picks up and he stops needing the tail for warmth / wind protection it will go into plaits too (incidentally that is why his mane has been unplaited til now).

Anyone else have a stupidly long mane or is it just me? :)

xxx
 
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How do you manage to keep mane + neck rug!! I am in awe ... If I give my guys neck rugs, they overhead under the mane and it starts falling out within about a month :( :( :( :( ...

I don' do manes that long (chest length max), but it sounds like you could do with some tailgator Mane Bags :D
 
Indi has a long mane, but doesn't sound nearly as long as yours!

I look after Indi's by always keeping it in a french/arab plait. It always stays in for atleast a month, and when I re-do it, I spray loads of Canter Mane and Tail Conditioner on it. Great stuff! It makes it so easy to brush out.

Heres a couple of pics of mine
DSC02762.jpg


And plaited

DSC01729.jpg



Have you a pic of yours?
 
How to manage a very long mane ???? .... Pull it ;):D

I'm not a long mane person (or a long unpulled or clipped anything person actually) but I have friends who show traditional coloureds seriously and they:

(1) don't turn out in bad weather .. i.e winter ;) - the mud/wind/cold temps dries out the hair
(2)insist that manes/tails are always plaited (they are floor length + a few inches) and tied up and/or in mane and tail bags. Feather is always tucked up in field gaiters.
(3) swear by Megatek (and now I do too :) )
(4) They only use Head & Shoulders shampoo for dry/damaged hair and Aussie Miracle conditioner plus Aussie 3 Minute Miracle.
 
OMG!! That is enormous! Not sure you'd even get that in an arab plait!

What sort of pony is he? He looks so hairy!
 
Fell Pony. Unregistered though :mad: which is a huge shame as he's a really nice one!

Hairiest pony in the world.

There is actually one fell pony hairier than him, on a Fell Pony Forum I go on (tail drags on floor, mane is well past knees and forelock is about 4 inches off end of nose) - but it's 3 yrs older than mine and Im hoping mine will be that hairy by the time he's 7 too ;).


All the growth shown above is natural - I havent specifically tried to grow it until now. Thats just how he is ;).


xxx
 
Jo that mane would burst me - I'd have it neatly pulled :D. All joking apart, I got one of the tailgator bags and its great - they do them for manes too and they sell the megatek which is great stuff. Its either www.tailgator.co.uk or .com - cant remember but they are brilliant!
 
IMG_5634.jpg

Hi, gorgeous long manes, Trying to grow Sisco's mane out he had a horrible cut before we got him. I have just cut a few inches off his tail as it was reaching the floor. His mane and tail are lovely and thick :)
 
Afraid i dont have anything constructive to say but he is GORGEOUS and its not often I comment on looks but i love long manes. Its that kind of look on a horse that stops me in my tracks, he's stunning. I hoped Rosie would get that lovely long wavy Haflinger mane but sadly not :(

I totally understand why you want to nuture it but its finding the balance between keeping it nice and not affecting his quality of life. I would consider keeping a horse in to protect its mane/tail totally unacceptable.
 
Ditto - Bob is unable to be stabled anyway though. He lives out 24/7, usually unrugged, and NEVER alone - I cant stand that. I would have to be really persuaded to ever stable any of my poppos, so dont worry, I would never disrupt his quality of life for something so superficial - Im very very into fufilling his natural needs!

xxx
 
I would plait his tail if it was me was well. I plait Kias. Not to the tip but about 2/3inches above.

The mane I would keep plaited, you can buy supplements to feed them/rub into the mane that help with hair growth. I know cornucrescine hoof supp is great for healthy hair/hoof growth.

I rub baby oil into my plaits as well to stop un-neccessary breakages. Keeps the hair supple as well and shiny looking too!!

Nikki xxx
 
The tail will be plaited once he stops needing it - currently it's still cold and windy so he needs it to keep warm. If the rug comes off whilst its still cold then his mane plaits will be coming out too. Dont want to cause him to be chilly :o.

The native people Ive spoken to have always advised strongly against using product - though I have heard before that Baby Oil is good and thats what the girl who has the super hairy fell uses.

At the moment I very occasionally spray a tea tree detangler from Decathlon into it, which is super good at getting rid of the knots.

xxx
 
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JOJOBA said:
The tail will be plaited once he stops needing it - currently it's still cold and windy so he needs it to keep warm. If the rug comes off whilst its still cold then his mane plaits will be coming out too. Dont want to cause him to be chilly.

The native people Ive spoken to have always advised strongly against using product - though I have heard before that Baby Oil is good.

At the moment I very occasionally spray a tea tree detangler from Decathlon into it, which is super good at getting rid of the knots.

xxx
Click to expand...


Well I have found that baby oil helps Kias in summer and winter as it stops it being brittle as well so might help stop the breakages he is having at the ends if you rub it in starting midway down or start at the root. I use the aloe or camomile stuff as I love the smell but the normal stuff is just as nice.

Works for me!! I dont want Kias breaking this year as he is getting shown au-naturale instead of plaited this year:)

Nikki xxx
 
sheryl said:
Indi has a long mane, but doesn't sound nearly as long as yours!

I look after Indi's by always keeping it in a french/arab plait. It always stays in for atleast a month, and when I re-do it, I spray loads of Canter Mane and Tail Conditioner on it. Great stuff! It makes it so easy to brush out.

Heres a couple of pics of mine
DSC02762.jpg


And plaited

DSC01729.jpg



Have you a pic of yours?
Click to expand...

Gorgeous horse - how do you do the plait? I have a part-bred Andalusian and want to put her mane up like that rather than traditional plaits - her breeder did it and I think it suits her but I don't know where to start:)
 
Baby oil dries out the hair by preventing it from absorbing moisture naturally as it is designed to.

Absolutely avoid silicones - so that's anything ending in -cone. If you do use any 'cones, if they aren't water soluable (excellent list here) you'll need a harsh sulphate shampoo to get them off, and ideally you want to avoid sulphates too.

Protein is good for some hair, not for others - usually works best on damaged hair - so Bob's ends. That's an experimental thing.

The Eqyss range (from Tailgator) is all Silicone free, but I know the shampoo at least contains sulphates, don't have anything else with me to check. If you go on the forums of Naturally Curly I know it's a curly-haired human forum, but so much of it can be applied to horses (and people with straight hair), great for checking ingredients and products, although obviously equine hair is different to human hair.

The MegaTek Rebuilder is excellent for maintaining strong healthy hair, and encouraging growth in the first place.

Over the last week Daffy has lost half his mane from under his neck rug - he's been fine since October, but now only wears the neck rug for turnout (approx 2-3 hours a day), and I'm using Megatek to help grow it back.

Plaits can encourage them to rub - I'd invest in the mane bags, which would also help to prevent bleaching which weakens the hair.

Certainly with people it's normal to lose 50-100 hairs a day, so I wouldn't worry too much if you do get quite a few coming out. Regularly massaging along his crest should help with the condition too.
 
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