Bridle horses/shaving withers

[Sue]

First of all.. YAHOO! I get to be the first on this part of the board!

Okay.. now to my question.

When roached manes were all the rage (dating myself to the age of fashionable buckstitching and taco hats) I always heard that the section of unroached mane over the withers was left to prevent soreness there by the saddle pad rubbing on the shaved part.

Is this true? If it is, why wouldn't it make the shaved withers signifying a horse's stage of training sore?

On a side note/opinion relative to the 70's... I am not sure that roached manes and shortened tails weren't a good fashion for horses. Todays 2 inch-long banded manes with horrible wigs/extensions in their tails doesn't do them any favors.

[RockinCircleC]

I haven't found a difference either way really. I don't show, though. And I think it depends on which breed shows you are talking about when it comes to what is "in" vs. "out" as well.

My Arab mare seems more comfortable when I keep her withers trimmed (she's a snaffle bit horse right now) as her mane is so darn thick. Even though she's trimmed, she still gets mane worked back in there while riding. It has to be irritating I would think, since I get frustrated when my long hair gets pulled into a coat wrong or something like that.

[red]

that little tuft of hair served us well, when we were clipper wielding yutes...lol roach their manes, shave their legs to their knees...show sheen and the fumes of Wipe fly repellent, in that old coffee can. Alpaca silver was the junky stuff, and there was no such thing as montana silver...we used to call that "tin". I dunno. I thought that little tuft of hair was left on so that I could get on bareback...and then it gave ya something to fiddle with..
I don't think a proper pad would sore a naked wither. I do know that sometimes a tangled mane jambed under a pad might be irritating...if you browse thru some of the photographs that David Stocklein has produced, you will see that notching a mane is still a good way to signify the "level" of training a horse has..same as with mules, and belled tails..hold overs from the days when horses and mules were revered for their abilities and place on a working ranch...not just going in circles in the show pen. Still, nothin like a lime popsicle, on a hot day, ridin bareback to the creek. Bliss.

[Mulie]

When I roach my mules manes I always leave a tuft on the withers. I don't really know if it makes a difference, but I always sort of felt that once the hair grew just a bit if it was stiff it might rub back and forth and get sore. "show sheen and Wipe in a coffee can" Now that brings back memories!

[Excess]

I always shave a bridle path on Speedy - fold the ear back and shave to the point. I also shave the withers because I just don't like the idea of leaving hair there to get in the saddle pad. I would think it would cause irritation. I do like a nice long mane on my horse. It's not down to his knees or shoulders by any means, but it takes up his whole neck for the most part. In the summer I usually braid it up in 6-7 straight loose braids to keep it off his neck. I have considered roaching it btu I don't think I could bring myself to gut off his mane. I can't stand that short cropped western pleasure mane....where its just 3" long and curled over? Same with hunter jumpers. I like my manes long and natural.

I DID read recently that the way a mane was cut with tufts meant something. This is a direct quote so I won't mess it up when I try to paraphrase:

"When the horse was in the hackamore stage, his mane was roached for abou teight inches starting at the withers and going up the neck. The next stage, teh double-reined horse was represented by two fufts of hair an inch high and half an inch wide, spaced an inch apart in the middle of the roached area. The distinguished mark for a "straight up bridle horse" was a single tuft. With this system, the training level of every horse in the herd could be determined just by looking at it"

I found that very interesting. Speedy is roached at the withers...but not for 8 inches!

[RockinCircleC]

http://www.lesliedesmond.com/index.php?id=133
Towards the bottom discusses notching the withers. The Code of the West Lives