How to Part a Wild Horse's Mane
Horse manes come in varying thicknesses and may have cowlicks and other growth patterns that prompt the mane to fall on one side or the other. Some horses have thick manes that naturally part in the middle and fall on both sides of the neck. Domesticated horses with manes that do not fall consistently on one side will typically have their manes retrained at an early age. In the wild, a horse's mane will grow however it pleases. If you adopt a wild horse, you may want to re-train its mane to give it a more conventional grooming appearance.
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Things You'll Need
- Spray bottle
- Mane comb (pulling comb)
- Hairspray
- Rubber bands
- Mane tamer
- Clippers
Instructions
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1
Brush all tangles out of the mane and pull it over onto the side of the neck where you want it to fall. Wet the mane down thoroughly with water from the spray bottle.
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2
Bring forward the hair that is growing level with or in front of the horse's ears to create a defined forelock. Push the hair that is growing behind the ears back into the mane.
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3
Use a pair of horse clippers to cut a bridle path area at the very top of your mane, which will divide the mane and forelock. The bridle path should be between 1 and 3 inches long.
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4
Braid the mane into several thick braids and use rubber bands to tie off the bottom of the braids. Braid the parts of the mane that want to fall onto the other side of the horse's neck into braids with sections of mane that are naturally inclined to hang on the side of the neck that you want the mane to fall on.
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5
Apply hairspray to the mane, especially near the roots, to help train the mane to stay in place.
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6
Put a mane tamer on your horse to hold the braids in place when the horse is in a stall. Do not turn the horse out into the pasture while wearing the mane tamer, as it can become tangled or ripped.
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Leave braids in for several days at a time and continue repeating this process until the mane is trained to lie flat on the side of the neck where you want it to.
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Tips & Warnings
You may have to periodically re-train your horse's mane as new hair grows, especially if your horse has a particularly unruly mane.
Wild horses, especially mustangs, tend to have very thick manes. If your horse has a very thick mane, you may want to use the mane pulling comb to thin out the mane before trying to train it to fall properly.
You will have to acclimate your wild horse to domesticated grooming methods, such as mane brushing, pulling and clipping, before you will be able to re-train its mane.
References
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Digital Vision/Getty Images
