How to Make Your Horse's Mane Stay on One Side

A show horse's mane should lie neatly and uniformly on the right side of his neck.

In an ideal world, all horses would have manes that grew in neatly on the right side of their necks without cowlicks or splitting off in multiple directions. While a lopsided mane or one that grows on the "wrong" side is only a minor annoyance to the owner of horses who never sets hoof inside a show ring, it can be frustrating for riders who compete in disciplines that require horses to present a specific look, such as a neatly pulled, banded or braided mane. Retraining a horse's mane takes a significant amount of time and effort.

Things You'll Need

• Mane tamer
• Pulling comb
• Rubber bands
• Hair spray
• Spray bottle of water

Instructions

1. Use the mane pulling comb to pull the excess hair from the mane and get it the right length. A show horse's mane should be four to four and a half inches long and lie on the right side of the horse's neck. Once the mane has been pulled to the appropriate length, wash and condition it.

2. Braid the horse's mane on the right side of his body. Fat, thick, heavy braids will work best for weighting down the mane and pulling it onto the right side. If you are having problems pulling it over, wet it with a spray bottle as you braid.

3. Spray the mane down with a liberal application of hair spray. Put mane tamer over the horse's head and neck. Keep mane tamer on the horse. Keep mane braided for a week, fixing braids and sections of mane as necessary.

4. Remove braids from the mane and brush the mane out. Most manes will be retrained after a week, but some may required continued training and maintenance in order to stay on the correct side.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are in the process of preparing for a horse show, you will need to either constantly maintain your mane maintenance or begin retraining the mane in the week or two prior to show day. Attempting to get the mane to behave properly the day before the show might not work.

• Inexpensive, high-strength hair spray will work better for retraining manes than high quality, soft-feeling sprays.

References

• Local Riding: Grooming a Horse's Mane
• The Show Planner: Banding a Horse's Mane