to trim whiskers or not?

[Horse Mad Mum]

well I have kept this quiet by goldie and I are off to do a couple of classes tomorrow hopefully if her leg is better (she has a nasty cut and is feeling it, but it is healing well!) an how we are in two non native classes and different people have advised different things, one to trim her whiskers and one not!! I cant find anything on the breed site !! she is not trimmed in any way or pulled she is au natural so to speak!

Any thoughts?

Ps I am knackered al this cleaning and scrubbing everything lol ! HMM X

[CDR]

I'm sure their whiskers help them to find food or something and let them know distances. How important that is for horses that aren't wild though I'm not sure.

[Catg]

Sorry I'm not sure do won't try and answer your question.

Just wanted to say good luck, hope you have a good day x

[Lorraine]

I would say if you are showing the horse naturally then leave the whiskers on as they are part of the natural look, if you were trimming legs, tidying mane and tail (pulling/plaiting/hogging) then I'd take the whiskers off.

[Sasca]

I trim the end of the whiskers so they are a couple of inches long. Keeps them nice and straigh and the ponies still use them but stops them curling and making them look like old man's eyebrows!

[My Crazy Clan]

I would leave them.

[flipper]

I always left my Welsh Cob's on,but shave my Section A's off. It just gives a neater appearance, as they can look a little coarse if they have beards! The breeder of my filly is a judge and said that you can leave them on around the top of the nose if you want, but take the chin ones off and any hair around the jaw line. If you didn't want a complete hairless look, then you could shave them off a Week before a show and then they'd have grown a little by show day. Of coarse that's too late for your show tomorrow!

[merlyn26]

what breed is your horse? you say its a non native class but you are showing au natural - is it a traditional cob/coloured or an arab? if not it is most likely correct turnout is pulled plaited and trimmed - personally - unless they should keep their beards - like highlands/dales/fells etc i chop of chin beards - but leave whiskers on muzzle/over eyes on unpaiteds (maybe trim of very long stragly ones a bit shorter) but my partbred - and any other plaited - i'd trim everything off or a lot shorter.

[beks the artist]

Difficult one - I have Welsh D's, I always thought that M&M type horses/ponies should be kept natural, however at the big show I competed in last year I was told by all the producers that were there that Welshies should have their whiskers chopped. I personally still keep the whiskers on my horses as they are out 24/7 and need them on the Welsh Mountains! XX

[Horse Mad Mum]

marlyn26 she is a haflinger so not native to the uk , i was not able to find show rules on the haflinger website so in the end i left them on !!! HMM X

[merlyn26]

good choice - personally i would leave them on for that breed :-) - maybe take of beard if others in the ring do but defo not whiskers.

[Tnavas]

If you are showing in native classes for most breeds you are expected to show them in a natural state.

You can though tidy up the look - I personally hate removing the large muzzle whixkers which are their feelers. I do though remove the longer hair in the jaw area and over the side of the face. This I do by pulling them out. Take your time over it and pull only a few hairs at a time. Most horses will accept it - those that don't I use the special horse razors - or a coarse blade on my clippers and clip the hair in line with the lie of the coat rather than into the base of the hair. I usually turn the clipper head upside down to do this as it is more controllable and leaves no lines. Like shaving your legs it does grow back all at the same time whereas pulling the whiskers out means they grow back at different rates - so no 6pm stubble.