Many people, that are not familiar with horses, may be wondering why exactly people cut their hair or shave their bodies. The answer to this curiosity is for cleanliness and health reasons. A big part of it is also tradition since people have been riding horses for thousands of years. 

It is very common for people to cut their horse’s mane, this is the hair that grows out from the top of their necks. The most common “style” for English riders is probably to cut it to a length of two or three inches. Another very strange grooming standard is having all of their horse’s hair on one side of their neck. People will do all sorts of things to try and “train” the hair to go in one direction like banding (see the picture below). Another style that is less common is roaching a horse’s hair. This means cutting it so short that it stands up rather than laying flat against their neck. Riders also have to consider the breed of horse, because there are breed specifications that are supposed to be followed. One example would be Arabians because their mane is not supposed to be cut at all. 

 

People will also clip or shave their horse’s fur during the fall and into winter. This might seem a little counterproductive because spring and summer are the hottest seasons. You may be asking “why remove fur just when it is about to get cold when they need it?” The answer to this question would be that there is actually a pretty sound method to this madness. During the summer when horses are exercised, they sweat and will probably be given a bath. This bath will cool them off and remove the salty sweat and then they will eventually dry off. In the winter when horses are exercised, they sweat but cannot be given a bath. The water can potentially freeze while you are in the process of bathing or it will simply make the horse very cold. Even just sweat can leave a horse shivering when there is little sun and the temperatures drop at night. The remedy to this is to remove some or all of their hair. This way they will be much less likely to sweat during a ride. After a horse has been clipped, they do need to have a blanket since someone just took off their natural jacket.    

One more area of their body that is pretty common to shave are their fetlocks. This is the fur that grows from their ankles. The reason behind this is that it gives horses a cleaner look and it makes cleaning mud off their legs much easier.    

Overall, these are just some of the very common clipping routines that are generally out of a combination of tradition and practicality. Let me know which ones surprised you.