This message is from: Anneli Sundkvist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Frank wrote:
>>I need better reasons to do it as "public loves it in the parades" or "It just looks good" ! We are talking about your horse's dignity and if it feels well or not. If you cut it I think you take some function away, that would not be there if it had no meaning. In nature everything has a function.>> As I said in my first post on this subject, the truely wild horses = the horses that has never been domesticated, 'cut' their manes too. They chew them off each other. At this date, the Przewalskii horse is the only living wild horse, but there are paintings, e.g. from the famous cave in Lascaux, France (20-15000 BC) and carvings of horse's heads made by Cro-Magnon artists (c. 10000 BC) that all show horses with short manes. This was before the domestication of the horse. Obviously, the horses themselves used to remove the the manes, so even if Mother Nature had a thought when she decided to give the horses manes, the horses themself didn't realise that... Long manes, on the other hand, are something that is connected to the domesticated horse and man's influence on horses. It was WE who wanted long manes that blew proudly in the wind, not the horses or nature. I don't realise what dignity has to do with if the mane is cut or not. I actually belive that the horse doesn't care. My horse is the only one with cut mane (and the only fjord) in his present barn. He doesn't seem to care much about that. I actually don't know if he has ever realised that - 'hmmm....I have short mane, the other guys have long manes...' >>I just started this (as I said) since I'm curious. My horse has UNCUTTED manes and I think it is nice - cost some more time to keep it nice and clean, but anyway.....>> And, finally, I belive that time is seldom a factor when fjord owners decide to cut their horses manes. When I worked on the summer camp, I cut 2 manes/day, the summer through and I hated it. I would have prefered to let the kids to groom the manes (which they wanted to!), but I cut them since I, myself, think that a Fjord with long mane in some respects doesn't look like a Fjord. This is individual and anyone can think what they like, but a long mane is NOT 'more natural' than a short. Regards Anneli in Sweden
