If your horse is overheating in the summer, or suffering from a skin condition, then hogging your horse’s mane might by the best way to manage them.
Hogging or Roaching is the term given to the total removal of a horse’s mane and often forelock. Hogged horses, especially show horses also have their feather removed. Hogging can help horses with a heavy thick mane keep cool in summer. It is also standard for some showing classes, and used by other owners for easy maintenance and aesthetics.
If you’re thinking about hogging your horse’s mane, then read on to find out why, how, and how often you’ll be removing the mane, and how to look after a hogged horse.
What’s The Purpose Of A Horse’s Mane
A horse’s mane and forelock is used to keep flies and midges away in summer. When it’s wet, the mane is used to repel water and keep the neck warm and dry.
If you hog your horse then it is advisable to use rugs with neck covers during the winter as the ability of the horse to keep warm has been compromised. This is only when appropriately low temperatures however. Cobs, which are the normal breed to be hogged, are generally hardy enough not to need continual rugging.
Should I Hog My Cob
Hogging or roaching your cob is a personal choice and there are many reasons. If you’ve ever questioned why do people roach their horse’s mane, below are the most likely reasons:
- Keeping cool: If your horse has a very heavy and thick mane he may become overheated in the summer months. Plaiting may not be possible on a regular basis, so hogging would help keep your horse cool and comfortable when the temperatures rise.
- Medication: If you need to apply medication or lotion to to neck area it can be difficult if there’s a lot of hair to contend with. If your horse suffers from sweet-itch, rainscald, or other skin problem hogging your horse will allow more of the medication to reach the place it is needed.
- Airing: Allowing air to reach under the mane, especially after exercise, ensure that the warm and damp don’t bring on any infections. Removing the mane means you need not worry about this happening.
- Rubbing: A horse that rubs out his mane for whatever reason may benefit from having the mane roached. With no mane there is less likelihood of it getting entangled in fences or elsewhere
- Thin mane: Some horses simply aren’t blessed with wonderful flowing manes. For those whose mane looks thin or wispy, hogging may the answer to smarten up their look.
- Show Cob: If you’re intending to show your cob in specific classes you may be required to hog the mane. Bear in mind that the feather is also removed and the tail trimmed to hock length for these classes.
- Maintenance: Some owners hog their horses simply because it’s easier maintenance. Hours can be saved as there is no need to wash and brush manes and feather.
So, if you’re wondering should I roach/hog my horse, please realise that there is no reason that you shouldn’t and for some horses it will make their lives more comfortable.
What Do I Use To Roach My Horse’s Mane
Roaching or hogging your horse’s mane is a relatively straight forward process. Below shows the steps you can take to get the perfect hogged horse:
- Clean: Wash and dry your horse’s mane before hogging. Do not add conditioner after washing
- Forelock: Decide if you’re going to remove the forelock as well as the mane.
- Flat: Lay all of the mane on one side of the horse’s neck.
- Brush: Brush out to lay hair reasonably flat. It doesn’t need to be show quality brushed, just enough that the mane lays flat.
- Scissors: Use scissors to cut to approximately 3 inches from the neck.
- Clippers: Use your clippers, following the neck line.
- Remember: You can always take more off, go slowly.
- Perfect: After these steps you should have the perfect hogged horse.
It may take a few times to be comfortable with the process of hogging your horse, but eventually it will become the easiest part of the clipping process.
How Often Should I Roach/Hog
This really depends upon how fast your horse’s mane grows and whether your have hogged it for aesthetic or medical reasons.
If you are hogging the lower maintenance or just like the way it looks when hogged, then the world is your oyster. You can hog as often or as little as you like and there is no-one to tell you how it ought to be.
If you are showing, then it will need to be hogged so as to look smart on show day. Trimming a couple of days before the show will ensure a neat and settled look.
Medical reasons for hogging may increase the frequency of your hogging as you will need the lack of hair to help get the medicated cream/oil, directly onto the skin. This is especially true if you are trying to combat lice by removing hair.
Your horse will probably need hogging once per month, but this depends upon how quickly your horse grows his hair. Some horses will need more frequent attention, and others less.
Is Feather Removed When Hogging?
Traditionally if you hog your horse then you would also remove the horse’s feather. In specific show classes it is a requirement for feather to be clipped if the horse is hogged.
However, removing the feather can also be an attempt to reduce the possibility of mud fever in winter and cracked heels when it’s dry.
Feather can also hide injuries, letting them get worse before they are noticed unless the legs are scrutinized every day.
Is It OK To Hog A Horse’s Mane and What Are The Risks Of Hogging A Mane
There are good reasons to hog a horse’s mane, from being cooling in summer, to managing skin issues in either summer or winter.
Show Cob classes require entrants to be turned out in a particular way. Cobs should be hogged with their feathers clipped off to be considered correct.
Whilst it is considered ‘correct’ to also remove the forelock, if you’re not planning to show, then it really is up to the owner.
There are no real risks of hogging a mane, bar the obvious clippers/scissors slipping. The main problems are that either you won’t like the results, or it may not suit the horse.
There are always two sides to a story though. Keep reading to discover the pros and cons.
Roaching Manes: The Pros and Cons
What are the benefits of a roached mane. On the pro side, as mentioned above, the following are true:
- Easier management: No washing/brushing
- Medication: Simpler to reach the skin
- Unwanted Friends: Can help in control of lice and/or mites
- Showing: Correct for some classes
- Rubbed out/thin/scraggly: Hogging can be like a new start for your horse’s mane
- Cool: No thick mane to overheat horse in summer months
- Hygienic: When your horse gets sweaty after exercise there is no long mane to provide a warm and damp environment for bacteria to grow
There are of course downsides to hogging:
- Sun-cream: Especially if your horse has pink skin, using sun cream to prevent any burning may be required
- Growth: If you decide that you want your horse to have a full mane again, you’ll have to wait a very long time
- Fly mask/veil: With no mane or forelock your horse will need help with keeping the flies off his face
- Confirmation: Your horse may not look as you’d expected once you’ve hogged. At this point there is very little that you can do but wait.
If a horse has a thin or too long neck, then hogging can accentuate the problem whereas a mane, plaited or loose can hide these problems. This is why it is important to look at your horse objectively before committing yourself to hogging.
If you want to enter show cob classes, it may be wise to ask the opinion of a local judge if your horse is a good candidate for hogging. Some horses look far better with no mane, whilst the opposite is true for other horses.
Conclusion
Hogging can be carried out for medical reasons such as to aid application of topical creams, or to reduce the likelihood and existence of mites and lice. Other owners simply feel that looking after tonnes of mane is not what they wish to spend hours doing, and so clip off the mane and feathers. Hours of washing and drying averted.
Some show classes need entries to be hogged and feather removed, and other owners simply prefer the way their horse looks without a mane. It is up to each owner whether they want to hog just the mane, the mane and forelock, and/or remove the feather, or a combination of any of these.
