Anyone who has seen me in action dissecting or assisting knows that one of the phrases that comes out of my mouth most frequently is, ‘Can someone please tuck my ponytail back into my headband?!’
I’ve had a long mane for most my life, bar a few occasions where I gave up any hope of restoring bleach-damaged tresses and chopped them off to start again. The last time I did that was in 2010… Lesson learned! It worked though – without going near a hairdresser for years (and avoiding hairdryers and straightening irons like the plague) I ended up with long, healthy locks (if you don’t count a few split ends…). I wasn’t game to mess with my hair before our wedding, but then it got to 6 months after the wedding, and even a topknot was giving me headaches and aggravating neck issues – who knew healthy hair could weigh so much?!! Immediate action was required.
I walked out of the salon, still with long but significantly trimmed tresses, feeling like there was (literally) a serious weight off my shoulders. ‘This is great!’ I thought, deciding I would become one of those women who actually goes to the hairdresser for regular trims (instead of just the hair-frying colouring sessions I indulged in before I had to pay all my own bills).
[6 months later…]Yeah, about that great idea… I’m a busy person, OK?! Only, with my nice, healthy hair growing at record speed, it was now almost as long as before…but thick and heavy to the ends. My trusty topknots were failing to keep it in place, ponytails gave me killer neck aches, it took forever to dry (more neck aches in the cold), blowdrying was a serious upper body workout, and if I dared throw it over one shoulder even when I wore it down, my neck would protest for days. Time for more drastic action.
This time, I opted for a shorter ‘do – a few inches below my shoulders. Well, short for me, at least! I figured if I didn’t like it, I’d blink and it would be halfway down my back again before I knew it. The lovely hairdresser layered it more than it had been last time, to take more weight out of my ridiculously thick mane.
It was like floating on air, as I walked out of there with light, bouncy tresses. I could flip my hair with no effort at all, instead of the kind of dramatic head toss Ollie does in protest when his breakfast is taking to long to appear. Ahhhh.
So, the bit where this is meant to be relevant to horses… How many of you train your horse’s mane to lay on one side? How many of your horses have a mane with a mind of its own? [Prime example – Jack. Every day was a wild hair day! At least his wild fringe would split pretty evenly. I got in trouble if I tried to tame it – the wild child would flip his wild hair until it was perfectly framing his curly little ears. Most of his mane would follow suit.]
What about those with a Rapunzel in the paddock? Do you battle the dreadlocks and try to plait it into submission? On one side, or both? Who of the non-Rapunzel owners has ever flipped one of those long manes the other way when grooming? Because I think most of us can agree… They are HEAVY! Glorious, yes, but extremely heavy.
A lot of them get trimmed and trained when in work, but I’ve seen a number of young horses with one-sided au naturel ‘dos that are bordering on Rapunzelesque. And they look beautiful… But they inevitably have asymmetrical areas of tightness and fascial restriction through the neck from countering the weight constantly. As it is, many horses are naturally crooked and show various patterns of asymmetry – adding long, heavy tresses to the mix just exacerbates the issue and exaggerates the neck tightness.
I’m not going to get into the topic of mane-pulling here, as it’s not something I do (Jack would have protested by eating ME for breakfast, and it takes too long anyway. I use a comb. Or scissors. It’s quick!) and there are plenty of other articles on the topic.
But I would like you to consider the weight of your horse’s mane – and if they are not perfectly balanced with a centre part to match…then tame that mane!
Trim it and thin it out until the weight is negligible, split it and plait half on each side (and hopefully train it symmetrically in the process), or just hog it so you don’t have to worry. If you’re in a discipline that requires perfect rosettes on one side, consider whether you really need to train it to lay one way, or whether your plaiting skills are sufficient to make them look pretty regardless. At least keep it thin and short to reduce the weight.
And with that, I shall flip my weightless, bouncy hair and get back to work!
Disabled and doubly neurodivergent human, former equine anatomist and bodyworker (no longer practicing due to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome complications), experienced equine advocate and educator, and budding disability advocate turning my sights on Australian Government policy and practice while elevating lived experience in research for horses and humans alike.
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