[Kitari]

I roached poco's mane about 3-4 months ago and right now she has a pretty decent mohawk going on. I do kind of like the roached look, BUT at the same time i do like longer manes.

Pros of a roached

Low matinence
no sweating waterfalls during the summer during work or out in the pasture

Cons

Nothing to hold onto
take awhile to grow back



Pros of a longer mane

something to hold onto
prettier

Cons
sweats waterfalls during the summer
high matinence


so needless to say im stuck, should I keep her mane roached or let it grow out?

[Heavenly Jumper]

Well, I personally decided to roach my husbands horse Azar this year. I LOVE IT.

He had rubbed out the center section of his mane, and it wasn't necessarily long and luxurious anyway.



I plan to keep it that was for as long as I'm not tired of it. I LOVE the fact that I never have to detangle, get debris out of it, or wash it really. I think it just looks lovely.

Post a picture of her with a mane and without...that will help others decide.

[osage]

I'm a fan of LONG hair...
on people, dogs and horses...lol
my dogs are shelties, my daughters hair comes to her butt and my horses manes hang longer than their neck and tails are close to dragging the ground..
but that's just me...lol

[Heavenly Jumper]

Originally Posted by osage

I'm a fan of LONG hair...

Me too






It's funny...I spend ALL this time making sure her mane is perfect and LONG but I go out and roach Azar's mane all off.

For me it depends on the individual.

[Kitari]

This is a recent shot of her and her mane



back when she had a mane

[Heavenly Jumper]

Well...IMO the hogged/roached look can make her look a little less feminine. She really has the face and neck to pull it off though! I like it both ways.

[Fire_Dawn]

wow her colour changes A LOT. lol so does majic's ...in the winter she was tan, and now shes like black lol.
I knew a horse, and he was kept in the round pen alone because he had been a stallion, and still wasn't okay with being let out with mares (he had hurt them before) so he would rub off part his mane (It was such a beautiful long mane too) trying to get the grass on the other side of the fence. So at the show, they made a last minute decision to roach it, and i think that it looked better. It showed off his neck a lot. Roached manes can be kind of sculpted to make the neck look better. You could put it up in a working braid when you were working him to keep him cooler if you kept it long. But thats a lot of work. As for the maintenance, use a good detangler and brush it lots to stop it from getting huge knots. It is more conveinient to have a roached mane, but if you have the time to take care of a longer mane and like how it looks, why not go for it? :P You can always roach it again if you find it isn't working

[AllAroundRdr]

What about an inbetween?
3-4" -- then you have a mane which you like the look of, it won't be covering the whole neck therefore you won't have to worry about the icky sweat you mentioned, you'll have something to hold onto, and it's low maint. aside from keeping it trimmed to your desired length.