Those super cool Fjord manes

If you cut the light outside shorter than the black inside, this is called a Danish trim. :)
It is favoured for shows.

Well there are two possible things going on. One makes sense to me, the other doesn't (though some people still argue that point of course).

1: The extensive white on the outside edges of the mane and tail is called "guard hairs". Some call it "frosting" but I prefer to leave that term for buckskins (dun guard hairs and buckskin frosting look very different imo). Due to the extensiveness of Fjords dun they have a tremendous amount of guard hairs and these show on the outside (with the unaffected hair in the middle).

2: The dark line down the middle is the dorsal stripe. However that might imply the mane would have been white/cream entirely if not for the dorsal stripe. That shouldn't be the case with these horses (the majority of these should have all black manes if not for guard hairs). So maybe some people think the whole mane would be guard hairs and thus light if not for the stripe, but I think option 1 fits better.

Aren't fjords also supposed to be double-maned?

Diane

3: they are just wierdos that like to be lighter than any other dun around. :P :lol:

Oops I meant to include a photo of "standard" guard hairs for you Gander:

[img]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g161/…]

wierd..I saw that pic not half a minute ago...it was making me consider what would happen if I never brushed my horse's mane. Then I remembered the witches knot I have to get out of Ali's this week and discarded idea. :laugh1

Yeah he's my favorite example of guard hairs. It helps that he's a total stud (in the looks department). :lol:

I would let Lace's mane grow... but it just refuses to grow long enough (or thick enough).

I love the long mane on that horse, beautiful!! Can't stand short manes. Wonder what causes some horses manes to grow long while others don't or just break off at a certain length.

[quote="CMhorses"]I love the long mane on that horse, beautiful!! Can't stand short manes. Wonder what causes some horses manes to grow long while others don't or just break off at a certain length.[/quote]
Genetics and/or a horse who rubs.
If a horse rubs it's eyes, their forelock will be shortened to about eye-length. Same with the neck rubbing on anything and I've also noticed horses with long manes who roll a lot, their mane at the withers tends to be broken off along the shoulder blade from getting ground off between the horse and the firm surface they are rolling on.

Lace kinda falls into all three of those. Her poor forelock. :sad

I do also think genetics plays a big role in the thickness and possible length though. I don't think Lace's would get much longer if I kept it put up where she couldn't hurt it.

I used to own a Fjord mare and colt, their manes did feel like they were double and it takes some doing to get the mane looking like the show ones !!!!!.....used to drive me nuts !!! It was extremely thick hairs and so much of it. If you didn't cut the mane short enough it fell over so was a task in itself - anyway, I know there are more experts out there than me so.................

Some Fjords change their mane with the season like the coat too. I was told by an old breeder that this is a trait only purebred Fjords have who go back to the 3 foundation stallions.

Later I found out that it actually is a trait of the primitive horse per se. Thus they don't grow long manes. Is it correct that the long hair was an own mutation quite early in domestication? :?: I could not find trustworthy publications about this topic.

I owned one with a pedigree back to 1880, so I can second that he changed his mane twice a year. His sire had the same habit of changing the mane seasonally. Also the dam and a full sister. I met several owners back then who noticed the same with their horses.
Are there any Fjord owners in the US who observed this as well? :?:

This actually makes it even more complicated to trim a Fjord mane properly BTW! :roll: :lol:

I remember finding a picture of an amazing fjord haircut, it had a neat pattern cut into the guard hairs. In my search to find that picture again, I just found these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24721240@N…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tanglesoft…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
which made me giggle
but then i found the picture i was looking for
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/pi…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
i wish I had a pony I could do that to!

can't find the one that had black hearts on it...but it was neat..but some more fjord hairstyles

http://www.fjordhest.net/frisyrer/DSC06…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
the one with hearts was cut like this...but with two bumps over top each black triangle to make it look like hearts. it was so cute.

http://www.fjordhest.net/frisyrer/DSC06…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://i22.piczo.com/view/p/g/7/j/d/7/o…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.fjordhest.net/frisyrer/DSC06…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (this one looks like the one Krickette posted)

Those are SO cool!!!! :bounce

LOVE LOVE LOVE the first one RedHayflinger.

awwwwwwwwww I am reminising now - Askov was SO cute !!! One thing I am def going to do is get Brianna a Fjord !!! ;)

ot, but what kind of nose band is this: http://www.fjordhest.net/frisyrer/DSC06…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ?

It's called a "figure eight noseband".

Ah. I guess it just looked odd for some reason. I rarely see those, lol. I am the only one out of my friends that uses a nose band and I just use my flash noseband.

It's action is fairly similar to a flash. I've seen people use them pretty much interchangeably. I see them ALOT because I see so many racehorses. I also see them on alot of eventers.

[quote="lipigirl"]I used to own a Fjord mare and colt, their manes did feel like they were double and it takes some doing to get the mane looking like the show ones !!!!!.....used to drive me nuts !!! It was extremely thick hairs and so much of it. If you didn't cut the mane short enough it fell over so was a task in itself - anyway, I know there are more experts out there than me so.................[/quote]

Have you ever messed with Icelandic's? Talk about HAIR! :shock:
(bred for cold climate thing?)

I love the fjor-do's, BTW. :love Eying my mare, wondering what would happen if you cut a QH in such a short style. [size=65](no use. It's uniform in color) [/size]

Man that would be so cool to do with a QH,I've never seen one thick maned enough though. About the color, you could always dye it!

I roached Chase's mane last year and let it grow out, never thought to try a design but he did look really cool with his mohawk. :D He has really stiff wirey hair so it stood up till it was a good 6 inches high.

That sounds cool,have any pictures?

I used to have a friend who roached her thoroughbred's mane. She competed in hunters and up to 4th level dressage with him. It looked good.

My palomino mare (QH / TB) also seems to change mane with the regular change of coat (daughter of stallion in my avatar). So I roach hers now too. In Australia we call it hogging.

Hoofpick, it is very interesting that you observed the changing mane in your QH/TB mare!
I have been asking around for yeeeeeeears when I met other Fjord owners, but so far only three had agreed they actually NOTICED it at all! One Konik owner noticed it too.
And now from Down-Under there is somebody with an entirely different breed having the same phenomenon! That undermines the theory of that old breeder IMO...being a trait of primitive breeds...
Maybe just another independent mutation ? Thanks for sharing! That's definetely food for thought! :D

I got a load of crap from all sorts of people when I roached my SSH's mane off. I think mainly due to the fact it was 3 1/2 feet long at the time..LOL. She has a SUPER thick mane though...across her neck it is over an inch and a half thick--I had to make two passes with my clippers to get it all. It reaches a mohawk of about 4-5 inches before it even thinks of starting to flop over a bit. Last time I roached it was back in December.....and now it's about 2 1/2 feet long again...just been keeping it in braids here lately(i have the worst time with it getting tangled in my reins)

I wasn't very popular either as she was a very good palomino show mare ... anyway she is now retired and only comes out to do displays (high school dressage).
Not sure why her mane shifts (and a good deal of her tail-BTW she looks like her dad) but her mother died of snake bite when she was 2 months old and she was one of those poorly young ones for a while. Poor little bugger no matter how much or how good quality she just seemed to need mums milk obviously... I have always put her losing mane at "molting" down to that...but...