Taktur’s mane falls heavily on the left side of his neck, dragging his stallion crest and topline with it. Two of our Icelandic horse trainers have suggested that we plait up Taktur’s mane so that it then falls on his right side and hopefully this will correct the problem.
The previous 24 hours of rain had made Taktur’s mane wet, which was helpful.
We were given a picture to follow of what was required so, with Daisy standing on a bucket and me trying to keep Taktur’s head still, we gave it our best shot. There were over fifty plaits.
The second row of plaits created a diamond effect and you can see just how Taktur’s topline is uneven. Not good.
Daisy worked very hard. It took nearly three hours.
Obviously there was constant support.
Taktur looked a different horse with his crowning glory on the “wrong” side.
We really need to get his stallion crest and topline more even and hopefully by doing this, it will help.
Once we had finished, we gave Taktur his bucket of grub and it was interesting to see that when he put his head down, his neck topline stretched out and looked fine.
So Taktur is outside now. It has stopped raining and we are hoping this method will work or at least help even him out.
Well done.
Nice work!
Non-rider here….what is a Stallion’s Crest and why should the top line fall to the right?
Daisy did a wonderful job!
It really will help! Looks like you got it in time. I did this to my mare successfully and now need to do it to a gelding I have that has a very big arched neck.
How long should we keep it in for? Is there anything else we should’ve done?
“the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, “cresty” neck, as well as a somewhat more muscular physique as compared to female horses” – wikipedia
If this doesn’t work, you could try parting his mane along the crest and putting plaits in on both sides. He has such a lovely thick mane but I can see how that could be problematic. Would it be frowned upon to thin it or shorten it?
Good job! Couldn’t have been easy and it seemed as though “everyone” helped do their bit.
Good job, Daisy! It’s lovely that he’s such a nice boy and has a smile even after all that work. I bet it feels weird to him to have the weight shifted.
I think his mane is gorgeous “au naturel”. Why does it matter? Just wondering….