I know some riding disciplines support shaving off the horse’s whiskers but I have never felt comfortable with the idea. It would seem to me that if the horse still has whiskers after millions of years of evolution, they probably serve a purpose.
Interestingly, back in the late 90’s, Switzerland and Germany made it illegal to shave off them off. I guess if our priority is the horse rather than fashion, it is in our interest, and the horse’s, to put the clippers away.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Thanks for answering my question and explaining the logic behind it all.
Angela
Excellent video, thanks Pat. Other animals have whiskers to either help “see” in the dark, or determine how big a hole they can squeeze through safely. So it is logical that whiskers on a horse must be there for a reason. Radley looked quite proud of himself at the end of the video and kinda expected a little something for his effort!! Ham that he is……”carrot please, please”
We really enjoy your updates & blog! They are very helpful and we keep learning something new. Also totally agree about the whiskers!
Our cat is a Cornish Rex and he has what looks like “singed whiskers”. It’s been said that whiskers are large so an animal can know whether they can squeeze through something.
But in our case, our cat’s whiskers are tiny but very necessary as sensors to also warn him before he gets too close & hurts himself or to let him know if his prey is about to move (even if it’s a stuffed one). Thanks so much!!
Why, oh why, do people have whiskers? Still evolving?
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We’ve had discussions in our barn about whiskers and came to the same conclusion – that they are important to the horses well being and would never want to shave them off. I think that they are probably quite sensitive too with neural endings that we don’t know much about.
We had a cat once who got too close to the kitchen stove and his whiskers curled up like a man’s curly moustache. I wondered if they still worked for him while they were in this temporary state. Thankfully they straightened out and went back to normal the next day.
Love your videos!