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It's About The Horse
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Clarissa
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Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 2623
Location: Gympie, SE Qld, Australia
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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 1:20 pm Post subject: Left & Right Sided |
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[quote="Copious_Amour:88654"]And then there is this:
A more scientific explanation of whirls and which side foals like to suckle on due to their whirls.
http://www.agresearchforum.com/publicationsarf/2005/056_page.pdf
| Copious_Amour wrote: | | I can't remember who I was speaking to the other day but the mention of which side the mane lies on naturally (meaning, a person did not train the mane to lay left or right for their liking) ; if that has to do with a horse being left or right "handed." Or left or right brained at that. I've found horses with manes that flop on both sides of the necks are spunkier but now we know that this could/does mean that their body is out of alignment. Does this cause the "spunkiness" or is it another characteristic trait such as whirls? |
It’s like with us preferring to sleep on a certain side, so it is with horses feeling comfortable. Comfort is due to one side being tighter than the other. Could be purely because the side they lay on gets stretched every time whereas the upper side gets contracted every time.
So it is also with riding where the tight side is harder to stretch around the bend but the flexible side goes around the outside of a bend quite easily. I’m sure it starts enuterine with the foal laying more on one side than the other. Maybe the mare puts the foal there so when she lays down she is laying on her preferred side.
I do know mares prefer their foals to nurse from a certain side & will hunt the foal to that side until it learns. Also foals have a tight side which they would prefer to have against the mare so their flexible side is on the outside so their head bends under mare’s belly easier. Some foals nurse from both sides & behind if they can & some mares allow this while others don’t.
If I was able to select a foal by watching it in the paddock, I would go for the one that nurses from both sides, confidently steps out of the herd, leads during a gallop, plays a lot & runs up to other mares & foals looking to play.
The mane flops to the soft side....umm I just have to visualize that to be sure I am writing the correct thing here.....no I think it flops to the tight or stiff (dominant) side. The place where it splits shows where the break in energy is along the neck or if the break is along the back. The split can travel along the neck also with time as the horse's dynamics change for better or worse.
If the horse starts to break at the 3rd vertebrae rather than hold a good verticle flexion (maybe it is being forced too tight onto it's chest or being asked to take up verticle flexion before it is properly warmed up) the mane will break about a hand span down the neck from the poll. If the mane breaks lower down closer to the wither it means the horse is stiffening under the saddle somewhere. It is having to hold those vertabrea tight to avoid pain at or just behind the wither.
Horses with manes split lengthwise could be in pain so that thing about them being more fiesty could be right. But it would be out of self preservation or frustration rather than confidence.
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cynthia peterson
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Joined: 14 Feb 2009
Posts: 1082
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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Herta, I agree with your theory. I believe Linda Parelli had a theory about the mane fall also along the same lines. I have seen the mane change in training, and I also have seen the split mane in "difficult horses." In fact, I would go on to say most difficult horses I have had split manes, -and they were born with it! I had one "line" in my horse herd that tended that way. Years ago, it was fashion to have the mane on one side for English horses, and the other for western. This tended to put in a bad spot for horses we showed in both classes! In the highly trained horses with contact, you will see the nacho ligament along the crest actually stand up a bit and "flip."
Dr Deb Bennett has some interesting observations on this too. |
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PasoBaby_CarolU
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Joined: 31 Jan 2009
Posts: 9015
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| Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmm, interesting thoughts for a rainy day. I am thinking about your mane theory and it goes with my observation of my horses - as to their mane side and preferred way of going. I'll have to check and see how it goes with their preferred side of laying down - and the direction of their whirls.
I will add to something you said Cynthia. Rosie has always had a split mane where the top 1/4 of it falls on the near side. If you put it over on the right side, she shakes her head within a few seconds to put it back. Thinking about Linda's theory with injuries, I took her to a Chiropractor (Dr. Kim Henneman) who found that she had injured her neck as a foal (probably during halter breaking, but the same injury is found frequently in horses that have been roped - this is a common injury). Rosie also shakes her head immediately after any collection work where you are trying to get her to break at the poll. Kim says she is self-adjusting her neck.
So, if you think about this type of neck injury, and your description of these horses being difficult, then it all makes a lot of sense.
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Clarissa
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Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 2623
Location: Gympie, SE Qld, Australia
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:03 am Post subject: |
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Foals born with a split mane usually have a whirl on the neck right at that spot. The mane may stay like that through life or it may change depending on how the horse is used & ridden.
The other thing I find totally & compellingly interesting is how many people get Hertha & me (Clarissa) mixed up on this forum when reading our posts!!   
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Copious_Amour
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Joined: 06 Jun 2011
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Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:17 am Post subject: |
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Thank-you for expanding on my question Clarissa  |
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Hertha
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Joined: 04 Feb 2009
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Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:19 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | The other thing I find totally & compellingly interesting is how many people get Hertha & me (Clarissa) mixed up on this forum when reading our posts!! |
That is weird. Maybe because we both live south of the equator and have bright chestnut horses 
Or maybe because we write a lot of long explanations from our point of view?
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