Western Pleasure - Show Grooming

Show Grooming

While all western pleasure horses are to be clean (generally bathed prior to a show) and well groomed, with legs, bridle path, ears, muzzle, and other areas neatly clipped, grooming details vary by breed. Length of bridle path is usually determined by breed, with longer-necked breeds usually sporting a longer bridle path than the stock horse breeds.

Casual observers will mostly notice breed differences in the style of the horse's mane. Though fads vary a bit from year to year, in the stock horse breeds, the mane is usually shortened and thinned, often "banded," in that the mane is divided into many small segments and small rubber bands are placed around each segment in order to make the overall mane lay flat and neat. However, in some years, long manes have been "in," and in other years a thinned mane with a braided forelock or a few small braids in the front of the mane has been popular. Arabians and Morgans are less prone to fads as they have long been required to show with "natural" long, unthinned, unbanded, unbraided manes. Gaited breeds and Saddlebreds usually sport the same mane style in both English pleasure and western pleasure classes, long and flowing but with a colorful ribbon braided into the forelock and into the front section of the mane.

Tails are usually kept relatively long and flowing for nearly all breeds. Artificial tails or tail extensions are often allowed, though are banned for Arabians and Morgans, where a full tail is a breed trait.