Oak's Butt Beard

Butt beard

Oak has these weird hairs on the backs of his legs. My husband calls it his butt beard. He is almost completely shed out, so this is either a permanent fixture or it is the last thing to shed out. I am not sure what I am going to do about it if it's an all year thing. I tend to keep my horses minimally trimmed but I don't know if I can stand having a horse with a butt beard. Any of you drafty, pony, haffy people known of anyone else with butt beards? Do you let them wear it loud and proud, or do you trim it?

Oak kicked out a while I was trying to medicate the scratches on his back heals. Not at me, per se, but just striking out with the back leg I was trying to touch. Without thinking, I barked and swatted at him like I would have done to a snarky, naughty Bodhi to get him to knock it off. Poor Oak went skittering away from me with the look of " I knew she was going to beat me.. it was only a matter of time". I waited for him to calm down and said I was sorry. After we were both calm I went back to handling all of his feet again to make sure I did not completely unsettle him. He seemed fine. I am really kicking myself for being so careless. He is doing so well with learning to trust me. I want to be worthy of his high regard.

Oak Training Log April 28

Location: Round pen

Duration: 30 mins

Activities: Confidence building at the mounting block. Giving laterally to the bit while standing still.


Observations: It is hard to say if he has ever had a bit training by his reaction to me contacting his mouth today for the first time. He had the normal green horse reaction of opening his mouth and then giving to the pressure by tipping his chin. We had a nice start with it. He is getting more relaxed with me over him on the mounting block. You should have seen his face though when I lifted a leg and rested it against his side.... :)