A Bridle Path To Mares
Krisean Performance Horses “Life With the Blue-Eyed Wonders”
by Jill Smith • 15221 N. Shady Slope Road, Spokane, WA 99208 • 509-466-4612 • This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Slipping and sliding through the fresh snow I took the shortest path out to the corral. I could hardly wait to show the article in Horse Previews Magazine to Commander, my perlino quarter horse stallion! As usual I found him with one blue eye on the food trough and the other blue eye gazing at the mare’s pasture. I sometimes think he must have those blue eyes crossed as he tries to keep track of those two most important things in his life. I know I am only a distant third in importance. But maybe not, after all, I am the food provider and I also provide the access to the mares! In the spring my husband calls me the stallion pimp, but that’s a different story.

“Hey big boy!” Waving the magazine, I greeted my blue-eyed wonder. “They printed the article that we wrote. They even put your picture on it! Cool, huh?”

Commander trotted over and looked with interest at the magazine I held open for him. There was a long silence. Unusual for him. I had finally gotten used to the fact that I had a talking horse and quite a talkative talking horse at that! Then a thought crossed my mind, maybe he could talk but he couldn’t read!

“ You sent them the picture where you gave me the buzz cut half way down my neck!” Commander suddenly burst forth. “ What will the mares think of that.....I am ruined as a stud!”

“Whaaaaaat, that’s just your bridle path.” I studied the picture along with him. “Well, maybe we did cut it a little long. You’re the first quarter horse I’ve ever had and maybe we thought we should trim you like we do the Arabian show horses. You didn’t seem to mind batting your baby blues at all those Arab mares at this photo shoot!”

At this point there was a knicker from the next paddock where my Arabian race stallion was listening in. Or maybe that was a snicker as he stood there proudly tossing his full luxurious mane with no bridle path at all! Actually bridle paths perform a useful function as well as presenting a little more style to a horse’s head. The bridle path is a scissor clipped or shaved area just behind the horse’s ears and right where the top of the bridle or halter will lie. This can keep the headpiece from getting tangled in the mane or worse yet slipping right off the horse’s slippery mane and down its face!

The proper length of that little shaved area can vary from breed to breed or vary within different horse performance disciplines. Sometimes it is just the preference of the owner, the popular trend at the time or cut longer in an effort to make a horse’s neck appear longer or draw attention away from a thicker throatlatch. The “general rule of thumb” is to gently lay the horse’s ear back along the horse’s neck and cut the bridle path to that point or add a thumbs length to that measurement and cut to there. I haven’t quite figured out how this works with mules and donkeys! It seems like their ears laid back would reach all the way to their rear!

Again in general, Thoroughbreds, Warmbloods and hunter or English type horses ridden in the disciplines of dressage, jumping, hunt seat and eventing usually sport a bridle path of 1 to 2 inches. Saddle seat horses like American Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walking Horses and National Show Horses have a longer bridle path of 6-8 inches or so. Morgans and Arabians are also usually shown with a longer (6”-8”) bridle path. The discipline of western riding whether it is reining, cutting or western pleasure usually uses mane cuts from 6” to 8”. This also included the breeds of American Paint Horse, Appaloosa and American Quarter Horse with the 6” cut (that’s about an ear and a thumb!).

There were still horselaughs coming from the other paddock and a few horsehair jokes still rippled through the mare herd, but Commander was intent on the magazine article now. His blue eyes studied the article, the picture and even his own by-line as author.

“I do sound pretty knowledgeable about horses.” Commander commented after a minute. He can read!

“Well, duh, you are a horse after all!” He never ceases to amaze me, sometimes with his intelligence and wittiness and sometimes with his knucklehead stallioness and lack of common sense. But then maybe I am judging “common sense” only from a human perspective!

“I don’t really care about bridle paths, you humans will amuse yourselves with the way horses look no matter how silly it appears to us horses.” Commander’s common sense statement hit home. “There is a more important path I’m interested in. How about that mare path to the other pasture, that’s what my mane event is all about!”

Jill Smith is a Spokane, WA entrepreneur, international business owner, artist/potter and cowgirl at heart. She raises Arabian racehorses, Arabian/Quarter Horses, palominos and Cremellos/Perlinos. High N Command (pen name, Commander) is a smart-talking AQHA perlino stallion, constantly trolling for mares. www.kriseanhorses.com or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it