Bridle paths...to clip or not to clip...

Definitely agree on the easier bridling process. My draft girl has enough hair and is just tall enough that separating mane from forelock is the last thing I want to worry about. We havent made it to clippers yet so I just use scissors. I like the cleaner look and I usually do a bridle path the same time I take scissors to her ugly beard. I think it makes her big 'ol head look less dopey

I generally use an ear length for mine, but for the show horses we also trim more or less depending on what's most flattering to the neck & throatlatch area. I just automatically trim the path about once a week when I'm grooming. I keep a pair of cordless clippers in my back pocket while grooming so it's handy to do it and that way we never get a mohawk. I HATE that more than anything!

I have always clipped a bridle path at least the length of an ear on any arab I've had. I like the look better and I like that his mane never gets tangled up and mangled up in it.
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I braid a bridal path if the mane is thick/unruly in the bridal path area, otherwise I leave it long.

I clip a bridle path in springtime and may do touch-ups throughout the warm weather, but over the winter I allow it to mohawk-out again.

The horses are all TWHs and have long/natural manes, so it just makes a better fit for the crownpiece of the bridle/halter when there is a bridle path. One of the horses in particular has a very thick mane - oddly enough, he just has a little "sprig" of a forelock - so I've been trying to let his bridle path grow itself out, to use as kind of a forelock comb-over.

I use scissors and do an inch or two in width.

One thing that has not been mentioned is that clipping the bridle path is much more comfortable for the horse. Have you ever put on a helmet and you had a chunk of hair in the wrong place and it started feeling uncomfortable or it gave you a headache? Well when we put on a bridle it is pulling down on the hair an putting un even pressure on the horses head which can give them headaches or can cause them to be uncomfortable. I clip mine only about two inches long with scissors and as close the the neck as possible.

I hope this helps:)

Remember, horses can't feel any part of their mane. I would rather have a flat, smooth mane under the halter/bridle then a tangled, ugly mess around it.

My mother's horse has very thin, long hair that gets tangled up in the bridle. When I used to keep the halters on all the time the hair where the halter laid rubbed off all unevenly. I got sick of it and just cut it evenly with sissors. I also have a Morgan that had a bridle path cut many years ago. It has grown out three or four inches since then and gets fairly annoying. The rest of her hair is very thick and long. It reaches down past her neck.

I grew up with my gelding and his pathetic little mane, and it would kill me on the inside to cut it. Then my Curly horse's mane is just so.. curly. She isn't even broke and doesn't have a halter on unless I'm working with her. Plus Curlies are supposed to be shown without being clipped anyway. I do not have much of an opinion on it, I guess. I haven't shown my horses yet so I will cross that bridge when it comes.

I personally don't. Unless you do a lot of riding, say endurance? Or you constantly keep your horse in a halter, I don't think its nessesary. I take the time to fix the mane around my bridle so it doesn't pull or tangle.