Fact or myth?

My mare's mane was super short when I bought her in June because she was bred for pleasure, but I'm training her in reining so I'm in the process of growing it out. I was trimming the ends of it mostly because she has split ends, but I was hoping it would also help it grow.

Is it just a myth that trimming the ends of hair helps it grow? I hear people say it all the time.

It is indeed a myth (sorry).

It'll keep it from breaking off (and in that sense allows it to grow longer), but doesn't affect the root in anyway whatsoever. I've never heard of it being an issue with horses though, unless she has very fine hair? Good nutrition and interfering with the mane as little as possible (don't brush it, use harsh products on it, etc) will help.

Yup. Myth. What it will do is make the ends look a little tidier, it will keep the already-split hairs from splitting more, and it will make it easier to brush/comb without causing breakage. I think it's not so much that trimming (shearing/pulling/whatever) makes it grow, but that not trimming increases damage. Same for horses and for people.

Sadly a myth - but a neat mane always looks better. Make sure that she has good food and the mane is conditioned regularly to prevent breakage.

Try improving her diet to grow better stronger hair, linseed (flax) is excellent for this.

Thank you all for the replies and tips. Her mane is actually healthy, very thick and lovely - I'm just in the process of growing it out from being trimmed to 2" to full length. It did have a lot of split ends though and needed the ends tidied up. I'm also beginning to keep her mane braided to keep it from tangling.

I don't know if this counts in the horse world but my sister is a professional hair stylest at a high end salon and I get this from her and other stylest there all the time...if you want your hair to grow you only cut the dead ends off to prevent them from splitting up the hair more (thats what keeps it from growing) cutting your hair every 4 weeks is better than once a year because you maintain the split ends. May not work for horses but I figured id say it haha

It doesn't make the hair grow any faster if you cut it every 4 weeks. As previous posters have said, all that does is help prevent breakage.

I was told every 6 weeks Casey, dang now I gotta go every month???