With humble apologies to the Bard of Avon, this question is one frequently asked by Haflinger exhibitors. We have all seen Haflingers with mane galore, parted down the middle so the neck cannot be seen. To date, there are no rules on the clipping of Haflingers, each person bringing to the ring what has been his or her past experience with exhibiting horses. A horse with a long head benefits greatly by a long, full foretop left loose, whereas a horse with a really elegant head is best shown with a long heavy foretop pulled to the side and tucked back under the browband. I am going to do a dangerous thing and assume that you are in agreement with me that a horse should be clipped to enhance his natural beauty.
Tails tend to show the place or function of the horse.
By this I mean, our Morgans and American Saddlebreds that appear solely in the show ring can have as long a tail as their owner's fancy and as they themselves can grow. As stated, these horse's today are mostly NOT working and so the fashion for their tails has changed somewhat. Well, let me take the easiest first. But a word of advice. Haflingers tend to grow very heavy tails so some of them still have a decent looking tail, although it takes a number of years to grow out.