Horse Trivia: Witches Knots

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Is anyone else as ready for this weekend as I am? This has been an extremely long week and I’m exhausted. You know though… I’m tired of complaining about being tired. ha! I’m not sure I’ll ever get fully rested so I might as well just take it like it is and be done with it.

Tomorrow hubby has to go with the Missouri Governor’s Mounted Guard to help park cars at a Bluegrass festival. I’ve been asked/invited to go but I may get stuck at home doing homework. Ugh, beautiful weather and I’m stuck inside doing homework… Well it could be worse I guess!  So really I don’t know what my plans consist of yet. We’ll take it as it comes. And who’s to say I can’t go park my butt in a lawn chair in the front yard to do homework.

But being as though they are the Missouri Governor’s MOUNTED Guard… mounted means they’re riding something and that something is their trusty stead. In case you don’t know what that is… that’s a horse.

So I only thought it fitting to give you a little information about horses today. That information is about “Witches Knots.”

They really are the biggest pain in the butt. As you can see, it almost looks like a human who has dreadlocks. Now I’m not sure how that person who has dreads gets them out… maybe they have to cut their hair? But I can tell you how to get a Witches Knot out without cutting it out… although sometimes you might get so frustrated you want to cut it out.

  1. You can sit there and work it out with your fingers. It takes a while but it can be done, I’ve done that many times.
  2. Go grab that WD-40 and spray it on the mane, let it sit a minute or two and then proceed like number 1.
  3. Or there’s this fancy stuff that works miracles called Cowboy Magic. Put that on, rub it in, then proceed with number 1. Now… I can tell you this works WAY better than WD-40 but the WD-40 works too.

Why “Witches Knot”?

  • Well, a witches knot is based off of folk lore. The question is… do you believe?
    • Basically rumor has it that at night, a witch will come, ride the horse, and put it back by day break.
    • The horse will return back all sweaty/lathered up, tired, and have the mark of the witches, a witches knot.
    • The other explanation is a fairy rides the horse, therefore it is also sometimes referred to as “Elf Locks.”

Whether you believe or not.. one thing still remains true… every now and again, the mane can get away from you and bam, you have a knot on your hands. So go out to your local farm supply store, buy some Cowboy Magic. You’ll be glad you did.

And no, Cowboy Magic did not pay me to write this, although I’d gladly take money or product from them. This is just information and a courtesy if you ever find yourself in this situation 🙂

Happy Friday my friends!

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