I am temporarily stumped. Maybe someone can give me a little advice on this.... Today I had a customer bring in a zebra colt. He brought in the entire animal, not even gutted. I case skinned it but when I got to the head just below the back of the bottom jaw I found that I could cut no further. I pulled the skin back over the head and began skinning from the lips back. I didn't get very far that way either. I flipped the skin back and cut a 4 inch slit in the forelock of the mane in an attempt to free up enough skin to get past the jaw. Still no luck. I'm stumped. My boss said I should cut down the mane, but that is not going to help me get past the jaw bone. This is the first time I have ever skinned out a zebra (obviously) or any other equine. I have put it in the fridge so I can work on it tomorrow morning. Any help would be greatly appriciated!
P.S. because I know some of you will ask, I case skinned it because I am doing a pedistal mount and he wishes to save as much skin as possible, Ifigure that I will cut the skin when I have a form in front of me. Thus, I felt case skinning would be the most suitable since he wants skin on the back of the pedistal as well as the legs mounted.
Thank you for any advice! -Jeanette
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Its very gristly in the area also. Your boss is right you are going to have to cut down part of the main, this will release the skin, it should allow you to pull the skin over the lower head.
Since the mount is a pedestal and the head will likely be tilted down, I'd cut right along the trachea under the bottom jaw. Sewing will be hidden by the pose anyway and incising a mane is asking for trouble in my opinion. I'd rather cut right along side it if I HAD to cut it so that it could be repaired more easily.
for your input. I made a small cut along side the mane and found that the skin let right out. I guess there really is a reason why my boss has been in business for 26 years! Thanks again for your comments.