My hands don’t hurt but if I do more than 10 or so I do get a little swollen. The worst is the yarn drying out my skin. A week after I always get the creepy peelies on my fingers LOL!!
If I have too many to do, I take 1000 mg of ibuprofen, then take 2 Excedrin every 4 hours on top of that. Helps keep the aches and pains away.
A good chilled foot soak is fabulous.
The white mane on a pinto with pink skin underneath will be true white. Which is different than even the whitest mane on a gray horse-- even a totally grayed out “white looking” horse. Reformed APHA person here, I can vouch that white on a pinto really is a true white as compared to white on a non pinto.
I work for a pro with big big accounts. We put the bills up Saturday evening and collect Sundays. Some clients show every week so perhaps they can be floated for a week, but notices get sent out when someone hasn’t paid. It’s a lot of accounting considering she has been managing multiple braiders at multiple shows much of the summer (HITS and vermont and lake placid and and and…)
We braid what we have, and pull when needed. Then add the charge for the pull to the bill. Most clients are on the road 30+ weeks a year so we know the horses but still get new ones and dirty manes etc… If a mane or tail is particularly dirty (or…slippery shiny), we politely tell the grooms or trainer to grab some ivory soap and use that.
We also know which barns like color, which don’t. Ponies always get pinwheels, and some trainers only want pinwheels…but we like the wraps on tails because they’re faster… And on a weekend where 7 of us are doing 80-90 horses a night in saugerties…a wrap is what you get. We do like color, but know which trainers are ok with it.
I do a mane in 30-45 minutes and a tail in 10-20 and I’m not the fastest in our group… Mane + tail has to be done in an hour typically because of the number of horses to be done…and so many are earlies (done by 5 or 6).
I take Advil and Aleve (alternate every 4 hours). Also have found that soft wrist braces really help with finger pain (keep swelling down? Not sure but it was a tip from another braider). I roll on bio freeze on my upper back before I start, and spray myself liberally with sore no more (yes, the kind I buy for my horse) after I’m done. I customized my ladder with wider pieces of wood and extra padding. I’m never without my headlamp. I also use a diaper “wet bag” (used with cloth diapers) attached to my braiding belt to store my sponge (it can hold water too and then I don’t lose my sponge and don’t get my pants wet). I have a super long bendable steel pull through (made by a braider from Ohio) that I use to hang fake tails.
My car is also nasty, full of shavings and yarn bits, and has so many snacks and bottles of water it could be a vending machine.
Also, I’m a finger wrapper…as many braiders are. I can only use real 3M vetrap, not coflex or any of the knockoffs…the cheap ones have to be replaced partway through the night…vetrap lasts (all the way through a night with 18-my most ever and something I hope to never ever repeat again). I get it from smartpak at $2.15 a roll.
I used to be a flyer braider (you know, hang the flyer up in the bathroom and hope people call)…and that was tougher. I would sit in a farms aisle in a camp chair if I had to on Sunday to wait to collect. These were not regular accounts of mine so I needed to be paid, and paid on time. They tend to pay quickly when a braider takes up residence in a chair in the aisle. I also had far more dirty/long/thick/blunt/super slick manes and tails then…perhaps why those folks didn’t have a regular braider?
Also important. If you start to pick up accounts and braid for people regularly it’s a good practice to secure them a braider when they go to shows you won’t be at. Finding coverage for accounts is something all of the pros do (especially when there are multiple big shows happening at once). Get to know other braiders. Say hello, introduce yourself. You might pick up extra work that way. Have a big pro look at your work and offer tips, she or he might then use you (more $$$$ in your pocket).
Protein bars are your friend. Coconut water too bc it has lots of potassium which helps with leg cramps. Barns with huge stocks of snacks are also your friend…
Most of all, enjoy the horses and the shows and the camaraderie of the group of nocturnal knotters.
[QUOTE=twotrudoc;7695233]
I’ve braided and banded WC Pintos, Pee Stain White is always the match. The worst thing is to have blinding white making your mane look dingy, blech. This is what I use, it looks white but it is an un-dyed natural light cream color-or Pee Stain White ;)[/QUOTE]
Nope, blinding pure white is the color that matches my pinto (and the paint gelding that we used to have as well). “Pee Stain White” would not be a good match on them. That being said, I DO spend a lot of time scrubbing! This is a pic of my mare, I don’t know if I have a closeup of her braids, I will try to find one: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=260353484744&l=463c0245eb and http://www.middleburgphoto.com/HorseandHound/Virginia-Field-Hunter/Virginia-Field-Hunter#!/i-66Svx85/A.
Here are the mare & gelding together, again with bright white yarn: http://cherryblossomfarm.net/OCHTeamChase2009Pics.html
Again, most of the time, bright white yarn won’t work, but sometimes – for some horses – it is the only thing that actually matches!
[QUOTE=SidesaddleRider;7698676]
Nope, blinding pure white is the color that matches my pinto (and the paint gelding that we used to have as well). “Pee Stain White” would not be a good match on them. That being said, I DO spend a lot of time scrubbing! This is a pic of my mare, I don’t know if I have a closeup of her braids, I will try to find one: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=260353484744&l=463c0245eb and http://www.middleburgphoto.com/HorseandHound/Virginia-Field-Hunter/Virginia-Field-Hunter#!/i-66Svx85/A.
Here are the mare & gelding together, again with bright white yarn: http://cherryblossomfarm.net/OCHTeamChase2009Pics.html
Again, most of the time, bright white yarn won’t work, but sometimes – for some horses – it is the only thing that actually matches![/QUOTE]
They look great! I still have doubts, but I’m a pick LOL!! If I can see it at all from anywhere but 2’ or closer I won’t like it. I do most of the APHA and Pintos around here and I have to say none are that white.
ssandstr, ooohhhh my car. Oh my LOL!! And, I need a braider for Nampa, next month please !
[QUOTE=twotrudoc;7698807]
They look great! I still have doubts, but I’m a pick LOL!! If I can see it at all from anywhere but 2’ or closer I won’t like it. I do most of the APHA and Pintos around here and I have to say none are that white. [/QUOTE]
I keep trying to find closeups, but am being thwarted, sigh. 
http://www.middleburgphoto.com/HorseandHound/Middleburg-Hunt/Middleburg-Hunt-Christmas#!/i-hnKV7f3/A
http://www.middleburgphoto.com/HorseandHound/Middleburg-Hunt/Middleburg-Hunt-Christmas#!/i-gGNF5Zx/A
I will be sure to get a pic the next time I braid her/have her braided. 
Those are still great hunt pics! sigh
I am thoroughly enjoying these posts!!! You braiders out there are hard core! SSANDSTR…18 horses in one night?! That is Crazy! :lol:
The night of 18…was not expected but another Braider got sick. That being said, the pros I work with have done nights of 15-21 on a pretty regular basis… But most prefer 8-12.
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