Any ideas for braiding the field kept horse the night before? Would a stretchy neck slinky do the job of keeping the braids halfway reasonable, or am i stuck getting up at 2 and braiding in 27 degree weather by flashlight? I might just roach it. Ugh.
You can. I would slinky. But give yourself some extra time in case you next to fix a few. I would prefer to stable.
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I’ve done it, with no problems. In fact, sometimes the sleazy presses down flyaway hairs and makes the braids look nicer!
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I roached, and have NEVER looked back. Just saying. Horse competes at recognized dressage thru 2nd level and foxhunts. Always looks neat and tidy. I take scissors to it once every couple of weeks.
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I never leave braids in overnight. They just don’t seem very comfortable for the horse 
I do it once in a great while if the horse is competing early in the morning, and throw a blanket with a neck cover over (I never braid the forelock overnight). If I needed to braid regularly for hunting or something I would probably roach it, especially if the horse had a good neck-- my old event horse was roached for a while. But I braid with rubber bands so it only takes twenty minutes and I can usually do it day of.
Step 1: grow long mane.
Step 2: put into neat running braid or double braid the morning of. It takes me 5-15 minutes.
However, I have a breed where long mane is more accepted and encouraged. I’d certainly roach a mane on a horse with a nice neck if this were to be a regular thing.
Otherwise, I’d try the night before with a 0g neck cover or spandex neck cover.
This rather depends on your horse.
I think braiding the night before sounds uncomfortable and I’ve never done it for my own horses. If your horse is at all inclined to agree, you’re giving him hours and hours to rub all his braids out on the nearest tree, and probably get sap stuck in his forelock, just to show you.
Wear a head lamp and stick hand warmers on the underside of your wrists to keep your hands warm.
You can absolutely do it. Professional braiders often have so many horses to do that the first ones are getting braided at 9 or 10 pm the night before.
Just put a slinky on and they’ll be fine. I would leave the forelock as late as possible.
Mine are all out 24/7 and I typically plait the night before. I find putting tights/pantyhose over the plait but fixed to the plaits with rubber bands works well to keep them in. I do the forelock in the morning and can tidy up the bits that need fixing.
