I am thinking about attempting braiding for myself this weekend for the first time in many years. I may be delusional in thinking that I can do it myself. Any one have a good tips and tricks to help me out here?
I braid for myself at just about every show I go to, aside from very special occasions. Since I also work back gate at most shows I attend I have to be done braiding and hacking by 7 every morning. Here’s what I’ve found is most important:
-
Get everything together the night before if you’re braiding in the morning. I always tell myself it’ll only take like a minute to get myself situated but my mind and body don’t work so quick at 4:30 AM, so I end up adding 15-20 minutes on to my time and have to shorten my hack to accommodate. So cut your yarn, fill your spray bottle, and have everything in one place in your tack trunk the night before and you’ll save yourself some time.
-
Get a good playlist to listen to. Something upbeat but not distracting. That’ll help keep you on pace and awake!
-
My trainer gets pissy (understandably) when we braid in the aisle or take up a cross tie, so we braid in the stalls. I fill my horse’s grain bucket with hay to keep him occupied and thread the lead rope through the bars of the stall. That seems to limit the amount of dancing he does when I show up right after hay gets thrown! You can also ask your helper to put the hay outside the door, but I find that makes my fat-kid-at-heart lease horse antsy and irritable.
-
Use a headlamp. Just trust.
-
To get yourself in the groove, try doing like 10 braids every time you ride this week. I do that the weeks before my first show of the season every spring and it helps.
-
Unless your horse is doing the conformation/derby/AOs, try not to stress about how perfect your braids are. I used to get myself in a tizzy about having one braid leaning a bit sideways or the fact that they weren’t perfectly even. But jeez, I’m in the friggin 2’6". It’s a miracle if I get around without scaring the judge, I highly doubt my ribbon is going to be decided by how good my braid job is.
It’s not really tips about the actual braiding process, but those are things I find helpful for my sanity/getting the job done!
1 Like
These two, especially. I am no great shakes as a braider, but am decent enough to do my own for small stuff and dressage shows (no idea why, but I see more odd braid jobs at dressage shows than anywhere else, even local hunter stuff…). It’s mostly a matter of practice. The suggestion about doing a few every day is a great one! I find I get rusty if I haven’t done it in a while, but if I’ve been doing a few braids every ride, or braided for a show more recently, it comes quicker.
And totally agree with the “don’t worry about perfect”! I braided the night before to show this Saturday, since we were shipping in and needed to leave at 6AM. I came out and pulled off her sleazy hood to find her braids all cattywumpus! I was horrified, but then did my best to straighten them out, and realized that from 5 steps away, you couldn’t tell too much. You really couldn’t tell from halfway across the ring.
Personally, I find the forelock the hardest, so you may want to make sure you practice that, too. For me, it’s because I’m used to french braiding my own hair, so it feels like I’m working “backwards” doing the forelock. If anyone can offer additional tips up on that one, I’d appreciate it, too 
[QUOTE=JenEM;8183135]
Personally, I find the forelock the hardest, so you may want to make sure you practice that, too. For me, it’s because I’m used to french braiding my own hair, so it feels like I’m working “backwards” doing the forelock. If anyone can offer additional tips up on that one, I’d appreciate it, too ;)[/QUOTE]
Oh god don’t I wish!! My forelocks are terrible. But what’s helped me at least be able to do them myself, instead of giving up in a puddle of tears and begging my barnmates/trainer to do it:
-Keep your knuckles against the horse’s forehead as you go – keeps the braid JUST tight enough while still leaving room for you to pull up the tail
-Use one of those little plastic needles instead of a normal pull through or your braid will look like a sausage
-I used to try to grab veeeeeery small bits of hair from the sides as I went down, now I’m grabbing a bit more of a chunk and that seems to help.
I just braided for myself at a show this last week, and I’d say my biggest tip is to keep everything very consistent. Keep braid length and thickness consistent. The most important part of the braid is the bottomline, so if you can braid at a consistent length where all the knots line up on each braid, it will help your braids look amazing even if the tops aren’t perfectly equal. Try to braid the same amount of twists on every braid-- for my horse it’s 10 twists, yarn in, and then 6 twists. This is just what works for me, but experiment! I’d also suggest giving the horse something to do while you braid because it is very difficult to do nice braids when your horse’s head is everywhere. The bump is also very important, so try to adjust the braid when you’re bumping to keep the braids even! You’ll be great, it’s a great skill to have and the sooner you start the better!
The biggest influence on the quality of a braiding job is the state of the mane when you begin. Even thickness, even length, appropriate length, tapered edge (no blunt cut). Obviously very few horses can have a perfectly even mane thickness from poll to withers, but it’s important to be aware of the thicker and thinner areas as you are pulling. There are techniques to trim length and produced a pulled-like tapered edge for the thinner sections.
Some of the mane prep sins I have had to deal with… :no:
If you have the prep right and try to get the same amount of hair in each braid you won’t need to count crossovers/twists.
I find I usually manage to end up with one of my three bits of mane shorter than the other two as I braid. I make sure the short section gets a bit of yarn because it allows me to braid closer to the end of the hair before tying the knot.
I soak the mane before I begin and it stays wet apart from the thin section in front of the withers. This way I am using my spray bottle twice instead of for each braid (or two). Comb before wetting, and comb while wetting.
Braid them all down, pull them all through, tie them all up, cut all the yarn rather than braiding a few, pulling through and tying up before braiding a bit more. It makes for more consistent braids.
1 Like
[QUOTE=adcurtiss;8183597]
The most important part of the braid is the bottomline, so if you can braid at a consistent length where all the knots line up on each braid, it will help your braids look amazing even if the tops aren’t perfectly equal. Try to braid the same amount of twists on every braid-- for my horse it’s 10 twists, yarn in, and then 6 twists. This is just what works for me, but experiment![/QUOTE]
This. You want the tie-off at the bottom of your braids to all basically line up fairly even (of course taking into considering the curvature of the horse’s neck).
I’ve found that braiding late at night when everyone has left the barn is the best time for me to braid. The barn is quiet. My horse is usually sleepy.
Damp hair braids better. You should definitely practice the forelock the most. It’s a giant pain in the you-know-what if your horse is sensitive or even slightly head-shy.
Thank you all so much! This is all very helpful.
I see that most people have mentioned spray bottles with water. Is QuicBraid or anything similar worth the money or not?
Does anyone have a video of the actual braiding that they can share? This was something I have been wanting to teach myself.
[QUOTE=HRF Second Chance;8184278]
Does anyone have a video of the actual braiding that they can share? This was something I have been wanting to teach myself.[/QUOTE]
If you know someone who can show you, I honestly think this is one of those skills that it’s incredibly helpful to have someone show you in person. But this video is pretty good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9dCz1vsek8
Check out luckybraids.com - she has some good info on her site. If you can get a copy of the DVD, it’s great, too.
[QUOTE=Paige;8184268]
Thank you all so much! This is all very helpful.
I see that most people have mentioned spray bottles with water. Is QuicBraid or anything similar worth the money or not?[/QUOTE]
No. Water is really the best. Everything else makes your hands feel sticky and gross!
[QUOTE=Paige;8184268]
Thank you all so much! This is all very helpful.
I see that most people have mentioned spray bottles with water. Is QuicBraid or anything similar worth the money or not?[/QUOTE]
I’ve never used it, but plenty of water seems to do the trick, and it’s free!
[QUOTE=PaintPony;8184449]
No. Water is really the best. Everything else makes your hands feel sticky and gross![/QUOTE]
I have found that I prefer quick braid to just wet. It might just be my horse but his mane is very slippery when wet. Plus I think a little spray with quick braid when you are all done helps hold the braid in place. Sort of like hair spray.
I like just water when I braid, I feel that it works fine. If you want some super helpful videos, look up John the Braider on youtube. I also really enjoyed a video that was in the April issue of Heels Down
[QUOTE=Paige;8184268]
Thank you all so much! This is all very helpful.
I see that most people have mentioned spray bottles with water. Is QuicBraid or anything similar worth the money or not?[/QUOTE]
I really like the Ecolicious “In Control” for braiding. It’s a cream that conditions the mane, and also makes it just slightly sticky and controls flyaways. You don’t need a lot, so it lasts a long time. (Going on the second year with my bottle, and it’s nowhere near empty!)
[QUOTE=JenEM;8184376]
If you know someone who can show you, I honestly think this is one of those skills that it’s incredibly helpful to have someone show you in person. But this video is pretty good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9dCz1vsek8[/QUOTE]
This is my favorite video too; the horses mane is long but she is so easy to follow. I also like this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ3KR-G6gIY
I use QuickBraid and like it
[QUOTE=adcurtiss;8183597]
I just braided for myself at a show this last week, and I’d say my biggest tip is to keep everything very consistent. Keep braid length and thickness consistent. The most important part of the braid is the bottomline, so if you can braid at a consistent length where all the knots line up on each braid, it will help your braids look amazing even if the tops aren’t perfectly equal. Try to braid the same amount of twists on every braid-- for my horse it’s 10 twists, yarn in, and then 6 twists. This is just what works for me, but experiment! I’d also suggest giving the horse something to do while you braid because it is very difficult to do nice braids when your horse’s head is everywhere. The bump is also very important, so try to adjust the braid when you’re bumping to keep the braids even! You’ll be great, it’s a great skill to have and the sooner you start the better![/QUOTE]
Also, Redhorses is sooooo correct. The condition of the mane, the quality of the pull job will greatly effect how your braids come out, and how easy or painstaking it is to braid. If you can go at night do it, and see if the braiders will help you. If you’re in Northern California, find me! I’m happy to help you. The bottom line is the utmost importance. Don’t worry how many twists each braid takes. Mid way on the neck will take way more than at the beginning or towards the withers. DO make sure when you tie your knot at the end of the braid down, all the knots are on an even line. That will make your bottom line come out nice. If you do nothing else,that is key.
