I recently purchased a braiding kit and some yarn with the ambition to learn how to braid(hunter braids). I was driven to learn because you never know when your regular braider won’t be available, as has happened to me a few times. Also, it makes a good amount of money. 
Does anyone have any tips on how to learn?
Watch or take lessons from an experienced braider. Practice. A lot! It takes dexterity, determination, quickness, and a fair amount of talent to braid to professional standards. Many of us can do a ‘ammy level’ braid job that no one would really pay for, but will do in a pinch, from a distance, at speed but few of us can really braid like a pro.
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As soon as I got the braiding kit I pulled out my horse and started practicing. Unfortunately, most of the people in my barn can’t braid. So I’m watching a lot of videos and practicing, practicing, practicing!
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Every day you ride, put in three or four braids. You’ll get faster and better and your hands will get stronger.
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This is definitely a time to apply the old saying, perfect practice makes perfect. So it’s worth it to learn the correct approach in the first place, and then just keep practicing until you get faster and better at it.
If you have a regular braider, you could ask that person for the chance to watch them work and ask a few questions. Especially if you bring them a big cup of coffee. Or two. 
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This. There are some great free YouTube videos to get you started
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I used to braid 2 or three every weekend (six total) all show season. But now just do it once a year for the Blessing if the Hounds. Definitely out of practice! Takes longer and never looks as good as the show jobs I once did. I roach my dressage horse and my current fox hunter.
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As everyone else has said, practice practice! Do a few every time you ride, but I’d also recommend doing them in different parts of the mane so you can get a feel for what changes you need to make in the middle where the mane is usually a bit thicker vs near the poll or withers where sometimes you’re left with perhaps less hair than you’d like.
Additionally, an unlikely resource that I stumbled upon and found surprisingly helpful is tutorial videos for textured hairstyles (cornrows, braids, etc). Cornrows will help you get crisp forelocks and tails, while the other braiding tutorials have techniques to get ultra tight braids and tuck wispies away inside the braid. You can also learn how to add more hair/yarn into the braid so it looks normal (helpful when your horse has decided to rub out the middle third of his mane 
) The only caveat is that I find most human-hair braiders do an “upside down” braid (the outside pieces move behind and towards the center instead of in front and towards the center) because it’s easier to get a tighter braid, but you’ll want to do it the “normal” way when you’re doing it on a mane because it looks cleaner at the top.
In that same vein, “edge gel” is a cheap and fantastic alternative to quikbraid and it’s designed to quite literally glue down wispies. It can go a long way to glue down those ultra short pieces at the top of the braid that can’t even make it to the first turn. edit to add: apparently Google has a very unique algorithm for my searches, so to find what I’m talking about, you may have to google “hair edge gel” or something similar. It’s stuff like this
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Semi-pro here (I braid professionally, under other professionals due to my full time job not allowing me to carry my own accounts). There are tons of videos on youtube. John the Braider (John Hansen) has some great videos. Lucky Braids was also helpful for me. Once you get the basics down, find a local braider and ask to apprentice under them. I’ve been braiding since 2009 (off and on for about 7 years before I committed to getting good enough to charge for it), 2018 I was finally good enough to do it professionally, and just last summer a friend showed me one simple knot that took my braids to a whole new level. So it does take quite a bit of practice, though your process may go quicker than mine if you commit and are determined to practice during down time; I tended to learn by fire on my own horses at shows.
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Forgive me, is edge gel a shaving cream? That’s what google is pulling up for me haha. I braid strictly with water these days, but I do have the occasional situation where I need Quick Braid.
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Haha no, it’s for doing stuff like this with the baby hairs around the “edges” of your hairline.
It’s just super strength gel basically.
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Google literally brought up a shave gel made by “Edge”. I’ll have to try this. I don’t mind the idea of some glue on occasion, rather than just grippy spray.
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LOL that’s hilarious 
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Thanks to everyone who replied!! I’m excited to watch some new videos and once I get better at braiding, I think I will try to apprentice under my local braider! Thank you all again. 
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Ummmm, I’m supposed to braid my horse this weekend, I guess. Doing a hunter show, for the first time in like------------------- 30? years??? I don’t remember the last time I was actually showing in hunter classes, other than a schooling show where I didn’t have to braid. I still have the pull through. I bought some strong wool. And some “dippity doo”, which I never used to use, but I figure I’m gonna need all the help possible. I wasn’t even sure that that stuff was still available, but it was. I used to just use water. My horse has never been braided, even just for practice at home, but he’s patient about most things. I have a box to stand on. I was never a great braider, or a “professional braider”, when I was previously in hunter classes, there weren’t so many professional braiders. Then a friend put herself through university doing this, and I was dumbfounded. Really??? Amazing. Wish me luck. With everything.
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Good luck!!
I got pretty good at doing button braids (eventing), but I don’t know if the basics exactly translate over to hunter braids.
My tips:
-Part the hair perfectly straight (I used a metal duckbill clip)
-Quicbraid is okay, but I used cheap diluted hairspray (half water) - makes the hair tacky but not super wet or gummy
-My guy has a thick forelock, so I have to french braid it with water and gel. I use waxed thread but I suppose you could use yarn!
Pic of my handsome guy for reference. I didn’t sew the button braids in as they came out right after the jog, so they’re a little more upright than I like.
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Back in the 90’s there was a woman at my barn who did hunter braiding. Round numbers, she was pulling in about $600 or more a day at our local 4-day shows, one/month. More at the bigger shows. I guestimated that annually she made $30,000 or more… And I often wondered how much was cash payments, under the IRS radar! Yes they can make a potload.
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LOL I avoided having to braid the horse. Because my vet failed to give him the right vaccinations this spring, that vaccine for the virus that killed all those horses in California this spring and resulted in the big lockdown and quarantine. So we drove for 3 hours to get to the show, and had to turn around and come home again… scratched. The show manager was very apologetic, and it was something I should have checked on to make sure. My vet… I don’t have a lot of options, we are quite remote here, and he’s all there is in this area. And he does mostly small animals, only offering service to horses recently. The veterinary association should have forwarded info on the requirement for this vaccination to all vets, so I don’t know why that vaccine was not included in spring vaccinations. Such is life. It was raining hard when I loaded up and left the showgrounds, so I comforted myself on the way home that at least I wasn’t going to get soaked. Sunny, warm and dry here at home! The show is returning my entry fees, so there IS that. AND, I didn’t have to braid the horse… Bonus.
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Ugh. That stinks in every direction. Especially with the price of gas these days. So sorry!! 
