My horse’s mane is normally lovely and exactly the right thickness, but some unfortunate pulling has left it super thin right now. I won’t roach it because I know it’s going to grow back lovely, but I’m also supposed to show three weeks from tomorrow. I don’t know how to hunter braid, not am I super interested unless it’s literally my only option, but I’m trying to come up with how on earth to button braid this horse. Ideas, experiences?
Maybe find a matching yarn and braid it in for added thickness?
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Going to depend on just how thin it is, but sew in and use fat sections. I usually do the width of the pulling comb, maybe even a bit more.
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I use technique demonstrated by Phillip Duttons groom from an old YouTube video, it’s especially good for thin manes because you can fake some thickness to it with practice. Adding the yarn at the top of the braid adds considerable thickness as well.
I have a dressage horse that has rubbed out a chunk of mane several times. I just borrow some mane from one of his stablemates and braid it in, then button it up like usual. Works great.
I take a clump of pulled mane from another horse, put the midpoint of the loose chunk behind section of hair I’m about to braid (the left half joins the left part of the braid, the middle part of the braid is real attached mane, and the right half of the loose clump joins and enlarges the right hand section to-be-braided). Braid as usual. Sew in. It works.
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This is what I used to do with an appy cross I owned. I used extra yarn, and added it right at the crest for some added thickness. I thought it looked good, and it stayed in well.
Ditto the yarn suggestion.
I’ve also seen someone add sections of a decent quality human extension piece to thicken up a thin mane. I didn’t see it done, but it looked good in the photos I saw.
ETA - I dug around to find the photo and it was on a gray mare and they used the “hair” from a witch’s hat from a halloween costume. They looked great. It’s not my photo, so I don’t want to share on the thread - but if you PM me I can share.
