Does anyone have any easy instructions for making button braids with elastic bands? I tried the step by step in Dressage Today (I think it was Anky’s groom’s method) and I found it not that easy to do well. Any advice would be appreciated.
Spring is right around the corner…however I look out my window and see my picnic table covered up with snow!
When I do buttons with rubber bands, this is what I do:
*get your rubber bands handy (I’ll stick them on the ends of my right hand fingers, in my mouth, you name it!)
Start your braiding as you do - portion the hair, separate into threes, start braiding. Suckers need to be tight! Braid down until you have just a teeny little “paintbrush” at the end, rubber band tightly, leaving the “paintbrush” (sometimes I’ll use two bands for extra security). Fold braid in two, pushing the “paintbrush” snugly into the base of the mane. Rubber band at this junction. Fold over again, put a rubber band around the fold, in the middle. Find a “braid groove” (margin of one tightly woven strand next to another, diagonally across the braid) and double your rubber band here, while bumping up the braid toward the base of the neck. Put another rubber band over this one.
I prefer yarn for buttons, but when I do massive opening/closing hunt day braiding, I do them all in buttons, all in rubber bands. Now for ‘cobra’ braids, I love using rubber bands…
hope this translation makes sense, have fun!!
I don’t get DT, so I don’t know what their method was — But here’s how I do it:
Braid a section of hair down to the end. Take a band and secure the end, leaving enough band remaining so that you can flip the braid under and secure it to the crest with the same band that you used to secure the end. (I do this by holding the end of the band up with my middle finger while wrapping the braid under with my free hand.) I usually do the entire mane to this point before the final step.
The final step is to take the half-wrapped braid, wrap it under itself again and secure it with a second band (usually I can get the band around this section two to three times, depending on the size of the braid).
I can put up a mane in about 20 minutes with this method and it looks very nice. As a special touch, sometimes I use white bands as the top one – it adds just a touch of color without being overwhelming.
section mane into comb-width sections
spray a section with quickbraid, and leaving the top part (nearest the neck) slightle loose, braid tightly down and secure the braid with a band, folding the end of it over onse, so it’s not sticking out, it’s a loop.
fold the loop end under to the base of the braid, and fold the braid over again, secure with a band
continue down till the mne is done. I usually end up with 12-15 braids.
here is a pic, just to show. (I did these in about 12 minutes, so they aren’t mye best example)
GC -
That’s a darn fine job on those braids. I don’t often see them turn out that nicely!!! 
Cowgirl, Loved your braids. A couple of questions though.
How long is the mane you start with?
My horses manes are all very thick, will it work without thinning (which I won’t put them or me through)
How wide a section are you braiding, since you only have about a dozen in his mane?
I seem to have gotten into a rutt with the older hunter style braids, but love the look of this style.
Those are darned lovely! With Brady, I’d have to do about 30 of them due to thickness of mane. Hopefully Kanata’ll be down in the high teens/low 20’s…:winkgrin:
thanks
if the mane is very thick, you have to section them much smaller than the width of the comb - about half. They still work out really nicely, but you have to make sure they are all the same width, and your 3 strands during braiding are the same size…plus leave the base a little loose, then braid down tightly…or else they look messy
sorry everyone I just got this new laptop and some of the buttons don’t work well - my a’s are sticky!
GC, I too am impressed with the look of your braids, great job, I hope mine can look nearly as good with practice.
A question…why do you keep the base of the braid somewhat loose rather than tight all the way through?
:winkgrin:
My learned to do button braids from my coach (who I suspect learned it from the same place as GC 
). I used to ride a mare wouldn’t tolerate having her her mane pulled, and it still worked, although the braids were smaller and didn’t have quite the same effect.
http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v119/156/61/586826204/n586826204_227172_7271.jpg
The pic in my profile has another view.
(No, I didn’t braid in this photo - my coach took pity on me and braided…)
I saved this site in my favorites after someone else posted it. Hope it helps:
http://www.eques.com.au/howto/plait.index92/plait.index92.html
Also, some named Robbie or Robbie Rocks did a great braiding tutorial on here a few years back. I lost it in the conversion of the BB. There might be a favorites thread on it somewhere. And GC, those are great braids!!
thanks, and the reason why I (personally) leave the base loose-ish, is because of a couple reasons…
because if you pull tight and braid really close to the base of the mane, most horses will shake their heads a lot, esp when you are cantering or walking - it hurts! And who wants their horse shaking it’s head during their test?
because if you leave the base somewhat loose, when you fold your braid over twice, and secure it, it won’t stick up above the crest, it will look “nestled” within the base…which is a much more aesthetically pleasing look… you can see the effect on the photo I posted
Another tip for really good looking braids - when you fold the very end under to the base, then fold in half again, before you secure the band, make sure you can see 4 “criss-crosses” in the button part - if when you secure the braid, and the button looks like one odd “bulge” of hair instead of a distinct braid pattern, take it out and re-secure it…makes a huge difference. (if you look closely at the stallion’s photo, you can make out the distinct pattern in the button part of the braid - 4 parts)
Forgot to mention GC, that is one good looking horse you have there!
Cheers!
[QUOTE=devcubber;3055964]
When I do buttons with rubber bands, this is what I do:
*get your rubber bands handy (I’ll stick them on the ends of my right hand fingers, in my mouth, you name it!)
Start your braiding as you do - portion the hair, separate into threes, start braiding. Suckers need to be tight! Braid down until you have just a teeny little “paintbrush” at the end, rubber band tightly, leaving the “paintbrush” (sometimes I’ll use two bands for extra security). Fold braid in two, pushing the “paintbrush” snugly into the base of the mane. Rubber band at this junction. Fold over again, put a rubber band around the fold, in the middle. Find a “braid groove” (margin of one tightly woven strand next to another, diagonally across the braid) and double your rubber band here, while bumping up the braid toward the base of the neck. Put another rubber band over this one.
I prefer yarn for buttons, but when I do massive opening/closing hunt day braiding, I do them all in buttons, all in rubber bands. Now for ‘cobra’ braids, I love using rubber bands…
hope this translation makes sense, have fun!![/QUOTE]
I have been a groom at auctions during university time and my braids had to stand through three days. So That is how I do it. I take a comp and mark how wide I want the partitions of the braaids with it. I devide the mane in the desired width. I braid down close to neck. Important the first few braiding steps have to be tight. The rest going down does not need to be as tight. At the end I secure the “paintbruush” with one elastic. I put the paintbrush up to the top (fold it once, with paintbrush under the braid) than I fold that up again (also towards the neck and not twoards me). What I have than I secure with either one elastic if mane is not too thick or with two. Ready.
For those buttons that really sit on the top of the neck (don’t like them), you have to braid upwards towards the roof so to say.
For how well and where the braids are “sitting” the first few braiding steps of each braid are important as they fix the braid so to say…
OK I should add, since alexandra mentioned it - my style of braiding will not keep for 3 days - one night is ok, but be ready to pick out a bunch of crap from inside it, and also you may have to re-do a couple…(unless waring a hoody)
and I found another couple photos of my braids for examples
If I follow your braiding instructions will my horse look like your guy
sure?!
I do it the same as the others mentioned. Braid down, secure with band, fold in 1/2 and tuck little end up under the mane, band at the base of the braid, fold again, band again.
I did my friends gelding for the 1st time ever braiding for a little Xmas card photo shoot and I think they came out really well.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/krazytbmare1/11-05-2006-Sarah005a.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/krazytbmare1/11-05-2006-Sarah004a.jpg
Here is a photo of our braids. It is a very similar variation on the other examples in this thread. We’ve just rolled these to the top for the crown type effect. I really like the round buttons as well. It just depends on who is braiding…both styles are look good on my guy. (hopefully you can see the photo…this is the first time I’ve posted to the photo site or on this site).
(updated link on other post…page 2)
p.s. what you are seeing is a horse with 3 manes I shave off 2 of them as pulling them is just not on the top of my list of things to do to either of us.
[QUOTE=specialops;3062703]
Here is a photo of our braids. It is a very similar variation on the other examples in this thread. We’ve just rolled these to the top for the crown type effect. I really like the round buttons as well. It just depends on who is braiding…both styles are look good on my guy. (hopefully you can see the photo…this is the first time I’ve posted to the photo site or on this site).
https://publish.comcast.net/photos/
p.s. what you are seeing is a horse with 3 manes I shave off 2 of them as pulling them is just not on the top of my list of things to do to either of us.[/QUOTE]
Your link doesn’t work :no:
Curious to see your pictures!
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