Can we speak of braiding at the BIG shows?

[retiredhorse]

@Lord Helpus

I braided my horses in the 70’s and 80’s. Even helped out some braiders by doing pre-greenies, so I must not have been terrible. I could get18 - 20 in and have it look good. I remember the first time a braider put in 30! It was the talk of the braider’s group. Then everyone had to do 30, and I could no longer braid because I just cannot keep the unbraided mane on the left out of the way, even with big clips. How do braiders do it?

I always used a wet mane and fine tooth comb to keep the loose hair out of the way. Never learned how to use a clip. The only 2 braiders I know who use clips started braiding in the 70s or 80s.

If I had put in 20 or less braids, I think trainers/owners nowadays would be quite displeased – and rightly so, given the cost of them. Like, if today a horse had braids like this grey horse, or this top photo, I don’t think it would go over well. For $80-100, I’d expect braids to look like this. Or these wall-of-braids.

Older braiders reminisce about the old days too, when they were getting 20ish braids or less, and braiding horses something like 20 minutes, for like $15-20 (or less? google’s inflation calculator tells me that $20 in 1975 is $91 in 2017?) for the mane and tail. And they had long bridle paths, too, I hear, and didn’t braid the last inches of wither hair, and that tbs often had thinner manes than wbs, and no one had fake tails, and sometimes they got yarn that matched the rider’s shirt colors. These braiders also have changed their braiding style and prices with the times, or got out of braiding.

[16_Hands]

Back in the early 80s I groomed for a woman in Connecticut who owned hunters. She insisted that the horses have 27 braids, no more, no less. She maintained that if there was a tie in a class that the judge would count the braids. She was a little off the wall in more ways than one.

[wanderlust]

Unless you are showing in division classes at a rated show for the hunters, there’s really no need to braid. If you are going around the schooling hunter classes, baby greens, etc, I don’t know that it’s worth the time, money or effort. And while I’m not a judge, I’d personally rather see a hunter with an unbraided mane than a poorly braided one.

[MHM]

@retiredhorse

Older braiders reminisce about the old days too, when they were getting 20ish braids or less, and braiding horses something like 20 minutes, for like $15-20 (or less? google’s inflation calculator tells me that $20 in 1975 is $91 in 2017?) for the mane and tail.

As I recall, the price for a mane only was $20 in the late '70s/early '80s in my part of the world, and 20 braids would have been sub-par, unless the horse had an extremely thin mane.

The price stayed at $20 a mane for a very long time. I think it was the early '90s when it finally went up to $25. Then it seemed to jump up to $40 pretty quickly, then beyond.

[ssandstr]

As a pro braider… if you want to braid for the jumpers, you go right ahead… we’ll do plaits, but we’ll charge you the same as a hunter braid job, and imho you’re better off doing none or doing it yourself. (And often my list is so long I’d really rather not add a set of plaits to it)

The costs are high for braiding in the same way that any fine craft is expensive. We’ve put a lot of time and energy into our skills and honing our abilities… we also stand on ladders for 10-14 (or more) hours, gas and lodging keep going up, we’re on the road much of the time, and you should see what I spend on chiropractic work to keep me upright. I wish more kids learned how as tweens/teens (as I did), and then took the responsibility to braid themselves (I’d rather have 10 on my list than 12-14 a night)… but it seems that as we’ve transitioned to full-service everything, those that braid their own have become a very small bunch.

I average between 28 - 35ish per mane. I’ve put 44 in a medium pony (never want to do that again), and had a horse look excellent with only 18… 30 is a reasonable number to expect to put in, but those big eq horses with the looooooong necks and big ol’ manes… they’ll give you 45 sausages if you’re lucky.

I remember it being $25 in the mid 90s… now typically you’ll pay 65/30. And I’ll say this, as braiders, we get just as excited as you do when your horse looks stunning and then comes home with a blue or tri-color. We like to see our ponies win

[Bethe_Mounce]

I am at the AON USHJA Hunter/Jumper Finals in Las Vegas right now spectating/shopping/eating. Watched some hunters earlier and the medal finals today. Some had yarn, some had elastics that matched mane color; both looked lovely; judges were seated up high so I doubt they could see the # of braids or method unless they had binoculars which they may have had. Dunno. Changing the subject a bit…we have some awesome junior riders on the west coast!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[retiredhorse]

@ssandstr

30 is a reasonable number to expect to put in, but those big eq horses with the looooooong necks and big ol’ manes… they’ll give you 45 sausages if you’re lucky.

I used to braid a lot of model horses and looooong neck hunters/eq, and averaged 45 on a good night. This was 10 horses, between 40-50 braids, with one or two notables that got 55, and very few that got less than 40. 30 sounds like a treat! And wide crest, thick maned ponies were always difficult.

I don’t know anyone who charges for braids who uses elastics, or uses elastics for hunter braids – jumpers, yes (though I still use yarn when I charged for it), or maybe if they braid their own. I would think the risk of braids falling apart if the horse rubs is higher with elastics, and I would not feel comfortable charging $50++ for that, especially if the horse was not going right away or rider had a habit of gripping the braids. At the very least, I feel like they should not fall out!

It was $30-35 for mane and $15-20 for tail when I started showing mid-90s, and only gone up since then. I think we used to get 35ish braids on ours – I remember we used to count to see who had to take out less braids! :lol: Plus, as you point out, lodging and gas and everything has gone up in price too. I learned to braid when I was 10-12, and it’s allowed me to have a horse.

[retiredhorse]

@Bethe Mounce

judges were seated up high so I doubt they could see the # of braids or method unless they had binoculars which they may have had.

To be fair, if anyone can see the number of braids from across the ring, they probably are VERY BIG. :lol:

Like, I don’t know how many braids Remarkable has (I would guess easily 45 or more), but I can see the very very nice line of braids – and that’s what the judges and everyone else sees too.

[OutsideRein]

$275 for a whole show, for sure. $275 per day? Never heard of braids for one horse costing that much. For reference, my braids at indoors this year for a mane and tail were $100 per horse.

[Midge]

@Bethe Mounce

I am at the AON USHJA Hunter/Jumper Finals in Las Vegas right now spectating/shopping/eating. Watched some hunters earlier and the medal finals today. Some had yarn, some had elastics that matched mane color; both looked lovely; judges were seated up high so I doubt they could see the # of braids or method unless they had binoculars which they may have had. Dunno. Changing the subject a bit…we have some awesome junior riders on the west coast!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

I cannot remember ever seeing a hunter in rubber bands.

[MHM]

@Midge

I cannot remember ever seeing a hunter in rubber bands.

Ditto.

[vxf111]

@MHM

Ditto.

Me neither. I wonder if it might be string instead of yarn? That’s not common either but that I have seen. Bit of Britain sells it and one color is sort of natura and might be confused for elastics. I’m not sure what discipline it’s primarily aimed at but if BOB has it someone might be using it. My old trainer who eventer sometimes used it

[pds]

Is roaching the horses mane an option for the hunters?

[BrownMareDon_tCare]

As a random aside, all I can say is: bless all you braiders- professional (Linda) and do-it-yourselfers. You all are amazing, tough folks. There are few things in this world I am happy to pay for and braiding is one of those.

[vxf111]

This is the thread I was talking about… https://www.bitofbritain.com/Waxed-Braiding-Thread-p/0245.htm

[Midge]

@vxf111

Me neither. I wonder if it might be string instead of yarn? That’s not common either but that I have seen. Bit of Britain sells it and one color is sort of natura and might be confused for elastics. I’m not sure what discipline it’s primarily aimed at but if BOB has it someone might be using it. My old trainer who eventer sometimes used it

Unless you were within three feet of the braids, though, it would be hard to know what they were braided in.

[vxf111]

@Midge

Unless you were within three feet of the braids, though, it would be hard to know what they were braided in.

Agree

[Training_Cupid]

@pds

Is roaching the horses mane an option for the hunters?

Uncommon but not illegal.
Not a fan of the look personally.

[touchstone]

Being able to braid your own can save you so much money–and has helped me pay for many a horse show. But do learn how to do proper hunter braids that won’t stand out. Bad braids are often worse than none at all. You will not achieve appropriate hunter braids with elastics.

[bt1]

You should look really really closely at top hunter braid jobs and be able to make yours look EXACTLY like them…and it ain’t gonna happen with elastics.