How long did it take you to get really good? We use a pro braider but I’m wondering if I can learn to do those button braids.
Many people braid their own horses and there are lots of videos on line.
Many junior riders start out doing their own braids for smaller shows. If you didn’t learn to braid as a kid it might be tedious now. Anyone can put in fairly competent button braids with a bit of practice but not everyone gets to flawless A circuit perfection.
A lot will depend on your own dexterity and patience and indeed fitness level. it’s hard on the shoulders and hands. Also if you want to get up at 5 am on show days. I believe it takes about an hour to braid properly.
I’d suggest practicing the components maybe dsily for a while like doing an even set of braids down the neck but not sewing them up.
Anyhow whether it’s worth while really depends. If I was dropping thousands on an A level show where presentation mattered, the charge to the braider would be a drop in the bucket. If it was a minimal cost schooling show or clinic i’d do it myself.
My horse goes with a long mane so I do a running braid instead of button braids and that is perfectly adequate for anything we are ever likely to do.
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Not too long if you practice a couple of times a week and do more then just one horse when you practice. You have to put in several hundred nice, neat braids to get reliably good and probably over a thousand to get really good. Like any other skill. The more you do it, the better you get.
If you do, let’s say for the sake of simplicity, 10 braids each on 3 different horses 3 times a week? Thats 90 braids a week. Do it for a month you should be pretty darn good plus you will get faster as you go. If you only do it occasionally, you won’t progress as much.
Suggest not practicing on your own horse every day, too much braiding will break the hairs and I know you folks like a long mane, not the 4" max pulled and shaped one that lends itself to easier, more frequent braiding.
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Thanks I never learned so I do question how good I will be as a um well not kid…lol. I pay between 60 and 100 per show for braiding which is less than hunter shows I’m pretty sure. It may or may not be worth it…
This is an awesome video…super easy to learn and do.
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Are you really wanting button braids or do you want to learn hunter braids? Button braids aren’t very difficult. Really good hunter braids take a tremendous amount of practice and a well prepped mane. I was ok at hunter braids as a kid, but never got to really good “A” show quality.
Jealoushe’s video shows what I consider button braids.
This is what I consider to be hunter braids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rSLrBY--MI
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I learned when I was a kid, and it took me a season or two before I was producing clean, consistent braids. I think you can learn to braid well at any age, it just comes down to practice and preparation.
If you can, I’d suggest putting a quick braid in your horse’s mane and/or tail before riding. It doesn’t have to be button braids; even a running braid will help you improve. If your horse has an especially long tail that needs to be braided and put up, that’s another opportunity to practice. In my experience, learning to make a tight braid with minimal flyaway hairs is most of the battle. Once you can do that, the shaping of the braids is fairly easy.
You picture doesn’t show button braids.
Looks more like hunter or jumper braids, unless you do really tiny button braids?
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I also learned how to braid when I was a kid. Got to about an hour or so for 45-50 A-show hunter braids (after a good year or two of practice), on a long-necked horse that stands still (if they move around, it takes longer). It also takes me about 45 minutes to do jumper braids (more the size of button braids, but not quite finished the same way) because going from small braids to giant braids is actually not that easy for me. I do not braid tight, however (if the 3 sections are even, that will make the braid tight too without having to pull/grip the hair as much), and I think that’s a factor in how slow I am with the bigger braids.
If your pro-braider is willing to show you how (some may hold a braiding clinic if asked), it may be easier than trying to learn off a video. I learned from braider friends, before youtube existed. They can also show you how to pull/shorten the mane for the type of braid you want, as well as offer some tips as you go. One thing to practice is adding the yarn in while you’re braiding – that took me a bit to figure out. The wetter the hair, the less fuzzy it will be and the easier it is to braid; hairspray or quic braid may help keep the hair wetter and “together” also, to make it easier to twist. Knotting is another thing to learn – how to make a single knot hold (or the braid will get loose!) or if you need a double knot or surgical knot. Manes/tails that are super clean or dirty, or sprayed with anything slippery/oily, or have soap residue or conditioner are difficult to braid. For me, the best hair is 2-3 days after it’s been washed.
I still hate removing braids, though.
I can’t really make them out from that photo – they still look like large hunter braids? They don’t look like the round jumper braids to me.
I like these hunter braids (not mine, but what I like mine to look like).
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This was my first (and only) time ever doing the cobra braids. I’d been waiting years to do this. It was so worth it. I wish I had better photos of them up close. My trainer was pretty impressed that I whipped them out like that.
I had a friesian for a few years and kept her in running braids for maintenance, so braiding is pretty easy for me now. The only tricky thing for me was the yarn.
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Really doesn’t look like button braids, Lexie. Back when I did arab park & country pleasure classes, we did a less finicky version of a hunter braid, which looks like what you posted. Emipou’s 2nd picture is what I was taught to do as button braids - basically you have a box shape in the braid with a half circle base.
Button braids are a LOT easier to do than hunter braids, much more forgiving on both the length and thickness of the mane AND you can use yarn to fill out any areas your mare might have rubbed out two days before regionals. Trying to get good hunter braids on a mane that’s not pulled to perfection is nearly impossible and there’s no hiding the flaws.
You can learn to do passing button braids in a few weeks of practice, although if you don’t know how to do a basic braid on anything, I suggest you borrow a doll or get a few pieces of yarn and figure it out on that first. If you’re looking to do show quality hunter braids … well, that’s going to take a lot of time and cramped fingers before you’re proficient.
For decent tutorials where you can actually see what is happening, here you go:
Hunter braids - https://www.horseillustrated.com/hor…mane-braiding/
Button braids - http://guineaforaguinness.blogspot.c…-long.html?m=1
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How many days of braiding is that and is it mane and tail or just mane? That’s not less then a Hunter show unless we are talking more then one day.
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One other thing which will help with either style of braid is using quick braid spray on the mane. I had never thought it worth the investment so always used water to dampen the mane for braiding. Let me tell you after using quick braid I will never go back (worth the $9 investment) because it makes the mane grippy enough to braid tightly without having to grip it so hard.
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That’s my total cost. We have shown on back to back days and the braids lasted two days. Next week I’m not sure as we show on Thursday and Saturday so I’m not sure they can last that long.
Yeah, 60-100 sounds about the right range, depending on whether just mane or mane/tail and who you’re paying. For bigger shows when I use a pro for mane & tail, it’s around $85 for both. What I’ve seen of flyers at dressage shows, you’ll pay a lot less (~$40) for button style braids, and they don’t do tails.
There is a difference–button braids are much easier and faster, but take a bit longer of a mane. You generally do many fewer–I think I put in 11 or 12 here. They look like this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHHrejsj41h/?taken-by=jemartin03
Hunter braids are smaller, and require more practice to get right. I’m still not comfortable doing them myself for big shows, because they are difficult to get perfect. These were professionally done hunter braids on that same horse:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHpAAMNjoUF/?taken-by=jemartin03
I don’t know anything about your breed shows, but find out which style is the one that’s being used. From the photos you posted, it looks like hunter style braids, not button braids. You don’t really need to learn both ways, if you’re only going to need to know one. And you don’t want to stand out for having the uncommon style for your show, because it will stand out.
I wouldn’t leave braids for that long anyway.
It would damage your horse’s hair.
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I tend to redo braids every day. I don’t think it is comfortable to leave them in over night as I know I wouldn’t be happy sleeping with my hair in braids… Plus it gives me extra practice for continually improving my braids 
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Yes I always understood it was best practice to undo the braids every night and redo them every morning. The horse is going to rub them either messy or even out. I’m sure lots of folks do leave them in over night to save time and money, though.
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