My big guy rubbed a good 4" section (maybe more) of his mane off with our hay hut. I have a show this weekend. Any tips on how to make it look presentable?
His mane has been evened out since this photo, but you can see the patch I’m talking about.
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Sorry I’m no help but I saw the title and my mind went to that old infomercial where they spray paint hair on balding heads and it made me laugh thinking about doing that to a horse! Actually…now that my brain is wondering, people put hair extension in their own hair all the time that they buy from local beauty salons, while I’m not for doing that in general, it’s very possible, I just don’t know how.
You could maybe make some braids out of mane you are trimming or pulling? If you haven’t already trimmed/pulled and discarded the hair.
I think you need much more expert advice than mine, lol!
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At a certain point in my dressage showing career, I roached my gelding’s mane off!
It looked clean and neat, there are no rules against it, and no one ever said anything to me about it, including judges.
Just a suggestion!
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If you’re not going to the olympics, I’d honestly just braid as usual around it and don’t worry about it. You could use some wax/gel/something to smooth down the wispies in the rubbed area if you want to neaten it up a bit. You’d probably want to avoid the big puffy-above-the-neck dressage style braids, but it works fine with simple buttons. Really doubt anyone will care, if they notice at all. IMO it’s about looking neat and thoughtfully presented, not obsessing over perfection.
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I would pull/trim it evenly and leave it. If it’s a fancy show then braid it and just have a gap. Nobody will care.
For the record my gelding looks like a yak.
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Oh. Oh my. I cannot stop giggling over how proud he looks of his handiwork! He’s simply gorgeous in his unrepentant stance.
I agree with others that you should just braid around it. You could use some product to try and stick it down for the show. The judges won’t be that close up to your boy, and he’s enough of a looker that they’ll focus on the quality of his movement rather than one braid-less patch, I am sure.
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Put him in a GP frame and try to keep your hands in that spot, so no one notices? ha!
I agree with others, just slick it down. What a stinker.
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Here are 2 ideas that you could purchase or DIY it!
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In my one and only dressage show ever, I was by myself with Hugh Jackman (horse’s name is Hugh Jackman). To make life simple, I gave him a neat roach mane. There is no rule against it. He had a beautiful neck, so roach it was --FYI we won both our classes --sad to say the following spring Hugh Jackman developed a bone chip (inoperable) and while still here, he is no longer rideable.
FWIW: I was attending a clinic on showing in hand. The presenter brought out a lovely horse and asked what the audience thought about her turn-out. Answers varied, but many mentioned the smooth braiding --he turned the horse around. She was not braided --she was roached.
He pointed out that as a judge (he is nationally known) he only ever sees one side of the horse. He doesn’t remember if the horse was braided or banded --only the neatness of the turn-out. Since in confirmation he’s judging the horse’s appearance based on breed standard, the mane isn’t a consideration unless it is dirty or sloppy job of braiding or banding. In Showmanship, he’s judging the presentation of the horse by the handler, again, the mane is not relevant to his judging unless it is a poor job of braiding or banding that detracts from the overall impression.
From that clinic on, we roached our Western horses and sometimes our dressage horses.
My current horse, Bob, is showing ranch horse so he shows with a full mane and tail and leg, nose, ear hair. If we show Western Dressage (big maybe), I will let his mane be long . . .
Hugh Jackman with DD up – picture of his roach:
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I seriously am considering this. His mane is all over the place.
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Thanks, all!! 
Yes, he is quite proud of himself, haha.
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Lived this myself during the 2023 show season! A very noticeable, solid 2 braid gap in the middle of my 18h horse’s very long neck. There wasn’t enough to make into a braid at the start of the season so I just kept that bit trimmed and accepted it was what it was. I also pulled the rest of his mane to more of a hunter thickness/length so he had smaller than usual button braids which helped to make it less noticeable than if he’d had his usual giant ones. He was 1st or 2nd every time out that season with scores in the mid to high 60s so I don’t think it impacted our results one bit.
It regrew over winter and next year he was in a paddock with electric wire to keep him from rubbing it off between the fence boards to get the 3 blades of early spring grass on the other side.
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I’m Team Roach! 
My gelding had a to-his-shoulder luxe mane when he came to me from a trail-riding friend.
He rubbed out a good quarter grazing through my fence 
Gave himself an Equine Combover 
When I told her I’d roached him, friend was horrified… Until I sent her Before & After pics
Before
After
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Since this is a schooling show, I may just neaten it up the best I can and leave it unbraided. The problem is, his mane goes to both sides. It’s super thick.
I’m another member of Team Roach! I roached my dressage horse’s mane (PB AB) back in the 90’s, and never looked back. My current dressage horse is also roached, he has a horrendously thick and tough mane, and it takes 2 people over 2 days to pull it. It grows like mad, so it has to be done every 2 months. Roaching is so much more humane for both of us, and it looks great!
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I also have a gelding with a mane section made bald by a Hayhut… how tall is your dude? None of the other horses have rubbed their manes off, but my gelding is the tallest at 17h.
At shows, I just take some yarn and loop it into the bald segments and make the tiniest braid ever. Wish I had a better solution for you. I know there are button braid “clip ons” you can buy to disguise this.
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I got faux-hair to practice braiding. It could definitely used as extensions if there’s enough mane at the base to braid it into.
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Don’t worry about it. We’ve got one that does this every year, and he’s actively competing in CDIs. Buy some hard hold gel or hairspray at CVS. After you finish braiding, load it up with gel, twirl it between your fingers, then tuck it into the base of the braid below the hole. If it’s big, split it in half and tuck half into the back braid and half into the front.
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He’s sticked at 17.2, so he’s a big guy. For reference, I’m 5’6".
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