Mine are $85 for a mane which I think is pretty expensive, but the braids are beautiful and always super neat and jumpers only get braided once a week so 
I’m learning to braid my own horse but it’s a work in progress. I also live in NoVa so ymmv if you live in a lower COL area
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After dabbling in dressage, I’ve come to really like well done rosettes on a chonky neck.
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It does matter though. Schooling shows are for learning to show. No one cares if the braids aren’t perfect, if you want to wear your shadbelly put some in. Respect the show and the tradition. My kids were thrilled to braid for our hunt club gymkhana this week. Why can’t we encourage that rather than discourage it? It’s a horse show.
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Management specifically put in the prize list it is discouraged. Yet you insist it’s a matter of respect? It seems that is quite disrespectful and “I’m doing what I want anyway”, and doesn’t seem very respectful.
Have at it if someone wanted to braid, but no one did except a little QH with a 10 inch mane in the jumpers.
It’s a horse show. It is a schooling show. Management trying to make it fun and affordable. There will always be people who find fault and claim tradition. We are so far away from hunts- trying to recall if a hunt master cares what lead I’m on …. Or if my change is clean…. Oh- they don’t.
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Then don’t wear the shadbelly. That’s even more affordable.
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They can wear what they want. It’s a perfect place to get a horse that isn’t used to tails in a show environment.
It isn’t good enough for you, but it’s good enough for one of the best facilities in the country. Thankfully- exhibitors are being respectful of show management’s advisement and there is no one upsmanship. You don’t like it- don’t show there or braid if you do. Then who’s being disrespectful?
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I don’t mind if people braid or not, truly, but I’m always surprised that more people who show a lot and stress about the costs don’t just learn to do it. I think you probably have to do it 10 times to be good enough to start. That’s maybe 20 hours of practice? Or start after four hours of practice and have your braids be a bit wonky at first. Either way, within a year of showing they will look perfect.
People learn to braid for jumpers all the time and then they just do it if they want to. I don’t get why the hunters are different.
Again, I don’t mind if people show without braids! I just think they overestimate how hard it is to learn.
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For those teeny tiny hunter braids? I’ve tried and tried over the years. Some of us just don’t have the gift. 
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I’ve done my own jumper braids at a show after about 10 hours of practice. They looked fine but not good. It took me about an hour to do 17 braids. Now imagine a hunter doing at least double that- it would take at least two hours if you’re just starting out. Plus many hunters hack in the ring in the morning, so that’s a huge time commitment.
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Oh, I used to braid my own, back in the day (the 90s), but my old, arthritic hands now say no to that. And, frankly, despite many hours of practice at home and shows, mine never looked professional enough to pass muster. It is much harder than it seems to get those tight, even hunter braids. There are professional braiders for a reason! Jumper braids or dressage braids? Much easier to get them looking sharp. Tails? nope, never mastered them, despite tutorials from the pro who also rode in our barn (she braided to afford campaigning her gorgeous horses on the A circuit).
It comes down to how do we make hunters more affordable for the average person. Why are breed shows charged/charging less for a week of stalls at the same venues? What are some cost-saving measures we can put in place? How can our governing bodies help beyond the Outreach system which is wonderful-- if shows actually offer those classes. (pssst…talking to you Team Northwest!).
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Well there’s your answer. Stop doing the eleventy billion hunter braids and do dressage braids instead. Best of both worlds. Respects the judge and saves a bundle of time and money!
I like braiding on show mornings. It gives me a feel for my horse’s mood and something to do with my hands.
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It would be nice if it was acceptable to do neat hunter style braids but do bigger ones/fewer. I always, always braid for dressage because I can do it myself in under an hour. It takes me maybe 30 minutes to do 14 fat braids and a forelock.
If I could do the same for hunters in a similar time, I’d braid all the time too. I could probably get 20ish fatter hunter braids and a forelock in in roughly that time. But I can’t get 50 tiny braids done in under an hour so— the resolution is no braiding at all. I do wish there was a bit more tolerance for “braided traditionally but not with a million tiny braids” in the hunters.
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If you really want to get technically correct, then do away with show hunter braids in the Derby classes. Those are not done for the hunt field. I would love to see some beautifully done button braids in the Derby ring. So much easier on the horses and something that non-professionals could learn to do well themselves.
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Isn’t there, though? People talk about this like there is zero tolerance for fewer or slightly lumpy braids, but maybe it’s actually fine?
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The culture in my area feels like it’s better to be unbraided than have fat braids. I never see anyone, ever, with fat braids.
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I dunno, there’s a big difference between 15 big round jumper braids and 27 hunter braids that are fat and fast, but still hunter braids.
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I braid my own for dressage and braid for a few other people occasionally. I learned how to do hunter braids as a kid, and I was not very good. My hands are stronger now, but I don’t think I could do an acceptable hunter neck even with a modest amount of practice. They do even more braids per horse than they used to! Forget tails! Never had a knack for those. I do put in more of a hunter style forelock when doing buttons (unless horse wears a bonnet and requests no braid), because I think a button on the head looks silly, personally.
At the rated dressage shows in my area, there are a whole lot of bad braids out there. Some are, to me, distractingly bad. But the culture is very supportive of DIY.
I acknowledge that my hunter braids don’t meet my own standards. And I haven’t done a rated hunter show in forever for various reasons, except recently for USHJA classes with my young horse, and he went unbraided for that even though there were some who did braid. Largely because I was trailering in, and so it was gonna be my braids or no braids. I suppose I should try to work on them, but yeah, it would take me a lonnng time even if they came out decent.
I would LOVE to do a derby (even one of our local ones) with my red horse with some button braids if that is correct. This is how I dressed him up for a photo shoot -
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I think those braids looks great and we should all just start being less picky about what kind of braid it is. I’m not even sure the judge can tell from 30-80 feet away!
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A few years ago–pre-covid-- a few of us who were doing the sidesaddle division, where you actually are required to braid, all did our own and basically decided that we were doing fewer, fatter hunter style braids because it was easier. And if we all did it, well, what could they say? No one ever said anything, though. Not the 11 dressage braids I put in yesterday, but 20 fat braids is a lot easier than 30+ the pros do.
I can do a mane at a smaller show, or for dressage, but I pay someone to do bigger hunters shows because it is lovely. And despite years of trying, I just cannot do a tail well. Though the one time I had to show with one I did myself we ended up winning so maybe I should just go with the one that looks like it was done by an 8 year old?
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I feel like (in my area at least) there is less tolerance for fatter, less well done hunter braids than a neat unbraided mane.
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