I see that a lot in horse racing. I think there are groom’s awards? In any case, pretty much every braided racehorse is only half-braided by the time they get in the gate.
Watch some QH races if you want to see jockeys grabbing on to the mane! LOL
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Every sport evolves, every single damn one. I am eternally grateful we haven’t stayed stubbornly locked in the past. All women would ride aside. There would be no forward seat. (hint. look at paintings from the early 1800s). Wool. Non-stretch fabric. No helmets.
Seriously, braid or don’t braid. That is the only choice right now. Button braids? If someone at the top end, or an influencer influences those to follow a new trend, then the cute boxy hunter braids will be replaced. Until then? That’s the expectation. But again, you don’t have to braid at all. It’s not in the rules or specifications for hunter classes at A shows, local shows may do their own thing.
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Heck yeah! Right out of the gate would be quite a jump.
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It’s strictly a schooling series that WECOH designed to make showing at the facility more feasible for a wider audience. Prestigious venue, schooling prices. While the clientele includes many of our well known local trainers who also frequent the USEF series, it’s also widely attended by singletons, 4-H groups, small lesson barns, etc who are taking in the entire experience of a “big show”…if that means they were able to borrow or thrift or save for a shad to wear in (often) the only derby they will ever do…good for them.
Not everyone at the schooling shows wears a shad, though most of the folks who also frequent the rated shows already have the gear so they use it.
In a world where we complain about how unattainable this sport is how silly is it to be up in arms over KIDS playing dress up at what might be the only horse show they ever get to do at a show that asks you NOT to braid as another way to even the playing field.
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- PB watches as COTH posters have mini strokes, clutch pearls, and starts screaming disrespect and tradition *
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Sometimes I think it’s time for new traditions. 
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I wonder why they don’t just discourage paying for braiding, instead of discouraging braiding.
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How would that work?
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Not sure what you mean by this-- braiders are professionals we pay to do a task that we can’t do effectively or efficiently. That would be like encouraging us not to pay our farrier because, hey, anyone can learn to trim a horse, right?
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I don’t know how that would work honestly…I also don’t know why it’s such a big deal for a show to “discourage” braiding. How did we end up in a place where that’s a pressing issue? 
This isn’t the only show series that does this. Robert Murphy (which I believe is technically what used to be a “C Rated” show) also includes a caveat in the prize list that discourages braiding.
FWIW I will readily braid or have my horse braided when the situation warrants. I’m not braiding during the week (typically), I’m not braiding for USHJA classes with 65 entries that I’m using to school, if I’m having a particularly rough show I may not even braid for the weekend, there’s a lot of variables. Classics? Yes. Derbies? Yes.
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I do not show or do eventing, and due to my MS I no longer jump horses. However I have this question that has been bugging me for a long time about braiding horses that jump obstacles. Part of the reason this has been bugging me is that I ride Forward Seat, and when I could still jump (3’6") my better jumps resulted from the horse stretching his head and neck WAY forward necessitating contact with “cobweb reins”.
The one time I had to braid for a hunter show I noticed that if I wanted the braid to stay a braid during a ride it worked best if the braid was TIGHT.
So my question is do TIGHT braids of any number restrict the horse when he/she wants to reach way forward with his/her head to clear the jump? Does the sudden reaching forward of the head yank on the mane’s hair roots when making this extreme movement to clear the jump safely or to clear a wide spread jump?
Do the multitude of small braids help lesson the yanking on the roots of the mane hairs even if the these tiny braids are really tight?
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If some top junior is reading this and wants to make them mark on the show world- do your thing!!
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Whoa, I guess I just meant that if they went with “professional braiding discouraged” instead of “braiding discouraged,” people could go unbraided or feel secure practicing their braiding or doing retro button braids or whatever, in the same spirit as the shadbellies. No biggie.
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It has been my experience that they just stretch easily to accommodate movement. Button and hunter alike. I certainly have never noticed a horse seeming to restrict its movement at all while braided vs not.
Not that they aren’t annoyed. One of the reasons I am a good braider is that my a/o hunter defied all attempts to keep her from rubbing her braids. She used her hind feet like a dog. So it was much better for us that I could just put her braids in before our division and take them out right after. And I didn’t mind, because all it cost me was yarn and time.
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That is an extremely annoying trick. You would need some really tough braids to hold up to that behavior. Lol.
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Are you aware that there’s an entire industry of braiders? That’s a lot of people out of work, a lot of hotel rooms and meals that support the economy in horse show venue towns, etc.
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Oh man, I think I give up on this place. There’s nothing wrong with professional braiding! There was a conversation about people having shadbellies and unbraided, and apparently that is because the show “discourages braiding” which is to keep costs down, but people like the shadbellies for fun/dress up and so I asked why they don’t discourage professional braiding instead to encourage diy/practice if people want to.
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Braids hurt, at least they hurt my head. And they itched. I feel sorry for horses that have those wretched things in for days.
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