Hi! Looking for advice. I have a 13 y/o Appy reiner. She has a beautiful mane that is decently long for her breed. My dilemma is this, I don’t know how to keep her mane, as she shows in halter classes and reining classes. Reiners typically keep their manes long and Appys are typically kept short. I’d rather verge on the side of not cutting however I’d like to know if there’s a way I can braid it that would give the illusion of it being roached. Or how necessary is it for a reiner to have a long mane?
I don’t know what it’s called but you could do like some women do braiding the mane from the pole down in to one continuous and tie it in a button at the bottom end
It’s been a while so maybe it’s changed, but the halter Appys I’ve seen did not have roached manes. Just a quick search online also shows manes that, while not long, are not roached. Are you doing ApHC shows? Unless you are trying to qualify for championships (or certainly at championships) I would just leave the mane long.
Below is a link to the Appaloosa reiner Topsail Viper. At :32 you can see a running braid (as referenced by Horseman15) being used in halter class.
We keep our appy reiners manes as long as possible… They are appys… we appreciate having ANY mane!!
We had long ago a reiner that had a full tail and fair mane.
He had all the appy characteristics but no spots.
He had much roaning in places, not all over.
He won two little NRHA futurities, but was a better working horse than reiner, as so many then were.
We kept his mane natural, it really doesn’t matter in reining, but the pictures look nicer with a flowing mane.
I would leave it long for the reining classes, and then braid it for showing.
This is what I do for my gelding for the English classes. Where I show, the showmanship immeidately follows the English classes, so I just leave the braid in for Showmanship too. Then “let it down” for the riding classes.
I do stop his braid a little short, just so it doesn’t ride under his saddle.
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Pretty sure most organizations have removed the rules about braids being illegal in (western) halter classes but it wouldn’t hurt to visit the rulebook.
Do not french braid for a western halter class. That isn’t considered “in.” Leave the mane long and band it. It is even being used in AQHA Halter classes (performance halter at least).
Some examples here.
https://gohorseshow.com/2016/08/mane-event-exploring-trend-long-manes/
