Back in the 60s
Hunter braids are different than jumper braids. Jumper braids tend to look like dressage buttons.
THOSE in your link are icky blech. Seriously blech LOL!!
*edited-the first ones are icky. The rest look nice and are a mix pf pinwheels and buttons.
Hunters and Jumpers are two different things. So, like TresGauche said, hunter braids and jumper braids do not necessarily match.
The pictures in the link are all of jumpers. Jumpers, if they braid, tend to do button braids. The first horse is wearing scalloped braids which are pretty unusual, but as a jumper, maybe they thought “the heck with it, we are going to do something different”. The horse’s mane appears to be very thin, they would end up with about 5 braids if they did button braids! The scalloped braid gives him the appearance of more mane. Not my taste either but hey, all that matters is that he leaves the jumps up. :winkgrin:
Agree that hunters would not do jumper braids as pictured. But it used to be more common to see jumpers with hunter braids & also dressage horses & eventers in hunter braids (although usually larger & fewer than would be acceptable on a hunter).
The scallop braids are interesting. Wonder what that would look like with a really full mane?
What is up with the loose forelock? It’s like a reverse mullet… business in the back & party up front??? Maybe they thought the horse was going to wear a bonnet? But really now, if you are going to braid the mane, do the forelock too!
Unless it’s a stallion. In which case you traditionally leave it unbraided. (Or my gelding who will knock your teeth out if you try to braid his forelock…)
Personally I don’t care how they are braided, makes for a good turnout. Hunter braids looks great but are time consuming. 
The button braids are not dressage braids. They are European jumper braids.
That’s what I grew up with, jumpers with hunter braids.
Some dressage riders do that too, party in the front. Not sure why.
Thank you. I didn’t look closely at the tack. Saw the manes and thought wth? The attempt at scallops is, interesting.
I thought they only did that with stallions?
There are plenty of horses that don’t like having their forelocks braided or just don’t have enough to bother with. It’s not worth the extra time and energy unless you’re a hunter.
Those are jumper braids, all of those horses are jumpers.
I’ll put in “hunter” style braids for dressage if I have later ride times and thus more time to braid in the morning without getting up at a ridiculous hour. Though I’ll put in significantly fewer than I would if braiding for hunters–perhaps a dozen, rather than 20 or more. If I ride early, I’ll put in this style of button braid with rubber bands, as it’s faster and easier.
With the exception of big GPs like this one (Devon is a Very Big Deal), you rarely see jumpers braided. I think some riders like having fun with it since it’s so rare for them to do, hence unusual things like the scallops or the colored charm. Scallops can look nice on certain horses, but IMO they don’t suit this particular horse.
Interesting - I didn’t know stallions did not get their forelocks braided… wonder what the history of the reasoning for that is?
@JenEM - I once counted the braids in my hunter as I was pulling them out - 42 - :eek:. Of course he was 17.2 & had a pretty long neck - never counted them again!
I agree with the others that horses can fight it. My gelding doesn’t have enough hair to braid - it’s literally take a loop of hair and put a rubber band on it, and use some gel to try to keep it from blowing around.
I use bonnets now because 1) my horses get fussy if there are any flyaways which tickle their ears and I don’t want headshaking during the test and 2) my mare is impatient and hard to braid the forelock. I used to just do a plain 3-strand braid I would loop so it would stay under her bonnet, but now the fly masks have rubbed out her forelock enough that it doesn’t stick out unbraided and she’s happier for being left alone.
