Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Fluffy Braids

So Tuesday night, I'm wide awake at a wee hour of the morning, so I parooze Facebook (because you know, that will help me fall back asleep), and I come across this video from Horsegroom Denmark.

It instantly reminded me of Austen's braids. Something I attempted when she posted her tutorial, but wasn't all that successful for me because I pull Penn's mane and keep it pretty short.

Penn's mane is currently a long mane disaster- too long, too thick. It needs to be pulled. I decided to give these braids another whirl since I didn't feel like cleaning up Penn's mane in time for our show in a week and a half, because lazy. I love my tight little braids, but I'll admit, when I want to make them exceptionally perfect, they take me at least 45 min to put in, which means I usually braid the night before to ensure I'm not rushing on show day.

Courtesy of High Time Photography.

So I got to the barn Tuesday night and killed some time. I did them the way Horsegroom Denmark did, but I think I'm going to try them again Austen's way- I used waxed thread because that's what I had on hand. The nubs looked a little funny since the thread pulls tight- Austen uses yarn to avoid that. But the methods aren't all that different, except Austen's are much fluffier!

7 not-so-wee fluffies made in 15 min with practically zero effort.
This might be dangerous.

The only one I really oopsed on is the very middle. When I got to the bottom, I realized I didn't have a rubber band on my finger and tried tying it up with the thread... it didn't tie well and didn't wrap well.

Braids in action. My double lunging and picture taking skills have been severely lacking lately.

I was happy with how they looked when Penn worked- His neck just shrinks away and they at least sit on top and add some fluff to his neck.

Penn was not cooperating with standing and not looking like a giraffe, so you get blurred lines haha.

Of course the night deteriorated into "get some good pictures of the braids for the blog" and I took so many pictures. Penn was not cooperating. One of the few gentlemen who ride at our barn came out to see his horse and was like, "Why so many pictures tonight? Are you selling him or something?" I laughed and said no, I just braided him for shits and giggles and wanted a nice pic of the braids.

I can dress him up but just can't take him anywhere, lol.

Even the All Ears Selfie app didn't help much. It did get all of the horses riled up though- they were waiting for dinner and the neighing in the app made them all start talking. Though, that did jazz Penn up a little bit, so maybe it helped in a different way?

Trying to be artsy with my pictures.

I ended up getting a handful of cookies and throwing them up in the air in front of Penn to catch his ears. I may have lost some, and may have hit that gentleman in the back... *facepalm*

And I don't know how many hundreds of pictures later, I have a decent headshot.

I'm going to give these braids a whirl in two weekends, but I'm going to try to make the parts in the mane more on a diagonal like Austen's rather than straight like Horsegroom Denmark's. I'll probably practice braid again before the show, because these were kind of fun!

16 comments:

  1. I love the fluffy braids! I haven't tried braiding and it is probably going to be a chore finding yarn that will match Stinker...
    Penn looks great!

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    1. Matching yarn was a huge reason I leaped at the chance to learn to sew in braids with Mikey (I could buy chestnut thread). Chestnut is a terrible color to try and match! I know some grooming websites sell yarn for chestnut horses- I'd probably start there because my local big chain craft store did not have the right color! I would go darker than the mane if you can't find an exact match (or pester Austen about where she got her chestnut yarn), because I did lighter and it looked HORRIBLE. Really accentuated a poor braid job (aka that time I tried to do hunter bumps but not make them small enough).

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  2. Love it! Once I learned to do Austen's fluffy braids I never looked back. They get so many compliments, too!

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    1. I think I'll be doing them from now on! I already pestered her about how she trims Pig's mane appropriately, haha.

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  3. I have hopes and dreams of creating these braids when Charlie eventually becomes a show horse! (Tho I also picked up those braideez things that Carly uses too bc lets be real. I need help haha)

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    1. Yay! And you've got plenty of help around you to help your braiding skills!

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  4. I've totally quit pulling T's mane because of giant fluffy braids. And also I'm lazy.

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  5. I love the fluffy braids! I'm super lax about pulling Ruby's mane (mostly because previously I never ever cut my Iberian mares' manes lol) so these really appeal to me! I need to try them some weekend.

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    1. Do it! They're fun and easy. I don't think I could cope with a breed that it's more appropriate to keep the mane long... I see so many long, thick maned horses sweating to death under their manes in summer. I rode a long maned horse for a winter (friesian cross), and I ended up french braiding his mane for every ride because it would get caught on my whip handle or something.

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    2. Breed standard for mares is actually to roach, but I don't like that either haha. I have opinions about hair. Although I'm liking having Ruby's shorter! (Shorter for me, not for a normal person lol)

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    3. Ack! Screw breed standards for that! No roaching! I would be the worst owner of a horse with breed standards about mane length. I'd hack it off anyway (or in that case let it exist!). I'm sure I would cause pain in breed purists lol

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    4. They shave parts of the tail too, haha. Luckily it's not really a problem for me because I don't do breed shows, and even if I did, I don't show in front of Spanish judges (who are the sticklers for the shaved mares). The American standards are more lax.

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  6. Bwahaha throwing stuff into the air and hitting a poor innocent bystander sounds like something I'd do!

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    1. Well in my defense, he watched me throwing cookies and then tried to walk past me haha but perhaps he wrongly assumed I'd stop throwing for him to go by!

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