Braiding

I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I'm going to. I'm a good braider. I sew in my braids because I think it makes the best finished product. I sew in what I call button braids, but I've also been told they're actually called plaits. Google seems to agree with that. Whatever.

Trainer has paid me to braid her horses before they go away to shows. She brings me to events where she's riding 5 horses and I braid all of them, plus other clients horses. I've sent my braids down center line at Plantation Farm's CIC**/*** and Fair Hill's CCI**/*** events. If I had gone with trainer to Rolex last year, they would have gone down centerline there too.

I'm out of practice since we don't braid them for dressage or eventing, but I can do tails too. I usually do them for the 4H kids.

I'm thinking of ordering this DVD from Lucky Braids to "learn to braid like the pros" in an attempt to make some extra cash to pay for things like truck tires, my horse's insurance, hotels for horse shows etc. My area has a lot of H/J and 4H riders, and if I want to tap into that pool, I can't do the braids I've been doing. My last attempt at hunter braids was awful, however I know now I was taking way too much hair on an improperly pulled mane.

While I was waiting for Penn's hoof to dry after soaking it Tuesday night (desperate horse owner), I pulled his mane to fix the damage I did to it when I braided it over the weekend (braid down, cut off the tail end of the hair, oops, not doing that again).

I did a test run of the button/hunter braids- I had been studying this video on YouTube and wanted to give it a try. Her method seems very similar to what the DVD does (check out the DVD's preview link). Here's what happened:

I took 1" sections, braided down, added yarn, tied off with just one of the tails.
All I had was the chestnut yarn I used to use on Mikey.
It's definitely the wrong type of yarn since it frays easily.

I used a homemade pull through (needle with yarn like in the video) instead of a latchhook to pull the yarn through the base. I like feeling like I'm sewing them in.

I then pulled the knot up into the base of the braid and pinched the braid flat.
The knot wanted to pull through the base of the braid. Oops.

Cross over the tails, put the crossover under the braid, pull across the neck so it's very tight. This is part of where my yarn failed me- it wouldn't hold the tightness.

I did a surgical knot (a knot with an extra twist?) and tried to shape the braid...
Then a double knot underneath to secure it.
This is about when I realized Penn's mane isn't pulled properly for this type of braid. It's too long for its thinness.
It looked like in the video she was going about halfway down with the surgical knot... I'm going to guess I went too far down for my first try.

Tails trimmed off. I had trouble with all the braids' bottoms turning to the left, so I'm doing something funny when I braid them down or tie them up. Penn's thinner mane doesn't help either! I think the braids need to be even tighter too. I need better scissors with a super sharp tip so I can cut the tails off closer.

Not quite right. Though I'm kind of happy for my first try with yarn in about 4 years. I still prefer my sew in plaits.

To me, these look horrible and I couldn't send anyone out in them... which makes me concerned that if a client's horse is pulled thin like this (or pulled improperly in general, which is bound to happen on the local circuit), that I'd be in trouble. I know I have a few readers who do more H/J stuff than dressage, so how do these stack up? Any tips?

What got me started on this practice is a friend who is going to a show this weekend and needs someone to braid her horse Friday night with these button/hunter braids (she doesn't braid and always hires a braider). I messed around with her horse Wednesday night... and I think I got the hang of them. However, I'm still pretty slow, and I'm still learning the tricks you can only learn by doing (or watching that 80 min DVD).

Early attempts on the right (too loose), a broken braid, then some good attempts (good tension).

I put in 10 Wednesday night... but apparently I need to make them a bit smaller so I can fit more on his neck. This got somewhere between 1/3 and halfway down. I'm a little concerned about that.
They're wonky because I was doing 3-4 at a time, and my hand bumped the previously tied up ones when I started the next set.
(that's not how I'll be doing it on Friday- I'll do all the braiding down first, then each step of the tying up).

So here's some questions for all of you, what kind of braids do you put in? Do you pay someone or do it yourself? If you pay someone, how much do they charge for what end product?