Friday, May 13, 2016

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?

18 comments:

  1. I haven't ever really braided but I plan on doing my own. Sure he is going to look wonky for awhile but I figure it is a good skill to have. The one day I tried it wasn't too horrible and my forelock braid was actually something that I wouldn't be ashamed of. Unfortunately I don't have an answer for any of your questions...

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    1. All it takes is some practice! You'll figure it out :-)

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  2. I sew in buttons for dressage (how many or how fancy depends on my mood). If I just need to pop something in real quick or informally I'll do rubber bands but they kind of make my soul die a little so I try not to. Hunter braids are too freaking tedious, I tried to make myself learn them but omg.

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    1. Hahahaha! I love sewing them in, and how many I sew in directly corresponds with the level of show- schooling gets 9-11, recognized I'll do 17-19. Rubber bands make my soul die a little too, so I refuse to do them. There's a big hunter following around where I live, so I'm forcing myself to learn the hunter braids. I don't think I'm going to like it!

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  3. I have no idea how to braid and would love to learn. No one here braids for local, unrated shows in any discipline, so I'm not sure where I would ever have the opportunity to show off said skills, should I acquire them. But I love the look. SO polished!

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    1. Braid anyway! Be that single person who braids! I'm usually that single person... I like it because it's a respect for the judge and yourself type thing. Plus it just looks neat and tidy!

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  4. I'd love to see a tutorial for your sew in buttons! They are lovely

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    1. I'll see what I can do! I don't think I could do a video, but I can take a bazillion pictures!

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    2. Pictures would be better! I always find the videos tricky to follow and I find myself stopping and starting them too much! I just got World Class Grooming and I am excited to try some of the techniques out!

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    3. I unexpectedly have some time to kill tomorrow (Penn's hoof saga continues instead of me being able to go watch the horse I'm braiding compete), so I'll torture him for some pictures while we wait!

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  5. Ugh braiding. Let's just agree that no one is ever going to pay me to do it.

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    1. Haha! Then stay tuned, my sew in braids are REALLY EASY and really quick. And easy to take out. They don't take long to perfect, and the spool of waxed thread is expensive but goes a long way.

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  6. I'm in desperate need for someone to show me how to do a good forelock braid ASAP. If I can do one tight enough that it stays in, it looks like crap. If I make it look good, it lasts for all of two seconds.

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    1. How thick is Bobby's forelock? I found the thinner and more "fly away" the forelock, the harder it is to get it to look nice. Penn's forelock is super ideal for a nice braid. I'll try to show how I tie the forelock off... to be honest, I think I rarely do it the same way twice. It's all about how the hair feels at the time and where I think it needs the support. Not very methodical, but I've never lost a forelock!

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  7. i'm so terrible at braiding... and it doesn't help that my practice beast has a looooooong thing mane... maybe one day i'll learn (but let's be honest, i probably wont). hunter braids look like way too much, but i would love to one day be proficient at big fat dutch dressage braids

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    1. I want to learn the big fat dutch braids too! I tried on my own, but I think you need a longer (6" instead of 4") mane to do it (and probably not thin), and they seemed too loose. I can't handle too loose braids. I bet you could tweak my sew in dressage braids to handle her longer, thinner mane. You'll have to do at least 14-16 of them, but I think you could get proficient quickly with the right method. I had a mare with a similar mane that I did button braids using rubber bands for shows. I'll see if there's a horse at the barn with a long thin mane that I can borrow :-)

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  8. Teach me your ways oh master ;-)

    Seriously though, I've never braided and I'm not even good at braiding my own hair so it will be interesting when we get to a point where I'll need to. Because of Katai's extraordinarily thick mane (instructor is european so no pulling and honestly I'd have to pull out over 3/4 of her main to make it reasonable) I'll probably do gigantic "cobra" type braids. Hopefully that will make it easier for me but still, I'm nervous already about trying to make them passable.

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    1. Try a Smart Grooming Tail/Mane Rack to thin her mane. It essentially razors off the hair, but not bluntly like scissors. Take the mane over to the wrong side of her, comb it with the rake until you reach a thinness you like, then flip it back over (this essentially shortens the underside hairs). I did it without combing over to the wrong side and was disappointed- the short hairs I created ended up on top and became difficult to braid in. You might have to experiment with how much hair you take in a sitting- it might pay to do a short session weekly to avoid a huge number of the short hairs I mentioned (you'll create new short hairs every week, so the lengths should vary. Note: this is totally experimental but the mane is made up of mixed length hairs, and the biggest fail with using scissors to cut is the lack of mixed length hairs).

      To shorten it, do you have an old T-84 clipper blade? I just learned a trick with that to shorten the mane- act like you want to pull it (take hair, tease the short stuff back) then use the blade in a downwards motion to cut the hairs. The hair ends up looking more natural instead of the blunt scissor look.

      I'd try combining the two methods to thin Katai's mane since you can't pull it.

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