Wednesday 17 August 2011

Third Time Lucky… Or Not


Today I had another go at plaiting Niko’s mane, so to start with the humiliating part and I mean humiliating for Niko, but I did such a poor job it is a bit for me too. Anyway as you can see I started by dividing the mane into sections, I was then going to put a product on the section I was plaiting to make it easier to plait, but my spraying head thingy on the bottle broke, so I had to do it without the help of Chestfields, not off to a good start.



But here is the finished result of my hard work and Niko’s patience, even if he did bite me, the polo made him do it. As you can quite clearly see it is far from neat which is sadly sort of the point of plaiting your horse, the plaits are mostly different sizes, they are meant to all be the same, and traditionally there should be an uneven number of plaits in the mane but I forgot about that at the time.



And here is his mane looking all curly and messy after I took the plaits out, so all in all not so successful, but I guess practice makes perfect, or hopefully it does. This was my third time plaiting a mane up so I have a lot of practising still to do.






10 comments:

Sherri B. said...

I think you did a marvelous job for just starting out. Keep it up!!

Autumn Mist said...

You've done it really well! I hate plaiting, hence loving Barnaby who is hogged. The last photo shows his mane is still quite thick and long, so it might be worth pulling it a bit more, then having another go.

Mary said...

I am always fascinated by all the different ways you can plait a mane and tail. I was never any good at it and I applaud you for trying and not giving up. I think a person needs to grow a third hand in order to do it. I really can appreciate a good plait because I under stand how frustrating it can be.

Edward said...

Thank you all for your comments.

Autumn Mist, I would really love a hogged horse, but sadly none of our horses can be hogged because of their breeds. Yes I should probably pull his mane more, good idea.

Mary, I have only tried the one style of plaiting for now, and I haven’t even begun to try the tail, I think I need someone to show me how to do it, and yes a third hand would be nice, plaiting is so tricky, and oh so very frustrating maybe I will get the hang of it one day.

Debi said...

We call it "braiding" and actually there is very good money in it if you do it professionally at the big A shows. This could be a career move for you!

Edward said...

Thanks for the comment.

Yes I am aware it’s called braiding in the USA, but I was not aware it was worth money, interesting, I guess it is an incentive to get good at it.

allhorsestuff said...

Wow, look how very smart Niko looks!!! Great job there!It's tough work and the mane has to be the right thickness and length huh!
I did noit know that, about the number.

Once, I tried braiding my mare all up, for a change of look...no show or even clinic to be done for, just for fun. My mare's head was up and not lowered...well, I found out the hard way, THAT does not work for them, as they begin to travel with a correct neck set into the bit..the braids were -TOO TIGHT- and Wa mare started to SHAKE her head, each time she began to wrok in lowered frame!The braids pulled and bothered her... It was a terible ride!

allhorsestuff said...

P.S. I have a name for the "unbraided" hair look for my mare...it looks like a bad toupee!

Edward said...

Thanks you for the comments, KK

People don’t stick to the traditionally uneven number of plaits so much now, and normally just plait the horse to what suits it best and that isn’t always an uneven number also I don’t know if its like that in USA or if its just over here that its done like that. That sure does sound like an unpleasant ride but at least you know now.

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