False plaits!

[SpottyTB]

Hello all,

Every year I get to this time and start having nightmares. My 3yo, Hugo, is starting his final in hand season showing and now starts the time where i think about plaiting him... The bane of my life. He is warmblood, and i don't know if this is something that is a warmblood thing but by god, his mane is pathetic! Not to mention his little wispy forelock!

Anyway, i can get a tiny pea out of his forelock which will have to do, we have mane (all be it wispy and thin) from his poll to about 3/4 of the way down his neck.. I can get plaits out of this no problem but they are tiny - i guess it makes him look like he has a chunkier neck... however we do have about 6-12 inches of not a lot! It's grown now, but it's only about 2 inches long and no way can i muster a plait from it!

So I have been collecting hair from my friends horses and from his tail (typically we have 5 other horses with white tails and i need black hair)... I've made 3 rolled up plaits.. today i tried to attach one and it looked sodding awful.. AWFUL.. it was about 1/2 an inch from where it needed to be and i have images of it flying off and hitting the judge as we trot past!!!!

So can anyone please offer me some guidance about either sewing in the made plait or somehow adding hair into the plait!!
Sorry for the long post - it's silly, i shouldn't worry as it's the horse the judge is looking at not his mane but i like my turnout to be neat and quite frankly... this is not!

Thank you again

 

[Art Nouveau]

I remember seeing someone on fb advertising horse hair extensions. No idea if it would work, but it might be worth a try? I imagine they're added in a similar way to human hair extensions, and once in you could plait as normal?

 

[mandyroberts]

Same problem - will be watching for advice!

 

[SpottyTB]

AN - yes seen those too but she's based hours away from me so no can do!

I have seen the false plaits (plaited and rolled) online but wander how they attach...

Nightmare!

 

[The_Dappled_One.]

Mine has had half of his mane rubbed out over winter, leaving it half as you describe and half awfully thick!
I got some of his tail hair, plaited it, rolled it up, sewed and hairsprayed it. With the wispy hair, I plaited and rolled it like a dutch dressage braid (wings as large as I possibly could) and sewed the plait in as normal. I found having the wings on it was the only way the braid could look normal.

I will point out this was my first ever attempt, and also the day of the show so as long as it resembled a plait I was happy. I found out that morning that even more hair had been rubbed out so if I made equal plaits down the mane, there wouldn't be enough hair in each to hold the fake plaits, so I had to gather the wispy hair into two. Also the hair was from the tail so didn't match the mane hair :')

I doubt this will help you at all, mine was only half a wispy mane rather than a full one. You could also have the tail hair plaited into the mane braid, but I found I didn't have enough hair to hold it.

 

[The_Dappled_One.]

I also looked up mane extensions prior to making the fake plaits. What I found was just bundles of hair that you plait into the mane when you braid which wasn't useful to me. Some companies may do different things though.

 

[Illusion100]

I have no help to offer regarding false plaits but I found these articles on the internet and wondered if they maybe would help for next year?

http://www.arabianhorseworld.com/how-to/clipping/clipping-6.html

http://www.vsequine.com/blog/growing-a-healthy-mane-and-tail

I wish you posted this thread early last week or I would have had a mountain of black hair from my horses mane and tail to send you for false plaits.

 

[flirtygerty]

I have a WB mare and her mane is a nightmare to deal with, a thick double mane, going by when I cut it, it must be an inch thick, pm me your address and I'll send you some, it's about a foot long just now

 

[alainax]

If your plaiting with bands... then section off the part of mane, add the tail hair to the bundle - nice and neat laying flat against the underside of the top, then wrap the band around the mane hair and tail hair. You will now have a sectioned off and banded piece of thick mane ready for plaiting. Use some plaiting gel underneath to stop the tail ends spiking out. Then plait all the hair as normal. Could be done sewn too, but would be quite fiddly!

 

[SpottyTB]

Flirtygerty I've pm'd you - thank you 😊!

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, he is coming in tomorrow for a bath (weather permitting) and I shall have another play with the small amount of spare hair I have until FG's horses hair (thank you thank you) comes in the post 😄!

 

[Talyn]

I have to add false plaits to my boys mane. I take the wispy bits and band into sections. I then take a section of hair and thread this through the base of the piece I have banded. Double this back on itself and then you have enough to plait with. You can then roll this up as normal and stitch into place.