Grooming and horse care tasks that I’ve never learned to do

[Tiddlypom]

Prompted by another thread, I confess that though I admire them, I do not know how to create quarter marks. I also can’t plait tails .

I can do most other stable management/grooming tasks, including plaiting manes, clipping and trimming, and I trim my own horses‘ feet, but I’ve never cracked those first two.

Anyone else like to fess up to gaps in their equestrian stable management CV?

 

[expanding_horizon]

Clipping. Never fancied learning. I am not good with fiddly things. I can clip hair off wounds / injuries / mudfever etc. But no desire to learn to fully clip.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Clipping. Never fancied learning. I am not good with fiddly things. I can clip hair off wounds / injuries / mudfever etc. But no desire to learn to fully clip.

Clipping is easy. Clipping well is hard.

Plaiting, pulling, trimming, Clipping etc are all things I have learned to do whilst working in racing.

Haven't quite mastered sharks teeth though!

 

[dottylottie]

i can plait a mane, but my tail plaits are also awful - i plait the “wrong way”, so i put the middle over the outside, not under, so i’ll never be able to get it properly straight i have no reason to plait a tail so i’ll be sticking to my plaiting methods lol.

 

[Tarragon]

I can probably plait a tail as with three daughters plaiting hair was the norm! I have never had to do it in earnest on a horse though - the beauty of having Exmoor ponies!

 

[[153312]]

don't laugh at me - but i can't tie haynets up. No matter how much I'm shown how to do it, how much I practise......when I tie them, first pull and they fall down no idea why. it is so frustrating. I've never tried plaiting.

 

[BMA2]

I also cannot plait a tail or a forelock...my forelocks are another mane plait.
But my mane plaits do stay in.
I am too impatient to clip.
I struggle to cut a tail straight too.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I’d love to be able to pull a tail really nicely.
I think anything else looks awful.

 

[tda]

Prompted by another thread, I confess that though I admire them, I do not know how to create quarter marks. I also can’t plait tails .

I have dales ponies, these skills are not required
I can't clip either

 

[Birker2020]

I cant plait a mane without bands and I've never pulled a tail either. Clipping bores me rigid.

 

[scats]

I’ve never bothered to sew plaits in.

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

It's a good job I had boys. I can plait manes but not tails. I have natives too so no need to learn!!

 

[Birker2020]

I’ve never bothered to sew plaits in.

My mate used to come to the grassroots 3DE's I used to do and sewed them in so Bails would look smart for the vet trot up. But otherwise I could never be bothered either.

 

[dreams579]

Feather trimming that doesn’t end up looking like someone just hacked away with a pair of blunt scissors!

 

[expanding_horizon]

Clipping is easy. Clipping well is hard.

Plaiting, pulling, trimming, Clipping etc are all things I have learned to do whilst working in racing.

Haven't quite mastered sharks teeth though!

I’m not good at painting my nails / other people’s nails, doing hair / makeup etc. if I did clip it would be messy which would annoy me for the effort and investment in buying clippers. I’m also blessed with horses easy to clip and only needing 2 clips a year.

I can under duress plait proficiently but that’s a necessity for competing regularly that I’ve mastered.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Plaiting with thread!

 

[Gloi]

As someone who has always had native types I've never
Pulled manes and tails
Plaited manes or tails
Clipped legs

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Plaiting with thread!

Band the bottom, stitch it up

 

[Widgeon]

I also can’t plait tails .

Plaiting tails - me too. For some reason I just never cracked it. Other teenage girls tried to teach me (more than once!) but twenty years on I still can't do it.

(I can't do a straight plait down the back of my own head either so there''s probably no hope for me)

 

[ycbm]

I haven't ever pulled a tail, I've never seen the point. I can plait a full one, I think it looks lovely.

I can't clip straight lines to save my life.

I can't tie a quick release knot that will come apart in a hurry unless it also falls apart when it doesn't need to.

 

[doodle]

I can't plait manes with bands, can only do it sewing them in. Looks better anyway. Never pulled a tail but it's never been needed

 

[Julia0803]

I can do a very nice tail plait…… can’t do manes at all…. Solved that problem by clipping and hogging.

But technically he should, I suppose, have a pulled tail… but I can’t do that either!

 

[Caski]

I also cannot plait a tail or a forelock...my forelocks are another mane plait.
But my mane plaits do stay in.
I am too impatient to clip.
I struggle to cut a tail straight too.

Forelock plaits are my nemesis, having shown for 40 odd years, I always leave this to an 'expert', don't know why I have never perfected it either!

 

[Kunoichi73]

I'm absolutely rubbish at putting on rugs! Granted I don't have to do it very often as I don't have my own. I always end up putting them on inside out and I really struggle to do up the little twisty metals fasteners of the straps that go under the belly!

 

[Rowreach]

Ooh I love clipping (well), trimming, plaiting manes and tails, brushing in quarter marks freestyle, "pulling" manes and tails where required (ie using a knife and a comb, not yanking it out by the roots like a barbarian) but one thing I've never tried to do and absolutely never will, is cutting a mane

I used to plait 12 manes and tails three mornings a week all winter, your fingers get very strong

 

[splashgirl45]

Can plait manes either with bands or thread, can clip and ok with straight lines, used to do an Irish clip on my later horses and full clip when I was competing … cannot plait tails , have been shown lots of times but they defeat me, luckily my friend was expert so she did them for me. Used to love doing quarter marks on my dark bay and my black horses

 

[ycbm]

Forelock plaits are my nemesis, having shown for 40 odd years, I always leave this to an 'expert', don't know why I have never perfected it either!

Foredlock plait is essentially a tail plait.
.

 

[Birker2020]

Can plait manes either with bands or thread, can clip and ok with straight lines, used to do an Irish clip on my later horses and full clip when I was competing … cannot plait tails , have been shown lots of times but they defeat me, luckily my friend was expert so she did them for me. Used to love doing quarter marks on my dark bay and my black horses

I used to have one of those quarter mark templates. I always think they looked better faintly done, more subtle.

You could vastly improve a horses conformation with well placed quarter mark's.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

The last time I plaited a tail was over 40 years ago, never needed to since and no inclination to either.
Have plaited many manes and could do a good job I reckon even now with bands or thread ✔
Pulling, trimming, quarter marks and sharks teeth etc ✔
Clipping, again not done it in years, prefer to cross friends palm with vino or similar 3 or 4 times each winter. Tho no doubt I still could if I had to.✔
Shoe removal ✔
Rasping and trimming ✔
Dressings, bandaging, jabbing meds etc ✔

Actually cant think of much I havent done (sorry TP!)

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I can't bandage without them falling down when working as I get so vervous they're too tight, same reason I've never bothered to learn to bandage a tail properly.
I also can't plait a tail or forelock (but also can't french plait, I have had ear length hair for 15 years so not needed to)
Can clip, but can't blend legs..