Leaving a horse plaited - one weekend to the next?

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AIBU I’ve just seen on social media one prolific poster boasting about leaving their rolled in plaits in from hunting from one weekend to the next and it’s made me feel for the horse?

I have to plait most weekends but it’s never occurred to me to leave them in after. Sometimes I’ve had to plait 2 out of 3 days! I don’t love plaiting the night before but have done in the past and I do sometimes mane train by plaiting over but these are not rolled and are done much looser than plaits for turnout. Is this really much worse?

I’m anthropomorphising but I can’t imagine having my hair in tight braids for that long.
 
I agree that sounds particularly unkind. And after a week I can’t imagine they’d look anything other than dreadful unless tightly cover led with a hood that didn’t come off.

Although I’m a showing bod and turnout is my thing, I now only plait if it’s absolutely necessary as I do think that the extra tension it causes across their neck can only be a bad thing.
 
No way, I don’t even leave them for a couple of days at a 2 or more day show! Maybe an old wives tale but I was always told they get more grey hairs if they have tight plaits in for two long!

I would hate to sleep with my hair in a plait for a week so why should they!
 
I used to arrive on a Tuesday morning to find Ella's forelock still plaited up by her teenage Sunday rider. I always undid it, supposing that in some way the floppy forelock protected her eyes. But also I think that girls like plaiting hair whether on dolls or horses?
 
Barklands said:
No way, I don’t even leave them for a couple of days at a 2 or more day show! Maybe an old wives tale but I was always told they get more grey hairs if they have tight plaits in for two long!
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Absolutely not an old wives tale, one of the horses on our yard is a heavily shown ex-HOYS horse and he has patches of white hair running the full length of his mane from having been plaited
 
Burnerbee said:
Well let’s be honest, hunters aren’t exactly guaranteed to be kind to animals.
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I know the poster OP is referring to and she repeatedly states that she hunts the clean boot with bloodhounds.

That being said, having watched videos where she’s screaming and swearing at her horse whilst it backs into a ditch in terror, I agree she’s not kind to the poor sod at all.
 
No thats a ridiculous thing to do.
However I don’t like plaiting and have stopped having my horse plaited when he goes hunting.
I do plait loosely for mane training or bunch and then pull the through above the band that’s an easy loose way to mane train .
 
dapple_grey said:
I know the poster OP is referring to and she repeatedly states that she hunts the clean boot with bloodhounds.

That being said, having watched videos where she’s screaming and swearing at her horse whilst it backs into a ditch in terror, I agree she’s not kind to the poor sod at all.
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Oooh okay, yes the plaiting thing is just another thing on what is probably a fairly long list of things for that horse.
 
stormox said:
If I've wanted to train a mane over I have left plaits in a week with no ill effects. But I do them very loosely, not like a show or hunt plait and don't roll them.
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I agree, I think long loose plaits is different. I used to do big fat loose plaits in my native's mane so he didn't end up a burr-blob. They didn't seem to pull and usually lasted a few days before I had to brush and re-plait.

ETA I do the same with my own long hair - I can make a two foot long plait last about three days before I start to look homeless and have to take it out 😆
 
dapple_grey said:
I know the poster OP is referring to and she repeatedly states that she hunts the clean boot with bloodhounds.

That being said, having watched videos where she’s screaming and swearing at her horse whilst it backs into a ditch in terror, I agree she’s not kind to the poor sod at all.
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oh her! That explains that then! It was always drumed into me you could plait the night before but you mustnt roll them till the morning. I'd have been hung, drawn and quartered if I'd left plaits in overnight never mind for a week.
 
The Welshie I used to have was plaited up too tight by someone whilst with his previous owner. Apparently took them hours to remove due to him being very uncomfortable by that point & until the day he died he would not allow you to even think about plaiting him. (Combing / using anything apart from a magic brush or the soft haas mane brush was also a NO & even then it must have either been freshly washed or sprayed with copious amounts of mane & tail!). If you went to pick up a strand of hair with your hand he went absolutely nuts… all brushing had to be done one handed! (& shampoo sometimes had to be applied with a sponge) I used to have to seek special permission to not plait him for hunting & such.

If you touched / played with bits of mane whilst on board he was fine as he knew you weren’t going to plait it
 
No to tightly rolled plaits. I can remember how tight my own head's plaits felt and the funny buzzy feeling across my scalp when I released them.

My old horse has a loosely plaited tail all winter as he gets FWS and he and his tail and legs stay a lot cleaner with the tail plaited. (He has very little tail).
 
Goldenstar said:
No thats a ridiculous thing to do.
However I don’t like plaiting and have stopped having my horse plaited when he goes hunting.
I do plait loosely for mane training or bunch and then pull the through above the band that’s an easy loose way to mane train .
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Don’t most hunts expect hogged or plaited after opening meet? Our local ones do!
 
Suechoccy said:
No to tightly rolled plaits. I can remember how tight my own head's plaits felt and the funny buzzy feeling across my scalp when I released them.

My old horse has a loosely plaited tail all winter as he gets FWS and he and his tail and legs stay a lot cleaner with the tail plaited. (He has very little tail).
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I used to do this until I was told about a horse who degloved his tail when it caught in something and the band did not give
 
I used to share a pony, and unfortunately his owner could no longer ride so she got another sharer. The amount of times I arrived in the height of summer to find him turned out in the field with his tail tightly plaited the day before by this oblivious teenage idiot. People just don't think about animals in any great depth I've found. I wouldn't like to be left at the mercy of flies etc with my hands tied behind my back so I couldn't swat them.
 
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