ODE and Plaiting

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samp

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I am doing a ODE and normally I would plait my horses mane. However she has been suffering with sweet itch this year and has several bald patches within her mane and very little mane lower third of her neck. Will it be frowned upon to not plait it up? I normally can hide it by plaiting on the left, however she also has bald patches on the right hand side now
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Can you incorporate the bald patches into the middle of a plait rather than there being a gap between plaits ? I know its not a solution now but if you mix half a small bottle of TCP with a pint of water and spray on where she suffers at least it'll help to stop anymore patches apprearing.

You might loose marks for not plaiting, I'm not sure of the ins and outs of ODE but personally I'd rather see a smart tidy mane not plaited than a mess if you try and plait it, either way it might loose marks, but the fact you made an effort to plait might be less of a lost mark than if you didn't, sorry to ramble, I know what I mean, hope you do
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The top 2/3rds of her mane I can probably plait ok, the bottom third though there is some long and then some really short hair that even if plaited that whole section would be silly, def do not want to shave that hair off though
 
I just trimmed the bit that was unplait-able off....and plaited the top 2/3 of the mane. It looks much neater this way and it should grow back better. I also plaited tail to show I made some effort!
 
I had a similar problem with a welsh cob x i used to ride last year. He also suffered from sweet itch and his mane was really patchy. I ended up cutting off some of his tail as it was soo long and thick (with owners permission!!
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)and making some fake plaits. I then attached these to the wispy bits that were left from where he had rubbed. You couldnt tell they were fake, and if youre careful taking them out you can use them again! I still have mine and will probably use them on my pony this year as his mane is really thin and uneven. You just have to be careful where you take the hair from!!
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I can not plait her tail as she has attacked that also. It is such a pain. I guess she could possibly have some tail cut
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- I love her long tail though. oh the drama's
 
Have you got another horse you could take some tail from? Or if she's got a fairly thick tail take it from next to the dock right in the middle (so it doesnt' shorten it, and you won't know it's missing). False plaits work realy well. Just plait the false hair and sew it into a ball as you would do a normal plait, then attach it to a "bunch" you've made with the existing mane in a plaiting band.
 
Try and get the main pulled level and smart as you can and leave it.
I know a couple of ppl who dont always plait up for the dressage phase.
Unfortunately the overall impression isnt as smart as if you had plaited.
You could always just ride alongside the judge and tell her why you havent plaited, they will understand.

If its going to agravate the mane and upset your horse then I wouldnt worry too much for this one event.
 
But you need enough mane to be able to sew the false plait to. So who ever thinks false plaits are easy can do Dermots next show....I tried every think in the end gave up and he went in the ring with a hair clip *stolen from my own hair* to stop one bit flying up...clip fell out...hair stuck up....Hair now cut off....That was showing...For ODE its surely only dressage phase you might get marked down it..Personaly I would go for tidy over all plaited. Experiment pre event and see what looks smart from a distance.
 
You shouldnt get marked down for not plaiting however a plaited horse presents a prettier picture so a judge may look more kindly. I would suggest you just try to present your horse in the neatest possible way if, you cant plait then trim and tidy, perhaps go to the effort of using quarter markers, and really put a shine on the coat, to show that you have made an effort in your presentation and have respect for the competition/judge etc.
 
Great idea re quarter markers etc. I have spoken to the RC and they said the judge should be judge your horses way of going not how it looks (tell some judges around me that)
 
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