Plaiting horse with rubbed out mane!

J1993

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I need to plait my horse up but she has half a mane at the minute, learnt my lesson using full neck rugs! What do you do in this situation? I will go find out how to post a pic so you can see how bad it is!
 
I would just cut/pull those whispy bits so there is nothing there, then pull the rest short so that the plaits end up small, then even it up as it grows.

We did the NW Champs for working hunter with a mane like that and still managed to win the turnout prize too. And it takes half the time to plait!
 
The rubbed out bit has grown about an inch but nowhere near enough to plait yet. Will plait the rest and hopefully you will only be able to notice close up! My plaits are bad enough without only having to do half ha ha. Thanks for advice :-)
 
What are you plaiting for? If its showing you will have to do something along the lines of what SuperH says, if its dressage or eventing, I have just sectioned up hair that is about an inch long and twiddled it into a band without plaits to make it seem plaited, its the effort that counts..
 
What are you plaiting for? If its showing you will have to do something along the lines of what SuperH says, if its dressage or eventing, I have just sectioned up hair that is about an inch long and twiddled it into a band without plaits to make it seem plaited, its the effort that counts..

This - my boy's mane goes in the middle every winter. I have become an expert at the mini-bun as I call it. Pull the longer section as short as you can to still be able to plait it so they don't look too big. Plait those as normal. Section the short part up and then twist each section around and around until it forms its own little bun, then just pop a band around it. Make your proper plaits as small as possible so they all look about the same size. This meant 25 plaits on my boy the other day although he does have a very long neck so even with a good mane he has about 17.
 
Yes it's showing, a ridden hunter class. Have seen online about taking some from the tail and making a mini plait but how do I make it stay in? I have pulled it shorter today. I will not make the full neck rug mistake again, it's my first winter with her as I've only had her since October so I suppose it's newbie mistake!!

Also have a thread about what to wear if anyone can offer advice-
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?660374-What-to-wear-for-local-show-hunter-class

Eta: this might be a stupid question but does tail need plaiting too or can it just be pulled around the top?
 
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If it is not too late you could make a few plaits with the hair you pulled today, roll up and stitch tightly then they should hold if there is an inch of mane in the bad area, you just need to play about until you get the right look but if just local level you will not be the only one in the same boat so don't worry too much .
The tail should be pulled at the top and trimmed neatly at the bottom, not left too long.

For you the tweed is fine, cream or other light coloured shirt and tie, not stock, beige jods long boots, spurs should be worn but don't worry if you don't have any, brown gloves, black is not correct, hair in a net, a cane ideally but a dark short whip will be ok.
For the horse, no bling, discrete numnah, not a square, no boots unless for the jumping phase of workers when fronts in a dark colour can be worn but must be removed after jumping, think workmanlike and simple you should not go far wrong.
 
We had this problem with my mares mane, she had realy bad rug rub years ago that seemed to damage her mane permanently so we had about 8/10 inches at the bottom that never grew properly. We used to do about 3 or 4 hair extension plaits.

I would pull the long bit as short as possible and use the 'pullings' to make some hair extensions. Bunch the 'pullings' up with a band or thread, plait, roll up and secure with thread, leaving some good long thread tails hanging out. Then section off the short wispy bits, either put a plaiting band in and then sew on the hair extension plait using the thread tails. Or, partition off the short wispy bit and secure with the hair extension tails and sew the extension on in one go. Looks neater but is more fiddly. If you are careful when you unpick/unplait you can use your hair extensions again.
 
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