To plait or not to plait?

[Twizzel]

Would you plait a Welsh section D or leave natural for hunting? He will be living out 24/7, fully clipped but we can't decide whether to pull and plait or leave him natural. The other option is a running plait which would keep his mane out of the way, not pulled and may look a bit smarter?

We want to look smart and not like we've pulled him in from the field and loaded him straight away, so any suggestions?

Cheers

 

[muffinino]

I always plait T up (coloured in sig) Obviously he's not a Welsh cob but would be shown in the same natural state. I love a flowing mane, but I do quite enjoy the process of de-pikeying him, lol.

I do a running plait and put a long plait in his tail then tape it up. It's amazing how square they look when you do this, you can really see their shape and it looks so smart. I don't think it would matter so much with a Welsh cob, M&Ms can get away with the natural look a bit more, so it depends on whether you can be bothered, lol.

Personally, it's sort of become a bit of a ritual for me to do it and makes him look so different - he changes from gypsy cob to mini hunter and it gets us in the right frame of mind.

 

[star]

i have done both. he does look really smart plaited, but i think on a native with a full mane you can get away without plaiting.

 

[SimonH]

You don't need to plait M&M's but you do need to spend four hours brushing the tail and mane instead

 

[monkeybum13]

If you leave him all hairy (long mane, feathers etc) dont plait however if you pull mane short and give feathers a chop then plait

 

[ester]

I did a running plait on Franks when it was long, mostly to keep it out of the way.

 

[irish_hunter]

yeh if it is very long, may be an idea to just get it out of the way!...unless you need plenty to hold on to :grin:

 

[Aniseed]

I hunted mine with a long mane and there wasn't a problem with it. Its quite good to have something to hold on to! However I took the plunge and decided to pull her mane and plait her when I go out and it does look smarter. Doesn't matter either way though. Quick question for everyone, if your horse does have a short mane is it an absolute must to plait them and then leave the tail natural?

 

[wench]

just make sure that your hands arent going to get tangled up in the mane, done that before and its not good at all