How to “braid” the horse
Those who participate in horse shows know that grooming their horse before a race is very important. Braids are one of the things that are part of the pre-race ritual of grooms and knights. A neat mane is a rigorous tradition to be respected when entering a dressage rectangle, but also in show jumping competitions or other disciplines and beauty reviews. When you do not have a lot of manual skills, it is not so easy to achieve a satisfactory result, so we have thought of some useful tips to help you get the perfect race braids for the horse. The first thing is to use the right equipment and a good product for the mane, to have an excellent result they must never be missing:
- a bucket
- a sponge
- comb for the mane
- rubber bands
- detangling spray for mane
- a “flannel” for hair
- scissors
First, prepare your horse’s mane making it approximately 5-6 centimeters long and as regular as possible. On your horse’s clean, trimmed mane, spray a detangling spray and brush all knots well. When the mane is wet you get a better result, so dip a sponge in a bucket of water and wet the hair well, dabbing it. With the mane comb, divide the entire mane into small tufts that are approximately the average width of two fingers and secure them at the top with a hair “flask” or rubber band. Tradition has it that the tufts are odd as a matter of superstition, so respect it too in making the braids. Proceed by working each tuft and making a tight braid with the hair still wet.
Once you get to the bottom of the braid, fix it with an elastic at the end.
Then fold each braid on itself inwards, until you obtain a sort of ball and fix it with two elastic bands wrapped around it, to better secure the braid so that it does not loosen or untie during the movements of the horse used two elastic to lock it. When all the braids have been folded and fixed, forming a row of balls, wait for the hair to dry and check with your hands that they are strong enough not to melt and secure them with a spray of detangling spray. If there are some shorter hair poking out between the braids, trim them with scissors.
Learning a good technique and taking the time to braid your mane can give you that extra edge to present your horse at its best.
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