hairspray or gel |
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 1) Divide the mane in to an uneven amount of bunches. If your horse has a thin, long neck, have fewer, thicker bunches or if it has a fat, short neck, have many smaller bunches. |
2) Plait each bunch right to the tip, and then secure with thread. Make sure that you coil the end of the plait under, so that there aren't any straggly, untidy ends. |
3) Now fold the plaits in half and then roll them into tight balls, then simply sew in place. Be careful not to prick the horse and make sure that you use a blunt, large needle. Use thread that matches the colour of your horses mane. Alternatively, you could use rubberbands, which can be purchased from a saddlery store. Follow up to step three, but use the rubber bands to secure the plaits instead of the thread. You may need 2 rubberbands per rosette. (I have used brown thread.) |
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4) Make rosettes with the rest of the mane, following the previous step. Sewing is much slower than using rubberbands, so be sure to start early on the show day. You could do the rosettes the day before, but they can fall out, rip the mane out and give your horse a sore neck! (your fences will have nice hair-do's though!) If you have to do them the day before, put a neck rug on your horse and let the horse stay in the stable during the night. This will keep them (and your horse!) in one piece. |
Finally, follow step 2 and step 3 for braiding the forelock. This horse doesn't have much of a forelock, so it was a real challenge to plait! Have a look at the before and after shots. |
 
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