# Wow. Amazing mane braid. How do I do it?



## moomoo (Feb 21, 2007)

just really really tight worked for me  on my instructors granddaughters pony :lol:


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## TheVelveteenPony (Aug 22, 2008)

How did you do that? I don't know how to even do the second one! lol


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

This will be kind of hard to explain...

When your braiding, the bit that you have just added to, i let it lay down their neck and hold the other two in one hand, and pull the one you just added to through so it's super tight, then move on to the next one. After a bit of practise I can get braids like that top one...That probably didn't make sense, it's something I normally show people!

Also try standing on a bucket and braid from over the top of there neck, it makes for a tighter braid.

Let me knwo fi you didn't understand :]


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

Oh i forgot... It also depends on which side you take the hair through, I can't think which side you need to make it lok like the top without a horse in front of me... lol... but I think it's the bottom.


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## xilikeggs0 (Sep 14, 2008)

TheVelveteenPony said:


> How did you do that? I don't know how to even do the second one! lol


 I didn't do either one of them... But to do the second one, it's sort of a cross between a regular braid and a french braid. You add pieces in like a french braid, but you only add it to the piece that's on top.


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## xilikeggs0 (Sep 14, 2008)

wild_spot said:


> This will be kind of hard to explain...
> 
> When your braiding, the bit that you have just added to, i let it lay down their neck and hold the other two in one hand, and pull the one you just added to through so it's super tight, then move on to the next one. After a bit of practise I can get braids like that top one...That probably didn't make sense, it's something I normally show people!
> 
> ...


 I know what you mean. Thanks, I'll try that next time.


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## kickshaw (May 7, 2008)

really really tight - sometimes it helps if you braid from the offside ;-)


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## equineangel91 (Oct 8, 2008)

THAT LOOKS AWESOME 
my horse is in training braids right now...you know just to get his mane to stay on one side since its crazy. BUt i love that top one. Maybe I"ll try that one day. I usuallyjust plate


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## horsey*kisses (May 12, 2008)

thats amazing!! *makes note to try it* lol 
i have done the second one on my horse, but i dont do it all the time because no matter how tight i do it, the braid always comes out somewhere then it looks really terrible lol


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## DMWORKS (Nov 6, 2008)

Great! Looks terrific!!


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

For this braid, it looks to me also like you either have to start at the whithers and work up as a tight french braid style or if you start at the poll, you need to work each movement "under" rather than "over" and tight.


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## ahearn (Jul 10, 2007)

I do this all the time! The second pic is a traditional french braid done very tightly. Some have given you EXCELLENT INSTRUCTIONS on this ! The first is an inverted french braid...in other words, you are braiding UNDER instead of OVER. All of these have to be tight to be polished. Your horse will get use to the pulling, but it does take practice! Good luck! It's GORGEOUS when you do it..my mare feels so pretty and she prances when it's completed..like she knows she looks pretty!!


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

oo i like the top one. my new mare has a nice long mane so i might give it a try on her


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## bedouin (Oct 12, 2008)

I love the braiding of the second picture,...but I have two left hands,...
Please show pictures of you doing it and the results?


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## wordstoasong (Jul 8, 2008)

**** that it is good! Both ways!

I've always had the idea that sitting on your horse would work...=P


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## banoota (Nov 15, 2008)

equineangel91 said:


> THAT LOOKS AWESOME
> my horse is in training braids right now...you know just to get his mane to stay on one side since its crazy. BUt i love that top one. Maybe I"ll try that one day. I usuallyjust plate


I thought braiding and plating was the same thing, what's the difference between them?


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

I really like the second one...that is always what I am going for, but I always end up with more like the first one. I would love to be able to do the second. I wonder if it would help to do it from the horse's back to keep it on top (if you could get it started and get it far enough down to reach).


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## Dasher41 (Sep 29, 2007)

omg i love them.

i would love to try it on amazon, mm might have a go this week


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

But doing the braid too tight will cause it to stretch out and get ugly when the horse stretches the neck?


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Zab said:


> But doing the braid too tight will cause it to stretch out and get ugly when the horse stretches the neck?


That is what I run into when I get mine as tight as possible...that is why I am thinking there is more to the second one than just tight.


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

AKPaintLover said:


> That is what I run into when I get mine as tight as possible...that is why I am thinking there is more to the second one than just tight.


Now I know..you just don't allow the horse to stretch... on with side reins! >D


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## MirrorStage2009 (Sep 10, 2008)

The white horse...Andalucian, right? All the riding, high school stallions are kept like that, while breeding mares are shaved. 

It's a traditional, running braid fashion among Baroque show horses. It just has to be tight and pristine to look like that. The key word to listen to, I think, is "show". Braiding and bagging to get an extreme look like that only truly works on a stall-kept horse. (Hence, no pulling of the mane) :? Then what you do is take the braids/bags off like once a week, wash and rebraid. And inbetween I've heard you spritz the mane with plain ole' water to keep in hydrated and lessen the irritation. 

TJ came to me looking like that from a swanky place (my hauler said he would have eaten off the barn aisle floor! :lol. I'll see if I can find some pictures to scan. It was amazing! 

I can't do it, I'm all thumbs. *sigh* My mother puts TJ's hair up in a running braid. She just can't get it that tight 'cuz she had the tendons in her hands cut. So it would have to be redone every other day. Sooo much maintenence into something like that!! Sheesh!

Personally, I don't believe in stall-keeping any horse. I'd rather have a sane, healthy horse then a pretty postcard.


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## MirrorStage2009 (Sep 10, 2008)

Okey-dokey. Here's one! You can see it wasn't too pristine as it fizzles out at the bottom. Or it loosened in the 11 hour haul. Poor guy! This was when I got him in 2006. Not the best picture, it was a disposable camera. :-| But here's TJ's best rrunning braid:


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## kickshaw (May 7, 2008)

Zab said:


> But doing the braid too tight will cause it to stretch out and get ugly when the horse stretches the neck?


 
it will, and that's why God invented the hay bag :lol:

I also twist the hair as I'm braiding it; seems to help a lot!


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## xilikeggs0 (Sep 14, 2008)

wordstoasong said:


> **** that it is good! Both ways!
> 
> I've always had the idea that sitting on your horse would work...=P


 I've tried that, but my horse's neck is too long. I guess it might work as long as you don't have a draft horse...


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## banoota (Nov 15, 2008)

watch the video on this page for a step-by-step tutorial:
Braid Andalusian Mane


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## Connemara93 (Nov 7, 2008)

To me, it looks like the braid on the grey horse starts from the withers, and then goes backwards up to the poll... Is that just me?? Lol

But yeah, I think you just have to do it really tight, and pull the new section all the way though so that you braid with the hair from the roots... instead of braiding the end bits of the hair... does that make sense?


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

banoota said:


> watch the video on this page for a step-by-step tutorial:
> Braid Andalusian Mane


 
Great video!! Thanks for digging it up to share with us!


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I made it! 
Not great.. but not too bad for a first try? :3
(I've made a few running braids before but they always end up like on the brown horse in the first post..I've never managed to make it look lke a braid, or be as close to the top s I wished.. this could be a bit tighter too..but.. oh well. xD)

And the feathers actually looked rather good IRL.. >___> the camera made them waaay too white and fixing it in photoshop didn't help a lot either..the grey on them IRL contrasted nicely to his brown coat and black mane I'll see if I try/manage to do the same on Crow once I see him and then tae photos with my real camera  I think I'll put the feathers in a more even distance to the braid too..

Anyway.. what do you think?


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## mom3x (Sep 16, 2008)

I can't even braid my daughters' hair. Thank goodness Hank's mane is kept short. I'd be a wreck...


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Great video, and nice work Zab!! I can't wait to give it another try!!


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

This is about as good as I could get is last summer.


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## xilikeggs0 (Sep 14, 2008)

northernmama said:


> For this braid, it looks to me also like you either have to start at the whithers and work up as a tight french braid style or if you start at the poll, you need to work each movement "under" rather than "over" and tight.


 I tried it tonight starting at the poll and pulling it as tight as I could, but it kept turning out like the first picture.

So I tried starting at the withers and working my way up, and it worked! It wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but it stayed right along her neck! I was going to take a picture of it but the guy who was driving the horse I did it to took it out before I got a chance to. :evil:

But I'll be sure to do it to my horse and post pictures.

Thanks everyone!


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

Never heard of starting at the withers.

I figured that the only differense was that instead of taking the first strand of hair *over* the second when I started, I put it *under* it.. it took about 5 minutes for my fingers to realize that this was still the same as braiding, just the other way XD Then it took 5 minutes to make the braid  And I ddn't pull much at all or tighten it.
(there's a pic earlier in the thread)


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## xilikeggs0 (Sep 14, 2008)

Zab said:


> Never heard of starting at the withers.
> 
> I figured that the only differense was that instead of taking the first strand of hair *over* the second when I started, I put it *under* it.. it took about 5 minutes for my fingers to realize that this was still the same as braiding, just the other way XD Then it took 5 minutes to make the braid  And I ddn't pull much at all or tighten it.
> (there's a pic earlier in the thread)


 I had never heard of it either, but I saw somebody say something about it in this thread, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. 

I still don't know how it works.


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