plaiting band colour for showing

[Lucy J]

hello

will be taking my black mare showing soon and wanted an opinion on colour of bands. are the white bands (the little tube things) like they use in dressage acceptable for the following classes or should I stick to black bands and thread:

best turned out
best black
best riding horse

also less plaits are better on a thinner neck? and for these classes should it still be no numnah/self coloured numnah or is it not such a big deal anymore?

help!

thanks,

Lucy

[Mehitabel]

no - as discreet as possible, and ideally you don;t want to be able to see any of the thread or bands. definitely no rack of lamb! best turned out will matter enormously - no numnah if at all possible. the others are less bothered. BTO is all about the little things - so no visdible thread in the plaits, scrub your stirrup treads, clean the underside of your boots after you get on, etc. if you check on my site (link in my profile) there is a checklist of BTO hints.

[Daffy Dilly]

Definately not those white things! You should use black, and thread gives a much better finish. I personally find thread much much easier to work with, even for making a braid in the first place, just get a big needle. If you get 11 or so threaded needles and stick them through the front of your jumper, you can save a lot of time.

On a thin neck, I'd be aiming to do 9 or 11 (plus forelock) chunky plaits, done at the top (just on the side) of the crest, in order to give the illusion of a thicker neck. The ideal number of plaits is 11/13, they have to be odd (forelock makes even) and you're best practising first, a) to get used to thread rather than bands, and b) to find the right combination.

With regards to numnahs, either don't use one, or use one that fits closely to the saddle and matchs it.

[JOJOBA]

Once you get the hang of stitching plaits it gives a much nicer finish, Id put in another vote for stitching, then band colour doesnt matter!

Remedial plaiting, like Daffy described, is very useful ;).

xxx

[Wally]

Learn to sew plaits, you get a far, far more professional look.

[Lucy J]

i find plaits take soooo long or is that just because i'm not very good at it? i know they stay in better, but even following the books etc I can never get a good result. what is the secret?

i girl on the yard I used to be at plaited Ciara up for her first show and she looked superb even though they had been done the night before! i could hardly get them out they were threaded so well. I do have plaiting thread but just not very good (i mainly use it for rug repairs!!!), although her mane needs thinned a bit too, but I find if I do thin plaits then the thread just comes out when I wrap it round the bottom :o

i figured those white 'racks of lamb' would be a no no. i always use saddle cloths, I'll need to order a couple of black numnahs! I usually have a white lambskin half pad under her dressage saddle so that'll have to go i suppose. i could use a black prolite pad instead. ebay here I come!

also, tack is black, velvet browband is white blue black and gold so should I go with greeny brown tweed hacking jacket w tie and brown cane or black show jacket with stock and black show cane? what about gloves?

sorry - I just about got the hang of M&M with Maxwell last year, but showing a 99% TB ISH is not something I know much about!

[Mehitabel]

no stock for showing, ever, except evening performances - always a tie. check my site - has all the turnout rules for the classes.

BTO is always just walking round - if she can cope with that with no numnah at all it really is much better for that one class.

[Lucy J]

ok, so in that case I would probably be better off buying a velvet browband that matches the tweed or would decent tie with black show jacket be acceptable? I'll make sure gloves and cane match. cane should match tack should it not?

i'll go read your website i think!! :o

i wouldn't normally be so fussed, but there is a mother and her daughter who I know quite well going to be competing in the same classes with a lovely black welsh and I don't want them to beat me!!! :p

[Daffy Dilly]

i find plaits take soooo long or is that just because i'm not very good at it? i know they stay in better, but even following the books etc I can never get a good result. what is the secret?

Coming from somebody with a native.. but this is how I do it ;)

Firstly, section your mane into bunches, getting clean lines between each and securing with plaiting bands. Make sure you have an odd number down the neck, and that you have a well defined split between the mane and the forelock, as you want it comfy under her bridle. I usually start by working off one of those plaiting things (three spikes with a handle with two holes) and then adjust as necessary.

Choose whichever end you want to start at, and undo that bunch. Brush it through throughly. Neatly split it into three. In this situation, position yourself on a bucket or whatever above the neck, and pull the hair upwards as you plait it, so that it ends up vertical above the neck with you holding it. Secure with a band, as low down as you can manage.

Put a fairly large knot in the end of the plaiting thread on your needle. You can let the plait drop now, and bring the needle through from behind, just above the plaiting band, so the knot catches. Take it around to the back, thread it through again, take it around the other way, wrap around once, and then take the needle through from the back again. Once secure (the tighter you pull the better it will stay), remove the plaiting band.

Fold the loose edges of hair underneath, and catch them with the thread. Wrap around to hold them in place. (ETA, I go this far with a single plait on Daffy, so the rest might be a little shaky) Leaving the thread and needle attached, roll the plait up underneath itself, positioning it quite high up. If you feel it necessary, you can take the needle through to hold each stage of the roll.

Once it's rolled, simply secure it with the needle starting from the bottom next to the crest, hiding the stitches by keeping them small and under the hairs as much as possible. The bigger your needle the easier this should be.

Something like Quicbraid might be of use to you, although I've never tried it.

[Wally]

I can plait up 3 horses in less than an hour!....only because I did it twice a week every week all winter! Practice makes perfect.

I cheat a bit and use a rubber band to secure the long plait, the same colour as the mane. Then I sew it up and try to get the needle to go through the rubber band at one stage, this grips the thread and keeps it tight. Saddlers needles are best for plaiting, as they are thick, easy to thread and blunt. (bit like me I suppose!) :D :D ;)Keep everything as tight as you can.

[Wally]

Beeswax on the thread help to grip the hair too!

If you want a saddler's needle I dare say I can send you one!

[JOJOBA]

I can plait pretty fast now, makes a mess of my hands though. When I took one of the livery horses showing last year he looked immaculate and I was a mess - cut hands, nettle stings, covered in mud and chalk. I was only there as a groom though so it was okay - his owner looked immaculate too ;)

Why not just do them the night before? Takes some pressure off you. Cut off the leg from a pair of tights, lay it over the plaits, and put a band round each one.
Keeps them neat for the morning.

xxx

[Lucy J]

i am sat here trying to picture a saddler's needle! picturing a cross between a tapestry needle and a knitting needle!!

I have plenty blunt needles so should be OK, but thanks for the offer :D

big problem about doing the night before is she lives out - i can bring her in but I am likely to have a horse soaked in sweat by the morning which I daresay will take longer to fix than she will to plait! i could put a high neck rug on her, but the only one I have has 350gm filling, although I suppose if it goes on at 8pm and comes off at 6am I might just get away with that....

[JOJOBA]

Do a trial run first and see how disasterous it is ;)

xxx