Hello Again Everyone!! You guys already helped me with braiding my horses mane for dressage and I am wondering if anyone can help me with braiding his tail. Not for dressage, just for any occasion or just for fun. I tryed french braiding it and I can't get it to work very well. I know there are tons of styles out there and I am just looking for the names of some of them and how to braid some of them. If you guys have some different names of different styles and maybe how to do some of them it would help me so much!! thank you again, Hallie

-- Hallie (happyhooves@mstar2.net), March 24, 2002

Answers

You are right in thinking that it is supposed to be a french braid. The DIFFERENCE is that when you take hair from the side to add it you are going to take a VERY SMALL amount (about half the diameter of a pencil) of hair to add. In order for all the hair to be contained in the braid the hair you take to add must be taken from the underside of the tail (near the bald area). Unlike a french braid on a person all of the hair will not be added to the braid. You'll have hair lying underneath the braid that is unbraided but held flat by the braid. Am I making any sense?

-- Lisa - MI (ForMyACDs@aol.com), March 24, 2002.

Hallie I always have better success if I wet my horses tail before braiding it. Also, be sure not to get it too tight. A constant hard pull can cause the hair to fall out. I braided my horses tail and then put a tailbag on. When I turned her out, the bag fell off and the braid got caught on a tree. A big hunk of tail was hanging on the tree when I got home. Just thought you could learn from my bad experience.

-- AmyJ in TX (akajacobs@aol.com), March 25, 2002.

A show braid IS done tightly (I used to develop braiding blisters/callouses every show season from having to do tight braids while grooming for an Arab barn)....otherwise it will easily "swish out". Water is excellent to assist in show braiding....not only does it smooth the hair out but it makes it easier to grip for a tighter braid. Another tip is to NEVER use Show Sheen on a tail or mane you're going to braid......those kinds of conditioners make the hair slippery and your braids will just slide right out (actually braids tend to stay in better in manes/tails that are slightly dirty). ;o)

You should never leave a tail braided in a show braid overnight (if you have a multiple day show REBRAID every day) and especially never while the horse is turned out. These tight braids are only meant for show and if left in for too long (more than several hours then the hair will break or fall out).

I do braid/tie up all my horses' tails for everyday (to keep the tangles/dirt out and keep the tail hair from breaking off) but that is a completely different type of braid as I only braid the hair that hangs BELOW the tailbone.

If you want to braid your horse's tail for everyday protection then gather all the tail hair below the end of the tail bone and start braiding LOOSELY and bind the bottom with a rubberband (its better to stop the braid a few inches from the bottom of the tail if the braid is getting really small than to braid all the way to the bottom). You want the braid only just tight enough to hold the hairs smoothly but not so tight that you're BENDING the hair. THEN you can put on a tail bag if that's what you prefer. I usually fold the hair up thru the top of the braid and then use vetwrap to cover the entire braid. If you use the vetwrap method you need to make sure you aren't pulling the hairs at the tailbone tight (the vetwrapped braid should be able to "swing" back and forth a little) and NEVER wrap any of the tail bone (this is done for mares ready to foal but that wrap is never left on for very long). You'll want about two fingers' widths between the top of the wrap and the end of the tailbone. If you wrap it too tight or wrap part of the tailbone you may wind up losing the ENTIRE tail!! Some horses have hair that will break off if braided for any length of time so you might want to braid a small piece in the tail to test before braiding the whole tail for a long period of time (better to only lose a little than to lose ALL of it). During the winter I only use the vet wrap, but during the summer I add several strips of polar fleece (lasts longer than any other material I've tried) that hang down from the wrap so the horses have something to swish flies with. During the winter I usually leave the wraps on for 6-8 weeks but during the summer I never leave it on longer than 4 weeks before re-braiding/wrapping (with all the fly swishing the wrap gets pretty beat up by then and the tail will tangle a little above the wrap). Yes, your horse will occasionally catch and pull a small chunk of tail out but compared to the amount of hair lost from daily or weekly brushing its almost nothing. Also, since you're keeping the tail up to keep from breaking hair off with daily brushing you might want to hand pick thru the tangles when you do take the hair down for rebraiding/wrapping....it really doesn't take long especially when you use a conditioner on the tail when its wrapped (NOT Showsheen!! Showsheen dries the hair out) and is well worth the extra few minutes. When done correctly this results in long, thick, gorgeous tails. Every one of my horses has a tail that touches/drags the ground and I spend probably less than an hour a year on each one.

Okay, so I've rambled on enough...... ;o)

-- lisa - MI (formyacds@aol.com), March 26, 2002.