There are different ways of how to plait a horse’s mane, depending on why you are plaiting and what you wish to achieve. The type of plait will be determined in the main be the length of your horse’s mane and whether you are plaiting for fun, for convenience, or for a show.
If you are plaiting a short mane for a show, the button plait is often used. All plaits work on the same basis, placing sections of mane over one another and tying up in various forms. Some plaits are suitable for horse’s in the show ring, and other plaits are simply to keep long manes tidy in the field.
This article will show you how to plait a gypsy cobs mane in several ways/ All are quite easy to do and just take a little time!
Straight plaits
These are normally used to keep a horse’s mane clean and tidy. If left loose, especially long manes, you’ll find that they know up and pick up twigs and mud that are difficult to get out without breaking hair.
*Brush mane
*Section into equal amounts
*Take three sections and place the right section over the middle
*Place the left section over the middle
*Continue like this all down the sections and tie with a band at the bottom
Running plait
This can be used in the field to keep the mane off the neck to help cooling. I’ve also used it when showjumping to keep the mane out of the way.
As you can see, this is a simple and quick plait that looks impressive!
Instructions
*Clean and brush the mane
*Section the mane into equal parts
*Starting at the poll take the first and second section of mane and put the first section over the second
*Take the third section and pass it to the right over the first section
*Take the second section and pass over to the left
*Now each time you take a new section to place over from the left, add another section to the left and keep going all down the mane.
*You should end up with something that looks like this:
What do I do with the hair at the shoulder?
There is often ‘left over’ hair at the shoulder. I think this looks better if you make it into it’s own plait. It’s often too short to go into the main plait but would look a little odd if left loose.
Waterfall or Trellis plait
This is a plait for when you have an ultra long mane, and plenty of time! This plait is purely aesthetic and should be removed before turning your horse or pony out.
Technically this isn’t a plait in the traditional sense, but it looks impressive..
Instructions
*Clean and brush the mane
*Section into thin segments
*Use horse braiding bands to keep these sections apart – place the band at the top of the mane
*Take the section nearest the head and half of the one next to it – put in band about an inch below the existing band at the top of the mane
*Take the leftover half and half of the section to the left of it – tie these together with another band, again about an inch from the band at the top of the mane above it
*Keep travelling down the mane halving and tying each section as you go
*Return to the head and do exactly the same as above
*Repeat until all the mane is in a trellis shape
You can put ribbons or flowers in too to make it look even more impressive.
Oil to lay hair down
You can use coconut oil, baby oil, or similar in the hair to make it lie down nicely, especially the short hairs at the crest. Be careful in summer though as you don’t want it to burn your pony if there is strong sun.
There are several mane conditioners and spray-ins on the market that will help, but I found Canter Mane and Tail to works wonders, and it smells amazing too! https://amzn.to/3TBl282
Conclusion
There is a plait out there for your horse or pony, and if there’s not, design one! Plaiting is completely personal and you can’t go wrong. The only limit is your imagination.
