Hunter Braiding

While I understand that a true hunter princess would never deign to braid her own horse, by popular request, I took a couple photos while braiding. Sophie, my lovely little TB mare, is the model for this shoot. Ideally, when you are braiding, you will have painstakingly pulled the mane over the course of 3 weeks so that the ends are perfectly tapered. This makes it much easier and holds the knots better. Sophie is kind of my little redneck pony who lives in the back 40 and she doesn't much agree with things like clipping and pulling, even with a good healthy dose of acepromazine, so I just took a dull clipper blade and thinned out the ends. You want the mane about 6" long, longer if it's thicker, since when the hair wraps around itself in the braid it will shorten up more, and shorter if it is thinner.

So, to begin, section off a piece of mane about an inch wide. You want the braid to end up slightly thinner than your pinky finger, and of course you will have to take a larger section if you have a thin mane and a smaller one if it's a very thick mane. Use your comb to part the mane, perpendicular to the crest. Crooked parts are ICKY. Also, start at the poll, so when you have an awkward amount of mane left and don't know how many braids to put in, it will be at the withers where no one cares. Dampen the section with a little water or quic braid. Quic braid is good stuff but I don't always have it handy. Personally, I like the mane just damp. Some people like it soaking wet, some like dry, some like hair gel. Whatever makes your skirt fly up, you just have to experiment. Use the comb to keep the extra hair out of your way.

Divide your piece of mane into 3 sections, and begin braiding.

The tighter you can keep the braid, the better. This is particularly important at the top!

I usually go down 5 crosses when I add in the yarn. Adding yarn requires 2 hands, so I don't have a photo for you. Basically, you want the yarn folded in half, and draped across your pointer finger with half hanging on each side. Grab the braid like you are just going to continue braiding. The middle of the yarn should be underneath of the braid now that you are holding it. Cross over the piece from the left, pinch. Then take the half of the yarn that is not in your right hand, and jam it up in that piece. If you are braiding with colored yarn, do this down further so that the flecks aren't visible and you just see the color in the knots.

Generally, 10 crosses is a good number to finish with, and then you tie off with an overhand knot. The period stopping to photograph made this braid kind of unattractive. Ignore that. OK, thanks. This knot had to be rolled down a bit so it was neater and all the hair was in one tail rather than two. Do not worry about the tail! We will tuck it in and it will be invisible. Tricky.

Take your latch hook, and run it under the braid. Take care to have it in the middle of the braid, and run it from ALL the way on the other side of the crest. You want the metal piece to be right on the skin the whole way, it will make the knots work better. Then you put the yarn in the hook portion of the latch hook, and pull it through to the other side of the crest.

Pull on the yarn until the overhead knot which you used to tie off the end of the braid is snug against the crest. Now keep pulling. You're going to feel this nice little give, which means the knot is now buied deep within the underside of the braid. This is good! See how the tail points downwards instead of all out to the side? Yep. That's what you want.

Tie one knot underneath of the braid. Use the surgeon knot for all of these, it holds the tension better. It's just like a normal half hitch but you loop it around twice. You know like if you were beginning to tie your shoe? You twist the one lace around the other? Do that twice. This knot needs to be snug up against the crest.

Now you are going to tie the same knot again. This one you are going to pull tight on the top of the braid, and it is going to create the bump. Count down three crosses on the left side, assuming you begin the braid crossing the right piece over. If you start braiding the other way, then count down on the right. Put the knot up to the crease directly below that third bump. Then push the braid up against the crest, and pull the knot tight.

Now tie twice underneath of the braid to secure. Exhale. You finished one. Rinse and repeat.