The ROR Championships are fast approaching, and it’s time for the ultimate make over ‘eventer to showing rider’ in under a fortnight! eBay has been fantastic for bargains and so far I’ve bought a 2nd hand green and yellow spotted tie £2.54 (yet to arrive) and a lovely sparkly green brownband £12.99, which Soap tried on today!!!
Seeing as we are entering the arena of professional turn-out I had a little attempt at plaiting with thread tonight. Being an eventer at heart I’ve only ever plaited with bands so in need of some serious ‘how to be a proper horsewoman and not use short cuts’ I googled for videos on the topic, and found this one from Horse Hero where Louise Bell teaches you ‘how to plait a skinny neck’. This was really helpful when it came to how to plait with thread and she also has a few tips for making a thinner neck look fatter, worth a watch imho.
I had a quick attempt at 2 plaits and a fancy french plait forelock. The forelock came out really well, but Soap’s mane is such a state! In the winter I was a bit gung ho with the clippers and managed to clip quite a large chunk of it off!!! then to add to the disaster I tried to rectify my mess by hacking at it with a solo comb. Needless to say the plaits look very spiky!!!! Fingers crossed a bit of pulling, a bit more practise, and a lot of hair gel should help to tame the mane!
So here are the pics of him in the ‘testing phase’ of our prep! Brown saddle, and perfect bridle with a wider nose band still need to be found so I will be rummaging my way round the tack shops this weekend!
