Show prep and plaits by Grace

24/02/2022

10/06/2021

12/09/2020

New creation for Hairy Pony

Even though I do not plait for clients anymore my OCD for perfect presentation still exists ! I’ve developed a Plaiting Apron and if your interested head to my business page - HAIRY PONY for more info ! 😘

www.hairypony.com.au

07/11/2019

We have been working on this little creation for quiet some time ! As a self confessed OCD quarter mark perfectionist it wasn’t easy developing the perfect brush for sharks teeth to complete our QTR marker kit. It involved a number of trial and error decisions in product development but finally feel we hit the nail on the head !

Special attention was paid to the size and shape of the brush , bristle type and of course aesthetics! So here it is ! Crafted from North American Oak with mixed natural and soft copper bristle that is firmly packed. We know you’ll love it from the first moment you use it 🥰

Purchase by itself or with the QTR comb in a kit!

Shop now 📬
www.hairypony.com.au

10/06/2019

Hi everyone ! Apologies I have not been as active on this page and there is a few messages I have missed which I’ll get back to today . I had been having a bit of trouble with my hands and have slowed down plaiting as many horses as I once had . Unfortunately I’ve got a circulatory problem called Reynaud’s disease 😞 . It is a bit sporadic to when it effects me and occasionally I can plait but at other times I can not at all . I apologise to all those who wanted to book in for the year but I will not be taking on anymore clients, nor plaiting as much as I was . I am enjoying working within Hairy Pony and developing new products so will continue down this path as it is less intensive on my hands. I hope you can all understand and a massive thank you to all those who have supported me over the years! I’ve made many friends along the way and have enjoyed watching the journeys with your horses and ponies ❤️❤️

08/11/2018

Ok so had a question about different quarter marks to suit different shape horses.

This young horse is a bit flat behind , and lacking shape which is typical of an immature horse . So my aim is to make her look more round and loose the angular points .

Picture 1
I started off with some hunter stripes ! In the first photo I did what I consider standard hunter markers . 4 lines relatively close together and cut off at about the hip with a sloping line downward to finish . This is perfect for a standard round rump but for this horse it doesn’t give a rounded look as your eye is drawn to the sloping line

So if your horse is flat and lacking a bit of shape what you can do to create the illusion of roundness is cut your stripes off in a shape that creates a curve . Also in this picture you can see I picked the lowest point of the top of the rump to be the highest in the curve again giving an illusion .

Picture 2
Next I tried some riding pony checkers . These are small squares that resemble a triangle point. Firstly I did them without enough squares and I think it didn’t finish the look of making the rump bigger and rounded. So I added more and I think it did a better job of hiding the flatness.

Picture 3
Lastly larger checkers . Personally I knew this wouldn’t work for her to begin with as being angular and flat anything that doesn’t create shape will not improve the look greatly. I think the larger checkers give her a square look, however this style is fantastic for a horse with a sloped rump as if you keep them on a straighter line you can give the illusion of the horse being wider behind . But you must be careful not to do your large checkers on a slope as shown as this greatly impacts the overall picture . Sloped checkers can make a horse look very weak behind as you can see.

Picture 4
Lastly I wanted to show what the rounding off line does to the illusion . I’m actually not a huge fan of rounding off and this is demonstrated in picture 4. Personally I think it cuts the rump up to look shorter and if you have an angular point like this horse it makes it more obvious . If you want to do them I would keep it small .

All of these pointers are personal preference . It’s the way I like to present horses and it’s more than ok to differ in opinions but if you find this helpful that is super !

If you have any more questions I’ll do my best to try and help 😊

08/11/2018

Hi everyone ! Sorry I have been a bit quiet on this page as of late, I haven’t had much time to get out and do plaiting . I’ve got two little kids and fitting things in and around their own schedules now is proving quiet difficult ! 😀However I do get many questions via messenger and I thought maybe I could help answer some of these on the page .

Sooo let’s start opening up the questions by commenting and I will respond and try give photos where I can !

I’ll do the first one to get us started . I always get a lot of questions about quarter marks and in particular if to do patterns or sharks teeth first . I prefer to do the pattern (whether it be stripes or squares) first then secondly do the sharks teeth. The reason being that I like there to be a clean difference between the two yet follow into each other .

In the photo below I have done hunter stripes , then squared them off . And the red indicating the first stroke of the brush to do the sharks teeth with blue the second . But you can see that the first stroke has automatically created a sharks tooth that finishes off the bottom of the stripe .

Another question that I have been asked is how far out to bring the sharks teeth . To make it easier for myself I always choose a point that matches into the end of a stripe . Usually it is the third stripe but depending how many stripes you do pick one that is 3/4 the length of the horses rump and make sure the sharks teeth are all of the same length. I have shown this in purple 😊

26/10/2018

I have developed this comb after years of frustration trying to find a comb or brush that didn’t leave any lines in the patterns , was the right size and didn’t loose haywire bristles or teeth!

The super fine stainless steel teeth give crisp markers and the sizing is just perfect for hunter markers, checkers and riding pony checkers !

04/08/2018

Hello ! Just an update as i am getting lots of messages about Melbourne Royal now the acceptances are out . I will only be there on Saturday and Sunday of the show, see you all there 😀

18/07/2018

A little bit of plaiting inspo 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

11/06/2018

❄️ Competing at Boneo this weekend ? ❄️

I will be at Boneo CDI Saturday . $70 mane and forelock .