Fjord Hair!
So yesterday I spent some two plus hours fussing with Kitt. It started with shampooing her mane like mad. I had to re-wet it a couple times because it's so thick you can't get it all wet simply wetting one side, you have to flip it over, wet, flip, wet some more, scrub, spray a little more, and hope that you got nearly all of it. After scrubbing it and spending a good amount of time rinsing it all out I broke out the rubber bands with the intent of braiding the whole mess because I figured it would be easier to deal with, just as cleaning it would mean I wouldn't kill my clippers/scissors by trying to cut through the filth.
After being attacked by wild hairs as I attempted to do the first braid I went ahead and banded the whole mane first, which created a rather amusing-looking poof of hair that stuck out everywhere. Of course that itself took quite a bit of time to do because let me tell you! Fjords have TONS of hair! Think of the thickness of your normal horse's mane and multiply it by about five! It's just insane the amount of hair that comes out of that crest.
Anyway, after banding, took a picture or two, and then commenced braiding. I was about a third of the way done when the farrier arrived and he trimmed her feet as I continued braiding. After finishing all the braids it looked rather comical because the stiff Fjord mane (which is a bit of a pain to braid by the way) has a natural desire to stand erect unless it is really heavy and with the rigid reinforcement of the braids it was pretty close to vertical for the most part despite the mane being close to a foot long (maybe more) in some places. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want to look too terribly odd so I went ahead and grabbed the scissors.
After chopping all the braids off I reached for the clippers and started refining the shape a bit. I admit it looks a little hacked at because I was getting a bit exhausted with all the hair and wasn't happy with having little bits of Kitt hair everywhere and Kitt, who had been a pretty good sport through it all, was a bit exhausted by the whole thing too I think. I'll refine it a bit more later this week, but I do believe it doesn't look too bad for a first time job and especially considering that in the state her mane was in they generally recommend that you roach it completely rather than trying for the traditional cut.
And for the more important news (to you guys anyway), I now have a LOT of little braids of Fjord hair that I would love to see put to creative uses. I do have some other horse hair as well (and should be getting some more because I do need to get everyone else's bridle paths clipped because they haven't been done in forever...) for those interested, but I have TONS of Fjord hair!
If you would like some Fjord horse hair braids please let me know! All I ask is for $2 to cover shipping for the first braid and $1 for each additional braid (I think I have some 20 braids that range in length from 5-9" long (braided, individual hairs can be longer) and I would hate to see all of this beautiful hair sit around or be tossed out!
After being attacked by wild hairs as I attempted to do the first braid I went ahead and banded the whole mane first, which created a rather amusing-looking poof of hair that stuck out everywhere. Of course that itself took quite a bit of time to do because let me tell you! Fjords have TONS of hair! Think of the thickness of your normal horse's mane and multiply it by about five! It's just insane the amount of hair that comes out of that crest.
Anyway, after banding, took a picture or two, and then commenced braiding. I was about a third of the way done when the farrier arrived and he trimmed her feet as I continued braiding. After finishing all the braids it looked rather comical because the stiff Fjord mane (which is a bit of a pain to braid by the way) has a natural desire to stand erect unless it is really heavy and with the rigid reinforcement of the braids it was pretty close to vertical for the most part despite the mane being close to a foot long (maybe more) in some places. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want to look too terribly odd so I went ahead and grabbed the scissors.
After chopping all the braids off I reached for the clippers and started refining the shape a bit. I admit it looks a little hacked at because I was getting a bit exhausted with all the hair and wasn't happy with having little bits of Kitt hair everywhere and Kitt, who had been a pretty good sport through it all, was a bit exhausted by the whole thing too I think. I'll refine it a bit more later this week, but I do believe it doesn't look too bad for a first time job and especially considering that in the state her mane was in they generally recommend that you roach it completely rather than trying for the traditional cut.
And for the more important news (to you guys anyway), I now have a LOT of little braids of Fjord hair that I would love to see put to creative uses. I do have some other horse hair as well (and should be getting some more because I do need to get everyone else's bridle paths clipped because they haven't been done in forever...) for those interested, but I have TONS of Fjord hair!
If you would like some Fjord horse hair braids please let me know! All I ask is for $2 to cover shipping for the first braid and $1 for each additional braid (I think I have some 20 braids that range in length from 5-9" long (braided, individual hairs can be longer) and I would hate to see all of this beautiful hair sit around or be tossed out!