http://fhotd64476.yuku.com/reply/306209#reply-306209 Thread with jumping mule.

Terryn is absolutely correct. Braiding is NOT required. We have had an occasional person show polo pony with mane roached at our local shows, which are pretty high-quality shows, some people also show on the A circuit. I've never noticed them being discriminated against. Years ago (before HP was born) One of the big trainers (Jimmy Williams I believe?) had someone vandalize his horses one night by chopping their manes. He roached all the manes, and continued showing without a problem.

I know, I know, that was back in the dark ages before any of us knew anything.

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt