Here at Circus Unicorn, we are perfecting the art of transforming your horse into a magical unicorn! In this post, we are going to look at the options for attaching your unicorn horn, with or without a halter!
Step One: Purchase your unicorn horn!
If you don’t already have a unicorn horn for your horse, head on over to Circus Unicorn Shop to pick out the perfect horn. We offer custom colors with attachment ribbons to match the color of your horse, pony, or miniature horse! We also offer Unicorn Starter Kits, which include your custom unicorn horn with mane and tail clip in accessories to match!
Step Two: Asking Your Horse’s Permission 🙂
We’ve worked with quite a few unicorn models at this point, and I have to say I haven’t encountered a horse yet who didn’t like showing off as a unicorn! However, some of them require a little more reassuring than others when it comes to putting on the horn for the first time.
This is my boy Marengo – of course he was my first unicorn model ever. He helped me dial in the design and placement of the horns during our product development.
Marengo is an Andalusian/Arabian with the habit of snorting and rearing whenever an unapproved object enters his “bubble.” When I first lifted a unicorn horn to his head, he flew across the paddock like I was trying to kill him (Arabians… sigh.)
However, after he had a moment to look and sniff and determine that the unicorn horn was NOT a medieval torture device, he allowed me to attach it with minimal fuss.
A few tips:
-Always allow your horse to see and sniff the horn before attempting to attach it. These are shiny and often brightly colored, and it will be natural for your horse to shy away from it if caught off guard. Once your horse has had a chance to see it, ask them to “touch it”. Just hold it in front of their nose at a short distance until they close the gap and touch it with their nose. Once they have calmly touched it, stroke their neck while holding it in your hand.
-Do not attach the horn while your horse is tied/cross tied. Your horse could feel restricted and cause a dangerous situation. Instead, have a friend hold your horse’s lead rope, so they can back up safely if needed.
-Bring the horn up to their head exactly like you would with their halter or bridle. I stand at the throatlatch with my right arm draped over my horse’s poll to encourage the head to stay down.
-If at any point your horse gets stressed, take a step back and allow them to see, sniff, and touch the horn again. Positive reinforcement like pets, praise, and treats never hurt! We always want the unicorn experience to be a positive one for your horse or pony.
Option 1: Attach Your Unicorn Horn with a Halter or Bridle
Our unicorn horn ribbon attachments offer the flexibility to attach with or without a halter or bridle on your horse. First, we will take a look at how to attach your unicorn horn with a halter or bridle.
You will notice that your unicorn horns has two sets of ribbons. The longer ribbons attach at the cheekpieces or lower crownpiece of your halter or bridle, while the shorter ribbons attach at the upper crownpiece (in between the ears).
Start by placing the unicorn horn in your desired location. Unicorn horns usually look best when placed above eye level on the horse’s forehead, just below the base of the forelock.
Take the longer ribbons and wrap around the sides of your horse’s halter, as pictured. You can tie these directly to the halter, or you can wrap them around the halter and tie them back to each other. We prefer to use simple bow knots for easy removal.
Now, take the shorter ribbons and bring them on either side of your horse’s forelock. Wrap the ribbons around the crownpiece of your halter/bridle and secure with a bow knot.
For horse’s with long or thick forelocks, we love to split the forelock on either side of the unicorn horn. This also helps hide your attachment ribbons.
You will notice that the attachment ribbons have some stretch, so you can easily reposition the horn as needed.
Option 2: Attaching Your Unicorn Horn without a Halter/Bridle
For this method, you will need to braid a small piece of mane at the very top behind your horse’s ears.
Place your unicorn horn below the base of the forelock as described in Option 1. Then, take the longer attachment ribbons and tie them around your horse’s throatlatch in a simple bow knot.
Now, take the shorter ribbons and pull one ribbon through the top of the small braid that you just made at the top of your horse’s mane. Secure ribbons in a simple bow knot.
simple bow knot.
There you have it – a unicorn at liberty!
Note: we always send unicorn horns with ribbon attachments that are a bit on the long side to make sure you have enough ribbon to attach to any size of horse. If you find your ribbons are too long, they can be easily trimmed with sharp scissors!
Please let us know if you have any questions at all! We also love to feature unicorns on our website, blog, and Instagram, so send us a photo if you would like to be featured with your unicorn!