Untitled

Hello everyone I just joined. Seems like a real friendly place to hang around. Anyway, I work on a farm with a 44Head of horses to care for including my own. The sun, wind, rain, and cold really do a number on my hair. I love braiding it, unfortunately I can't do a french braid on myself to save my life, I just always do a basic braid. My hair is to the middle of my back but my goal is for my hair to hit my waist. My problem when I do my braid is the front pieces keep faling out even though I pull hard. The front pieces are very long so I don't know why they keep falling down. Should I try to braid it wet? Also I put hollywood beauty olive oil on my ends every day to protect them while being out in the elements all day. Does anyone have any other tips for my hair to protect it outside in the heat & the cold. I haven't cut my hair in over a year also I do twist my hair into little ropes and snip off the pieces that stick out. Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you and sorry this post is so long.