Is it proper to have tails braided for formal season? I have always heard and thought it was incorrect, but wanted to make sure…
We only braid tails (and manes) for high holidays including Opening Day and Boxing Day. It is also correct to braid for joint meets.
I don’t know that it actually ever “incorrect” to braid a tail during the formal season, but most of us ain’t got time for that 
Truth to tell, I have never braided the tail for high holy days for hunting. Mane, for sure. Dating back to 1971. I did (and would still do) a mud tail if the weather called for it, otherwise, a neatly pulled (yes sometimes cheating w/clippers) at the top and banged at the bottom tail. I was never struck by lightning or tsk tsked, whether in the field or whipping in.
I believe the thought is that a braided tail pulls on the horse’s tailbone for hours and hours in the hunt field, not minutes and minutes as in a horse show (though I get it that horse show horses have theirs braided for the whole day.)
I’m not sure, actually, I’ve seen that it is incorrect to braid a field hunters’ tail. Somewhere, I swear it.
Mud tail, sure.
But didn’t the tail braiding tradition originate in the hunt field?
What’s a “mud tail”?
A mud tail is a polo knot. You take the long hairs and wind them in such a way to be a little neat knot at the base of the tailbone. This way it doesnt get all full of brambles and mud, nor does your polo mallet catch in the tail!
Not sure the origination of tail braiding. Good research question. I would slightly doubt something fussy like french braiding of the top of the tail was born of the hunt field, but it may well have been.
A mud tail looks like you took the bottom of the tail hair and tied a big overhand knot (though, of course, there’s a bit more to it) which effectively gets all the tail hair up to hock length or higher. It’s for sloppy conditions, so you don’t get a bunch of mud, ice, etc. caught in the horse’s tail.
Image from Rosie Fry’s Horse and Hound blog this week:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/content/uploads/2013/11/Unknown2.jpeg
The horses were at the opening meet of Blackmore and Sparkford Vale in southern England. Big hedges and deep ground.
Tail braiding originated in the hunt field for those horses that did not have a pulled tail. It gave you the neat appearance without actually pulling it. Some people didn’t like their horses’ tails pulled, so the staff started braiding them.
In the USA, it used to be (and still is, at most VA/MD/PA hunts) expected at High Holy days to have your mane & tail braided if the tail is not pulled. Will you get a comment if you don’t do the tail? Most likely not, as we have moved beyond the days where most people had staff to get their horses ready. However, it is part of “correct” turnout.
In the UK, most hunt horses have pulled & banged tails, so they don’t worry about it. However, they DO usually plait (10-15 hunt braids max) their horses’ manes for EVERY formal hunt, not just high holy days. Mud knotted tails are a common sight, as well.
My mudtails have always been the simple knot, not braid + knot as shown in the UK pictures.
http://s222.photobucket.com/user/BevHeff/media/Nick.jpg.html
To elaborate on this:
The long full hair of the cold blooded types was inconvenient in the hunting field. The bushy mane gets tangled in reins and fingers. The tail collects twigs and mud, causes discomfort for the horse and whaps around to soil the riders clothes. So, the manes were hogged off and the tails were pulled and banged if not docked.
Now, if you had a “blood horse” which would have all or part TB heritage, the horse likely had the finer, silky hair that came from the Barb and Arab ancestry. You wouldn’t want to hog and bang this trademark silky hair which advertised your horse’s good breeding and make him look like a common nag. You would braid it up out of the way giving the same accepted silhouette and function of the trimming styles.
And a spin off from that… a docked, banged and historically set tail of the harness horses originated our slang for a mixed drink. If your horse was of mixed blood, he had the short, “cocky” tail that stood up almost like a cock’s tail. So, a horse of mixed blood was a “cocktail” and a drink of mixed ingredients came to be known as a “cocktail” as well.
Wow, really interesting thread. Especially the cocktails
Ok, so how do I do the simple mud knot? I’ve not seen it down here in NZ but think it would be a very good idea for some of our muddier meets.
Beautiful tails!!! In that photo, how are the tails secured…I’ve used electrical tape, holds well but doesn’t look real “proper”!
Here’s a random google result, not exactly how I do it but same principle:
http://www.proequinegrooms.com/index.php/tips/grooming/mud-knots-for-your-horse-s-tail/
Here’s another explanation of the above from a different article:
http://special.equisearch.com/downloads/articles/EQMay08MudKnot.pdf
There are likely some relevant threads hereabouts, but I’ve never been able to make the search feature here work for me!
Thanks Beverly! I’ve got written directions for what you posted but no photos. I’ve never been able to make it very secure. After seeing those photos, I’ll give it a whirl again. Can always go back to the electrical tape!
I do something similar to the directions that Beverly posted. The difference I do is braid all the hair (not leaving the section out), then when I get to the bottom, I weave some yarn in similar to braiding the mane. When I wrap the braid up I use the yarn to help secure the braid.
Braided or plaited tails are big no no for me but purely because I don’t like the way they look, give me a good pulled tail any day. Also tails ought to be banged at the hocks. Just recently I was out and several of the horses collected foliage in their overly long tails, would hate to be on a baby and have that happen! Short tails balance the overall picture as well, nothing worse than a short pulled (or even worse, scissored!!) mane with a tail that is dragging along the ground. Can you tell I grew up showing in England!
The mud tail (polo knot) should be (can be) done with zero outside assistance, if done right.
You braid it bone to bottom, leaving one strand out. You take that strand and join it to the very last part of your braid. Then wind the braided part of the tail around the bottom of the tailbone, then use the strand to wind around and around to secure it (like a hair rubber band.) Then you tuck it in, amongst the now-tightly secured wound up tail. It’ll stay.
The polo guys do it in about 1 minute and it stays easily under heavy conditions.
It looks really cool on a handsome blood horse.
That is a neat photo - you can bet they had grooms to turn them out like that with perfect clips, too. Horses are in step, too.
