Plumed Ponies

These ponies - on second glance, those look an awful lot like mules! - in Nepal are wearing enormous woolly red and white plumes. The banners on their foreheads appear to have Buddhist religious symbols on them, as best I can see, which would probably be for good luck.

I notice they are all wearing muzzles - probably to prevent them eating while working.

This is an unusual and intriguing scene, posted by Bruce Diksas on flickr.