Draft horses are often shown with ribbons and "flowers" in their manes and tales. The vertical silk flowers accentuate the line of their powerful necks. Depending on the breed the mane may be braided tight to the neck, rather than hanging loose as with the Shire horses shown at left.
Tails -whether of normal length or docked - are often braided and knotted into a sort of "bun", also decorated with flowers. This sets off the shape of the draft horse's large rump.
Pictures of the tail decorations can be seen at Blue Ribbon Specialties, which sells these items. HorseFlowers has pictures of the ornaments alone, to give you an idea.
Photo by azz on Flickr.
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