Braids and other fun for horses :-)

When Schleich launced a bunch of horses with braided manes in 2012, I was really chocked !  
To me, horses are so lovely, there is no reason to change their looks ! What will the next thing be ? Lipstick ?     

But having just taken some pictures of them for Toyanimal.info , I begin to get used to the idea. I think it is quite an old tradition in some breeds
I seem to remember that the different styles even have names , but can't find anything about it on the net   
If somebody knows, I can add it here

Here we go:

The good, old Clydesdale stallions from Safari :
(Thankyou, Scott, for the one with tag !)
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Safari Percheron from 2013 :
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The old, grey Percheron from Safari :
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Safari Arabian with flower wreath :
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Papo , Mom's horse :
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The Schleich Trakhener mare from this year :
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Schleich Fell Pony :
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Schleich Frisian mare :
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Schleich Haflinger mare :
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The (in)famous Schleich Arabian from this year :
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The Schleich Shetland mare with a heart on her butt   
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And here comes Princess ! The most famous of them all, thanks to Carola   
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Princess is a Shire mare from Schleich
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Schleich Lipizzan mare :
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Even the baby has braids ! Lipizzan foal from Schleich :
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Schleich Andalusian mare :
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Same mare , Special Edition :
(Thankyou, Yvette, for this model)
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The beautyful Hanoverian mare from Schelich :
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That's a great topic, Susanne! The only acceptable for me is the last one, Hannoverian mare!

I love your photos Susanne!   Certainly there are many decorations to be found in model horses nowadays.

I'm no horse owner myself(except for miniatures), but I have an impression, that braiding and such is quite normal and ok in horse business. As long as the horse is groomed, happy and well cared for, I guess they don't care if their onwers make a little braid or two?    

Ofcourse, braiding in horse figurines, make them more of characters, than just a reperesentation of a certain breed, I think.

2014 Frisian Mare looks fine in your photos. I'm looking forward to see her on shops...

By the way, the old Schleich Hanoverian Mare, she has also a styled mane  

Carola wrote:

By the way, the old Schleich Hanoverian Mare, she has also a styled mane  

Ohhh ! Yes ! Of course !  
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You are right, some breeds it is quire common, such as with draft breeds. But an Arabian?   Schleich is no longer very educational.     

Thanks for the photos Susanne! I forgot about the Hanoverian too.

Ohh, yes ! Arabians  
These from Papo look more like it  
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In general I quite like braided manes, not necessary in horse models but in real horses it's fun sometimes to do it. Maybe especially with Friesian horses, their long manes are of course wonderful just as they but braided are beautiful too.

As for the figures, thank you Susanne for showing them! Maybe it could even be topic for SUY some day
The most strange and even ridiculous is braided mane of foal. I've never heard about anyone doing that! Also foals' mane is usually too soft for that, isn't it?

I quite like the style of mane in Lipizzan mare actually , but I thought this style is called "stallion's braid". I heard such name somewhere.     Nevertheless it would look nice also on real mare or stallion, doesn't matter.  

Liking braids or not, I think Schleich is doing a bit too much of that, maybe if it's 15-20% of their horses with braids it would be better but now, they are majority. Soon it will be difficult to make complete herd of mustangs if one would like to play like this (what was also one of my plays when I was kid) how could horse figure play a role of mustang with all those decorations? Now they could mainly play in a fantasy world or riding clubs.

Ana wrote:

The most strange and even ridiculous is braided mane of foal. I've never heard about anyone doing that! Also foals' mane is usually too soft for that, isn't it?

I think you're right. How could you even braid a foal's mane? I would think it would be too soft and too short as well!    

A lot of beautieful horse figurines Susanne     

Thankyou, Andreas

Thanks for these beautiful pictures, Susanne! Am I remembering wrong, or is Bullyland has also made the horses with braids? This year?  

jonesee wrote:

Thanks for these beautiful pictures, Susanne! Am I remembering wrong, or is Bullyland has also made the horses with braids? This year?  

You are right, Bullyland has braided horses in the lineup for this year. Susanne has posted the catalog photos [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thankyou Jonas and 4U !
Yes, a Lipizzan mare :

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Animal_Figures_4U wrote:

Ana wrote:

The most strange and even ridiculous is braided mane of foal. I've never heard about anyone doing that! Also foals' mane is usually too soft for that, isn't it?

I think you're right. How could you even braid a foal's mane? I would think it would be too soft and too short as well!    

It isn't impossible or even uncommon. For instance, all of the KWPN breed foals are mandatorily shown braided in inspections - the studbook association requires it. Here are a few such foals with braids.

koniminiatures wrote:

Animal_Figures_4U wrote:

Ana wrote:

The most strange and even ridiculous is braided mane of foal. I've never heard about anyone doing that! Also foals' mane is usually too soft for that, isn't it?

I think you're right. How could you even braid a foal's mane? I would think it would be too soft and too short as well!    

It isn't impossible or even uncommon. For instance, all of the KWPN breed foals are mandatorily shown braided in inspections (the only foal I saw unbraided in one was an odd filly with nearly no mane growing to make braids with) - the studbook association requires it. Here are a few such foals with braids.

Very interesting, I never knew that.   

SUSANNE wrote:

I think it is quite an old tradition in some breeds

Braiding horses' manes and tails is indeed an ancient custom. Horses in the antiquity often had their manes roached upright and adorned with jewellery and scented cakes of fat, but there are some depictions from very early on that may indicate braiding or suchlike, too. Certainly later on it became a well-liked way of adorning the steeds of the wealthy all around the world.

Here are some coiffured horses from history: Medieval Europe here and here; 14-th century China here and Arabia here with mud-knotted tails; early Italian renaissance here and here; Mughal-era India here. By early Modern times, braiding really caught on in the exuberance of Baroque-era Europe - the bloom of classical dressage, the increasing wealth of Central European courts, as well as sheer fashion saw the steeds of the rich lavished with the most intricate of braids and adornments (if also beaten half to death and tortured with the most fiendish of bits - but then, this, unlike obsessively complicated braids, had been the case for horses all through the history). Examples of such steeds here, here, here and here.

Carola wrote:

I'm no horse owner myself(except for miniatures), but I have an impression, that braiding and such is quite normal and ok in horse business. As long as the horse is groomed, happy and well cared for, I guess they don't care if their onwers make a little braid or two?    

The braiding of manes and tails is a pretty commonplace and well-accepted - admired, even - practice in the equestrian world. Many breed shows and disciplines downright require the manes and tails of horses entering to be done in a certain fashion as part of their turnout. Braids, when executed well, are a temporary nuisance at worst to the horse (most neck braids, for instance, are ruined if the horse reaches its head too low).

SUSANNE wrote:

I seem to remember that the different styles even have names , but can't find anything about it on the net   
If somebody knows, I can add it here

I'll write a little bit about what I know of the braids seen on the models you posted. I'm no expert, though, and welcome any corrections to my ramblings, if anyone has any. The links in each caption will take the reader to see the real-life counterpart of the adornment in question.


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Many draught breeds, particularly in the UK and USA, have their own, specific mane and tail decorations used for shows. The horse's mane is usually braided with a piece of cloth along the horse's crest, and pin-mounted fabric (UK) or foil (USA) decorations are then stuck on the braid. These decorations are usually called flights in the UK and mane bobs or rosettes in the USA. The number of bobs may change according to the the discipline the horse is shown in (a full neck of flights is typical of a halter/in-hand horse, while fewer are used on hitch horses so as to leave room for the collar). In some cases only stallions and geldings are given flights, and mares are shown unbraided.

The amputating or docking of tails has been illegal for a while now in the UK, so there draught horses' tails are typically decorated by braiding them up, possibly with some ribbon, and attaching decorations. Particularly on Clydesdales, the tail may also be more or less shaved. In the USA, closely amputated tails seem to be still fashionable, particularly among the American Belgians. There the hair on the remaining tail nub is gathered up in a knot and secured with a rosette. Some folk still see the trouble of putting up tail sprigs too, reminiscent of the Old World equivalents still popular in Britain.


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These are both hunter braids, easily confused with the easier-made button braids (also called jumper, rosette, English, or dressage braids).


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These seem to be an upright variation of the above, usually used on the KWPN breeds - also the foals, during inspections. They're most often seen on the Tuigpaard these days.


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This seems to be a double underhand French braid with a layer of mane left loose underneath (which is typically not done; many layers can be used, though). However, usually a "double French braid" refers to this - a double-sided version rather than multilayered. Both styles are variations of the simple French or running braid, seen here as the underhand variation again:
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These are so-called continental braids or diamond braids (US). They require a long and fairly full mane of a horse to work well.

Animal_Figures_4U wrote:

You are right, some breeds it is quire common, such as with draft breeds. But an Arabian?   Schleich is no longer very educational.     

Arabians compete in a many disciplines that require or encourage specific types of braids to be used on the participating animals. They are not required (nor indeed usually allowed) to deviate from the turnout standard to the discipline simply because of their breed. In the US especially, Arabians are a pretty popular breed for numerous English disciplines, and are typically required to participate in a turnout dictated by the rules of the discipline (& division, class, governing association, etc.) - just like the other participating breeds are. Here are some variously braided Arabians competing in different disciplines.

Formal competition aside, there's also no reason why an owner might not braid their horse - of whatever breed - in any kind of a braid they choose for their own amusement. I can't see how the braid on the Schleich model would make for an issue of realism or accuracy - rather, it's the model's build that might do.


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This is a braid I've never seen really done. The fabric (?) decorations bring to mind the show braids of the Gröninger, but the model's breed is all wrong, of course, and the loose mane underneath is too. Another possible inspiration for them might be the Iberian bullfighting horses' fabric-puffed braids, but even then the breed's very wrong, and the braids themselves aren't much better. Perhaps someone else knows what the idea with these was?


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This is no recognized style that I know of, either. Reminds me of a much simplified version of this masterly French braid - continental braid mixture.


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Unlike most of the previous styles, this kind of plaiting of manes isn't done for shows - typically, it's just to keep the hairs in a horse's long mane from breaking and the mane thus becoming shorter and more unkempt while the horse is stabled or out on pasture.


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This is a kind of "lazy man's quarter mark" clipped into the horse's coat. Quarter marks are more traditionally made by brushing the (clipped) coat in different directions to form a pattern like here.


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Flower wreaths are typically used in the saddle seat equitation world in the USA. Here's one on a winning Saddlebred, and here on an Arab.


..Phew!

Thanks Susanne for opening this thread and Lea for your very interesting imput!
We spend all time trying to save these figures, or because it is not impossible or because it is not as bad as in catalogue pictures. Honestly, I second what Ana's saying. I don't have anything against braided horses although I think that free manes and tails are characteristics that make horses look so beautiful. If Schleich was releasing a little number of braided horses it was acceptable but it is too much. This year, for me, the Frisian was enough once it is the only one I like the braids, alsoif it was the only braided, it would turn her somewhat special and now she is only one more among many of them.
I also think that some of these horses are really bad sculpts and braids work as a distracting thing.

Animal_Figures_4U wrote:

koniminiatures wrote:

Animal_Figures_4U wrote:

Ana wrote:

The most strange and even ridiculous is braided mane of foal. I've never heard about anyone doing that! Also foals' mane is usually too soft for that, isn't it?

I think you're right. How could you even braid a foal's mane? I would think it would be too soft and too short as well!    

It isn't impossible or even uncommon. For instance, all of the KWPN breed foals are mandatorily shown braided in inspections (the only foal I saw unbraided in one was an odd filly with nearly no mane growing to make braids with) - the studbook association requires it. Here are a few such foals with braids.

Very interesting, I never knew that.   

Me neither!   
Living in The Netherlands I should know KWPN's  inspection traditions better   
Thanks for that information and photos Lea!  

I loved your tour in the Horses Decorations world, Lea   

Thank you Susanne for all the photos and Lea for the huge info!
This is very interesting and also nice to know were the braids come from that our model horses have

Thankyopu everybody for your great input !  

Lea, my morning flew away while I was studying your wonderful walk through the history and science of horse braiding ! Thankyou VERY much     

Thank you Lea for the wealth of information! I did not know all that Your so-called "ramblings" are very helpful to me and welcomed!

Thank you Susanne for this topic!

Thanks/kiitos Lea   Susanne, Bullyland Westphalian mare 2013, Dressage Westphalian and Arabian mare with equipment? 

I've just come back again to your article Lea, it's super interesting, especially oldest records of braiding in ancient art, it's amazing. Thanks again!