Horse Tails

We are dealing with mud here this winter, as usual. The worst is when they cross the creek (which the geldings do at least twice daily). The mud in the creek is known as Adobe mud, and it is the thickest, greasiest mud you can imagine. It coats the horses' legs and forms huge mudballs in the tails. So I've taken to braiding Ranger's tail. His tail touches the ground, and although it is not quite as long as Minky's tail it is much thicker. Ranger gets terrible mudballs if I leave it loose. But braiding it keeps the hairs together so that they don't soak up the mud as much. I got the idea to do this from two women at the ranch who braid their Mustang's tails. There seems to be another school of thought that braiding isn't good for the tails and can cause the hairs to break off. I haven't seen any evidence of this to date, and Ranger has plenty to spare anyway!