Horseshoes (as symbols)

It is a very common sight to see horseshoes used as decoration around Rhyderia, they are after all a very common item made and used in Rhyderia. After the shoe has been replaced many people will create wreaths of the horseshoes around the stall of the horse who wore them. Once that horse dies the wreathe is often incorporated onto the house of the person who owned it. As a result, it is common for nearly every house in Rhyderia to have at least a few horseshoes. With this practice being so widespread the Black Mare Syndicate has chosen to hide their symbols in plain view, they use horseshoes that have some alteration to them, one with a spiral at the center, a broken shoe, one covered in bronze, or any number of other methods to make it stand out, but only those of the Syndicate know why.

Significance

The wreaths are something important to the owners of horses in Rhyderia, it serves as a memory and testament to how often the horse was taken out and rode. Mounting the wreath to the home serves as a memorial to the passed horse, often the shoes are polished up or bronzed as well as decorated with other mementos of the horse, sometimes a braid from the tail or mane of the horse, or with various accolades the horse had, some of the more prized horses either monetarily or companion wise have portraits painted of them set in the wreath.
For the Black Mare Syndicate, these wreaths present an opportunity to tell their members something about a place. A safehouse might have a horseshoe with the center (toe) twisted to look like a spiral, a rich person's home might have a bronzed horseshoe with the heels broken off. A protected home or business will have a horseshoe broken into three parts, the two quarters and the toe separated by roughly an inch. The list goes on and on and the syndicate likes to change up their meanings in subtle ways to throw off law enforcement trying to learn their practices.