My gelding is a bit of a sissy. If he sweats anywhere between his legs, his thighs, or sheath, he needs to be rinsed scrupulously or he will rub his tail. Even after just turnout on a hot day, if his little bum is perspiring 
, he needs to be rinsed off. I normally add a splash of vetrolin for good measure. As well, rub corona hoof ointment into his dock and his tail grows out really well. Keep his tail rinsed well, banged and showsheen on the ends and only brush for horse shows. It takes a lot of fussing, but he has a spectacular tail!
4 Likes
Ditto. Well my mare not me but I can certainly relate to being sweaty and itchy and dramatic.
Caveat, Iām also managing pretty extreme allergies. Mine has rubbed her tail bare and raw multiple summers in a row. Since itās highly seasonal the following has slowly evolved with a perfectly maintained tail this summer:
- monthly steroid shots
- hosing 1x/day over 85, 2x/day over 90 (horse out 24/7)
- deep wash tail head twice a week with medicated shampoo
- condition tail head with a combo of conditioning lotion designed for coarser hair types, vitamin e oil, that blue stuff lotion, and a little liquid hydrocortisone after bathing
- meticulously clean teats and sides of vulva with a wet rag every day. Depending on unique anatomy some seem to grab and hold on to smega, sweat, and dirt so much easier than others.
- gently brush out side of tail head. The mid length hairs get wrapped up or stuck under and I think that was itchy/uncomfortable
- only brushing out full length when tail is squeaky clean and freshly conditioned
When dry and brushed out I can barely close my two hands around her tail. Without the above it lost nearly half of its volume because anything that grew down from the front side of the tail head was lost. Still not fully back but thatāll be another year or two of regrowth.
2 Likes
Most of it is genetics, and those pretty warmbloods tend to have tail growing genes in spades! But preserving whatās endowed by nature takes a bit of effort. I avoid all drying substances, wash and condition regularly in the summer, keep the nether regions clean and moisturized all year round, and I feed a high fat amino-acid rich diet. I comb out tails every time I groom, but always with some kind of detangler. My current horse is not overly endowed in the tail department, but with diligence it looks a whole lot better now than it did when I got him.
Iāve never seen a fake tail at a dressage show, I have to say.
3 Likes
ā¦that you recognized as fake. 
A well-done one doesnāt scream āFAKE!ā Iāve seen a few that were obviously fake.
11 Likes
True that, Sillyhorse!
1 Like
Super clean butt and udders. Wash the dock really well, and check for ticks or other bites in there. Then use oil on the dock itself to moisturize the skin.
Bang the tail at ergot level or above so it doesnāt drag in the mud or get stepped on in turnout.
If that fails, get a fake 
1 Like
When I briefly showed APHA, I bought a rendered fake tail that was tapered, not banged. It was nasty, because it was basically the hide + hair cut right off the carcass and tanned and laquered, but it braided in and looked much more natural than the big fake hanks that were cut straight across at the bottom. Now Iām glad to be in a discipline where stuff like that, and extreme grooming (clipped out ears and muzzles) is not part of the deal!
1 Like
Not just udder & dock, but also the vulva needs cleaning, and itās a little more involved than just the sides. There are videos on how to do it. I like to keep the skirt of the tail sprayed with detangler to help the hairs slide and not snag, in addition to keeping things clean and moisturized.
2 Likes
Mine has an extremely short tail (got chewed off by a pony) that wouldnāt hide a fake at all - so I ripped apart a cheap fake tail I got second hand and, after a few YouTube videos on wigmaking some patience and a good amount of elbow grease, I sewed it into three separate wefts to braid into the tail. Took a bit of practice to get it just right but not a single person outside of my barn could tell it was a fake.
Iām only sad I forgot to take pictures (and the professional shots just werenāt worth the $45/image).
2 Likes
I tend to agree with fordtraktor - it isnāt the top of the tail rubbing that is making the tail skimpy. It is genetics and tail swishing. I had a ātop of the tail rubberā (and water bucket pooper). That pretty much ended when I left fans on 24/7 in the summer and put in a fly system. She was standing in the stall during daylight hours to avoid the gnats and flies and by standing under the fly spray nozzle she was getting sprayed multiple times a day. So the top of her tail was no longer mutilated. But the fly swishing!!! OY. She swishes more than any horse I have seen in fly season. So the bottom of her tail is thin even though the middle is fairly thick. I guess I could braid her tail but I get the feeling she would rip the whole tail out.
I donāt get it with the pictures of broodmares in Europe that have those beautiful thick tails living on pasture. Maybe they donāt have so many bugs over there? Or maybe the summer/bug season is short? I have seen very few horses in this state outside 24/7 that have good tails. But if my horse lived in the stall all the time she would be bat shit crazy so I guess I am going to live with the tail swishing and not so luxurious tail.
The western people here bag their tails and put a fly switch on the end - in theory I like it but braiding and bagging those thick breed show tails turns them into weapons! Also these horses only go out overnight in full fly gear so I think thereās a trade off.
I bag my horseās tail over the winter, and just keep it banged and sprayed with leave-in conditioner over bug season. Itās not the best, but when I keep up with it he has a respectable tail for a TB. I just use an old fly spray bottle to mix water and whatever hair conditioner I donāt like for myself (my own hair is finicky so I tend to experiment and have leftovers 
). That gets sprayed into the skirt of his tail every day, and keeps the knots and dreads at bay. I donāt wash it. YMMV but itās a cheap solution!
2 Likes
My mare is like this. Biggest tail swisher I have seen. Middle is fairly thick but the ends are skimpy. Her previous owner was braiding a tail bag on her ends . I kept up with it for about a month. Iām not sure her ends are any thinner now that I donāt use the bag. And of course she is sensitive to most fly sprays so that doesnāt help.
Someone at my barn uses a nylon tail bag. When the mare is working and starts swishing her tail itās so noisy, it almost caused a chain spook reaction wreck.
I like to use cotton sheeting strips wrapped around the tail sections and braided up in the winter. In the spring I cut a couple inches off to keep it out of the mud, and let them have their tails for big season.
I agree. I have 2 (gray) mares. Both are generally out 24x7, will free access to their stalls (with fans in summer) if they want them. One of them has a long thick tail that I have to cut about once a year because it is dragging on the ground. The other one has an adequate tail, but it only reaches about half way down the cannon bone, and is naturally very tapered.
Rubbing the top of the tail doesnāt seem to have much effect on the thickness or length of the lower part of the tail.
I boarded in a mostly Western barn for years, and the owners who showed their horses either did this, or the knots.
All of my horses have tended to have luxuriant, thick long tails, cared for with benign neglect ā I think genetics is the main factor for mine. My gelding with a mane to his knees has the matching tail, for instance; same for another with a similar mane.
With basically no biting flies (no horse flies, deer flies, etc.), I havenāt ever seen much tail swishing (practically none), either, which has probably helped.
With my very old horse (30s), I tried Farrierās Formula, which didnāt make much difference in his hoof growth, but rapidly increased the length of his mane.
Watching the observation event in Wellington prior to Tokyo, some friends and I had a game going to guess āreal or fakeā for the tails in the class. 
A SIGNIFICANT portion of the class had fake tails, which we were able to confirm with someone that had put them in. These are not generally the tails that you āhangā just for the show, but permanently braided in tails that last for many months. Yes, some horses really do have wonderful full tailsā¦but not all that you see are real
3 Likes
I remember watching a woman braid extensions into a barnmateās horseās tail a few years ago. What started as a skimpy tail ended up looking not just longer but fuller, too. It looked 100% natural.
1 Like
I had a OTTB who rubbed his tail all the time. His previous owner told me he had gotten a fungal infection. Even though it was cleared up by the time I got him, he still would rub. I didnāt was his tail much because the skin was always so dry. I did put baby oil on his dock/upper tail almost daily.
My warmblood had an ok tail but not the type you are talking about. He never rubbed so I guess genetics just werenāt there.
My current OTTB has been blessed with a wonderful tail. He even lives outside 24/7. I rarely wash and brush it. I do spray veterolin shine when ever I groom him.
1 Like
I have seen a couple of products being advertised to use in this manner recently and wondered if it worked or if the tail ends up being a sticky mess.
I do the same but itās 1/3 each water, conditioner and ShowSheen - and even a dash of Mrs Stewartās blueing for gray tails
1 Like
