Fake tails are expensive?
I don’t mind a thin tail. I think they look… normal. Horse-like. I am fine with that look. What I do mind is a tail that’s all rubbed out on top (looking at my horse here!) but a fake can’t do anything about that.
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Yes, this! I visit a friend at her AQHA shows, and I get so distracted by the tails in the hind legs that I fail to watch the movement of these beautiful horses!
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The one I bought for my Paint was used, but in great condition. He has a roany silver tail with brown and black hair mixed in, so it’s a hard to find color. I paid $265. which was a deal.
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Yep. The cheapest I’ve ever seen one go for is ~$150, but I usually see them for $200-400 a pop. More if the tail is a hard-to-match color. For example, my mare is a dun with heavy frosting. She’s got white/cream hairs mixed in with pitch black and brown strands, some with an ombre effect. A good fake for her would be far more expensive than plain black or white.
Thank you. Now I need to know why someone would need a horse tail to cut meth.
Somebody quoted me a price for a fancy gray/white tail of $2500. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it!
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But that is not expensive. It lasts for years if you take care of it.
Now that is expensive!!!
A couple hundred dollars is expensive. It’s not car-expensive or phone-expensive but it is nice-bridle-expensive. I understand why nice-quality tails are expensive (and would pay for one if I needed one), but that doesn’t mean I think the cost is nothing.
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I think, like with many things, the price depends on the quality. I used to play the violin as a hobbyist and my higher level student quality violin was about $1.7k with my bow being $350 (with my beginner student quality violin I started out on being about $200 with a $40 bow), but I’m sure the pros’ cost much more (many of my music teachers had ~$10k violins, not sure the cost of the bow). It was definitely an expensive hobby, especially if you wanted to move up into higher end instruments! I remember good strings not being cheap, either, though I don’t remember what they cost as it has been many years since I last played.
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I’m so curious to know whether fake tails do, in fact, come from slaughtered horses. OP stated it as fact, but are there supporting references or at least firsthand accounts? I’ve never bought or used one myself, so I have no clue about the supply chain. Enlighten me.
Just my opinion, but I like the idea that if the horse is slaughtered for food that as much of the body is used as possible. I mean, why toss out perfectly good tail hair. It is not what the horse was killed for, the horse is already dead for other reasons, so using that part is making good use of what is left after the use of the meat.
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I’m not a fan of fake tails overall, but not because I find them creepy. I just hate that they’re seemingly “necessary” for basically all horses these days instead of just those with very sparse tails, because god forbid a horse in the show ring have just an average amount of tail hair and not an extremely thick, luxurious tail.
It’s just yet another thing pricing “normal” people out of competing and discouraging anyone who might consider trying to DIY instead of paying $$$$ for professional braiders and grooms. Learning to braid a tail well is no longer enough, now you have to buy a matching fake tail and learn to properly apply it as well.
Also, it reminds me of the huge fake eyelash trend on women … which I equally dislike.
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Shoot, what about all the hair extensions on women? Same thing, really.
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Americans can be so insecure and superficial about their and their horses appearances. Groom the horse and ride well.
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Yes, many do still come from slaughtered or euthanized horses. Years ago I’d occasionally cross paths at the feed store with a woman who’d make regular trips to the slaughterhouse to gather up the so-called good tails in desired colors. She’d prepare them and then sell them. How the tails were actually “harvested” or who did the task, I don’t know. Lord knows I could never do it. But she had a solid business, even back then.
My horse’s fake tail is on hide, so it’s from a previously living horse. But you can also buy synthetic tails for less money in a variety of colors, too. My trainer has a closet of at least 20 tails in different colors, lengths and thicknesses. Maybe 1/3 are real hair.
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Do you have any data to back this up? How do you know that they came from slaughtered horses?
I will agree that many tails don’t come from horses who crossed the Rainbow Bridge (hate that term, BTW), because the horses were still alive.
My last driving horse provided a 6’ tail & my black pony will be providing a switch for my bay Hackney. Sadly, the 6’+ silver chestnut tail from my first mare was stolen in the mail before it reached the switch maker. Fifteen years later, I still cringe at the thought of that $1500 switch that ended up in a dumpster.
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Yeah, this is really what I was getting at. Euthanized vs. slaughtered (in the US, at least, where slaughter is illegal and thus unregulated in terms of animal welfare as I understand it) are very different to me. Are these tails getting opportunistically snipped off feedlot horses while they’re alive? Or are they taken after slaughter (across a border), then sent/sold back to the US?
Very interesting and cool to hear about driving horses supplying tails!
The vast majority of hair for tails comes from China. As I understand it, carcasses and/or parts of carcasses are shipped to China where everything is processed then sold.
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