ok so i need to buy my horse (17.2) a new fake tail for the big eq. i’m debating between 1/2 pound and 3/4 pound? he has an ok tail, looks fine unbraided but obviously needs a tail braided. also where’s the best place to buy one that’s relatively cheap, around $100 and long enough? thanks!! also he has a black tail so hopefully it shouldn’t be too bad
Years ago I bought a lovely tail from Custom Tails. http://www.customtails.com Black will be pretty inexpensive compared to other colors, but study your horse’s tail and see if it’s all black or has some gray or red to it. Mine was 3/4 pound and it was plenty for my 15 hand mare with a decent tail. I wouldn’t go 1/2 pound with a horse as big as yours. Make sure you get the tapered kind rather than blunt cut and you will likely need 40+ inches. My 15h mare needed a 36" tail.
I second Custom Tails. Barb takes wonderful care of her customers and her service is top notch. She has made tails for me on super short notice (made one in a day for me at a show), and jumped through hoops to help me find a tail that had been lost in the mail. They are well made and she does great repairs as well.
A tail of the length you need will run more than $100 new. But black, light weight (1/2-3/4 of a pound), and no weights added is the absolute cheapest tail you can have made. Have you had a tail on him before? Just to know where you need to tie it in? I have one that has to have his tail tied in super high with multiple stabilizing braids down lower to keep him from curling his tail bone in. He’s 16.2 and takes a 43 inch tail, due to how high I have to tie it in. Where it needs to tie in will dictate the length you need. Better to get one too long than one too short.
A third vote for Barb and Custom Tails. If you show her pictures of your horse she will be able to guide to to the right tail (length, color, weight, attachment size, etc). We looked at pictures, hair samples, and she told me where to take measurements to get the perfect tail to match my tricky red-head. Personally, there is nothing more distracting than a bad tail extension. I will always recommend consulting with Barb for the perfect look, rather than saving a few bucks on something that may not look good.
I have a chestnut, so it was a bit trickier to find a color match, but he is also 17.2ish and a big guy all around (wears a 58" girth). I first bought him a 2lb tail since his was so skimpy when I bought him, but I’ve gotten his natural tail nice enough that he just wears a 1lb tail now. I got a custom 40" one since he has a weirdly short tail bone so his ties in way higher than you would expect.
Here is a photo of his natural tail (top) and the 1 lb tail (bottom)
http://tinypic.com/r/r8xm6o/9
Just beware about the color, “black” is seldom actually “black.” If it’s a bay horse there are often some other color hairs mixed in. So I second looking closely at your horse’s tail and snapping a few pictures on your phone for reference.
I agree that it is better to make sure you get a tail that looks good rather than saving a few $$. A fake/slightly mismatched looking fake tail looks worse than not using one at all.
I had one tail made for my bay horse and it has some “sunbleached” hairs mixed in. Looks SO MUCH MORE REALISTIC.
