For those of us on pasture board during this muddy winter, tips needed for removing frozen mud from tail and keeping it out. Do you braid? Tie up? Or just let it run the course til Spring? Horse is on vacation until April.
I use a bucket of hot water to melt the icy mud, towel dry the ends. However our horses’ are stalled at night, not pasture kept. I have occassionally braided tails for very short times, like overnight or 24 hours till ground is really frozen , then take braids out.
I really do not want anything on horse that can get caught, like a thick braid. I HAVE seen skinny braids get ripped off tails, though they were not a one-braid tail thickness. I figure there is always a chance of losing that hair if it can get snagged like with braiding or tail bags. Know it happened to friends of mine’s horses, losing braids in tails.
I know this is heresy, but have you considered cutting hair so it won’t drag in the mud, thus preventing mudballs from happening? When style had tail lengths ending at the hocks, tail care was not much work for Hunter folk, Western riders lIke it is now.
These days we bang off long tails to just above the fetlock joint when it starts getting muddy in Fall, before the snow usually happens. I usually do not have much in mud balls or iceballs to deal with after shortening tails. Mine are a hairy bunch, grow about an inch a month it seems like. So their tail length is all back by good spring weather, ready to be evened up nicely for taking them places.
It is “just hair” you cut off. Not strands of gold. Hair grows back! I don’t want them dragging mud or ice with their tails, getting caught on something by that mess! The tail hair is shortened by cutting as a good management practice in problem prevention and time savings from melting frozen stuff out as needed. Save yourself time, trouble, by shortening tail length to prevent ice getting on the hair.
I don’t think cutting tails is heresy…in the fall, I cut tails level with hind chestnuts, and by spring, I have lovely thick tails that are just the right length for competition season. We get deep snow, and long tails (and tail bags) build up ice balls, which lacerate hind legs. Cutting them to just above the fetlocks isn’t enough here, as the snow is up over their knees and hocks, but hind chestnuts seem to be about the right place.
I’m right there with goodhors, prevention is everything.
OP you are fighting a losing battle. Wash/condition the tail, let it dry, brush it out good. Then bang it up to the hocks. It will be grown back out by spring, and much healthier because it will have much much less breakage over the winter. Don’t ever brush it unless it’s been washed/conditioned and sprayed with a detangler. You will have a big fat tail in no time.
What works for me (owner of the TWH with a Tail-And-A-Half) is to brush out the mud once it is dry.
I do trim the ends - either banged or tapered - so nothing drags on the ground, to just above fetlocks.
Showgroom taught me how to brush:
Twist tail starting at the top, like you are making rope.
Keep going until entire tail is done down to the ends.
Then brush out small sections starting at the bottom & untwisting as you go.
Amazingly few tail hairs pulled out using this method.
I use Cowboy Magic detangler applied liberally & finger-combed through the tail - seems to help keep mud & snow from sticking.
Now if only someone had a Magic Method for keeping horses from breading themselves in mud…
Nothing like going to get one who presents a spotless side at first… then turns to show you “Look what I did!” on the other :eek:
I just let nature take its course. On a sunny day, the mud balls will melt and fall out.
In the fall I bang the tails just above the fetlocks, and spray the bottom third with showsheen so that any mud they do collect comes out easily.
Once rainsheets go on full time (ie. it gets cold enough) I wash, condition, and braid the tail, weaving the bottom two thirds of the skirt through the top third to just below the tailbone. I put a sock over the woven braid. The finished tail is above the hocks and stays pretty clean. The sock.can get a bit muddy if the horse rolls, but better the sock than the tail. In the beginning I took the tail down and conditioned and rebraided every week, then two weeks… Now it’s more like once a month. More often if it wasn’t a very good braid - that doesn’t happen very often these days.
I usually lose a couple of socks over the winter, but I buy a pack of two pairs for a buck at the dollar store. Once we get snow, or if it is particularly nasty I will wash the socks.
Unless it’s a horse showing in a discipline where tail length is going to matter, I cut mine off too. Usually 2-3 inches above the fetlock. It’s back by the time I’m competing again in spring.
