Has anyone imported a horse from Europe and had their tail thin out completely?? My boy has been here now for 9 months and I swear he has lost 60% of his tail. When he came, I kid you not, he had the most amazing tail I’ve ever seen. I’m on FL so, so I know the climate change doesn’t help, but this is crazy. I’m really good at taking care of tails, etc (hair stylist here), but my question is, what the heck in in their supplements over there? Am I crazy? Has anyone else dealt with this?
Help!
Any chance this horse was a stallion castrated just prior to import? I ask because this is relatively common practice just due to importation cost/protocols from Europe to the USA. Especially in PRE horses. Is this a PRE? Asking because PRE folks take mane/tail hair volume and quality pretty seriously, haha. Those horses are often kept as stallions, even to a mature age without breeding intentions… The common pipeline is that they are sold to the USA and castrated just before shipping to expedite/simplify/reduce costs. And also to suit the strong american preference for geldings in general. The hair volume and quality loss is kinda a known thing in those circles. Hormones have a huge effect on hair, so it makes sense…
I had one that sat on his tail so much on the flight over we were afraid it might need to be amputated. It did heal leaving awful scars and he is understandably very nervous of it being handled. Maybe your horse damaged the hairs enough that they broke/shed? Be worth having the vet run some basic bloodwork as a CYA.
Could it be because he’s being turned out more state side, and is using his tail more for the flies? I have noticed a correlation between full tails and stall time.
A totally left field note, but on the topic of weirdly thinning tails — I live in a lyme heavy area. One of my geldings has contracted it four times. His first obvious symptom is tail and forelock loss.
Wow really? I’ll have to keep watch on my guy and see I notice anything.
Very interesting. It’s gotten worse since my last post. I hope not, but I can say there’s been some additional symptoms that could point in that direction. He recently had some all over leg swelling that lasted some days and I’ve ready about that too. Vets coming Tuesday and running bloodwork. Hoping it’s more like a vitamin/mineral deficiency or something but hopefully the bloodwork will tell more,
You are in Florida so you have BUGS. I have known of some imported horses having really bad gnat allergies that caused them to rub their tails out. Also mosquitoes can cause rubbing and hair loss. I am in central Alabama in gnat country and I have had problems with this. Mare would be better off locked in a stall with a fan and fly system all summer (all 9 months of summer) but she would be BSC.
My guess is that they just don’t have the bug problem like we have. I have seen auction horses advertised that had “hair toupees” but they just seem to have better tails over there. Even broodmares that are out in the pasture 24/7. I wish I could bottle it and sell it. So I don’t think it is only a stallion thing because of the luxuriant tails I see on broodmares.
You’ve probably thought of this already, but how is his diet? I bought an older horse this last summer and he had the most pathetic, thin, and short tail. I was told that’s just how it always was. I’ve had him about six months now and it’s finally starting to look normal, if short because I keep trimming off the scraggly bits that I inherited.
I kept his diet mostly the same (switched from tribute Senior to triple crown senior) but upped the amount of copper, zinc, and biotin. I also switched his joint supplement from cosequin asu to biota oil, but I’m guessing that didn’t impact the tail.
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