I have a mare who needs major tail help (big section chewed off by a baby horse before I bought her), has anyone used a supplement that you felt like actually made a difference and encouraged better/faster regrowth? I’m resigned to it being a long-term project, but if there’s something that would help, I’d be game to give it a try!
I would also like to know! My pony also lost half his tail. So will be watching to see what everyone says.
Just good nutrition, and don’t comb/brush it out very often to keep from breaking hair off.
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Remember hair is a protein product so be sure she is getting enough protein that she can “waste” some of it building mane and tail.
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My mare’s mane and tail have been growing like a weed since she started on a Vitamin E/selenium supplement a few months ago - our area is notoriously low in Se.
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Biotin has always been the supplement that worked the best for me to get good tail growth.
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I bought a new horse last winter that had got his tail caught on a gate - pulled it off just below the dock right before I picked him up! So like some of the other posters have mentioned, I was hoping good nutrition would do the trick. It did! It is now well below his hocks. Not sure
Oops! Got ahead of myself… Not sure what did it. He gets Renew Gold, flax meal, bee pollen, alfalfa pellets and lots of alfalfa hay
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If horse is already on a hoof supplement, that can help, mine have always been & I am constantly trimming tails (I’m one of those people who hate the barbie hair thing), even the one who I call “follicularly challenged” (he has about 8 wussy hairs that make up his forelock & always a thin tail). I wouldn’t add anything else just for hair growth, just support with good, balanced nutrition.
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I agree good nutrition and a balanced diet.
I have to keep both of my horses tails trimmed even with the fetlock so they don’t step on them when getting up. I know I could wrap them up every night but I’m retired and that’s “one more thing” that I don’t want to be bothered with, lollol
One of my horses had had part of his mane chewed off by a mini donk the Seller had bought. It took 9-10 months for it to grow back to its original length of below the shoulders.
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Good nutrition + MTG
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The Best Quality Feed you can afford plus biotin plus flax ground plus a good multi-vitamin plus alfalfa hay. Don’t groom the
tail very often and use ONLY a human grade (boar’s hair) hairbrush.
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Thanks everyone, fortunately she’s on a top-notch feed program, and we have already seen some progress, I just want to give it all the help we can – I feel terrible that she doesn’t have a ton of fly-fighting ability with it!
I have had great luck with leave in conditioners from the ethnic section, cut with about 25% water in a spray bottle. I spray the roots on the dock and really rub it in well, and put a light coat on the rest of the tail - repeating about every other day. I keep my tails darn-near greasy to prevent breakage, and almost never brush them - I only brush before a wash, and SOAK it in detangler before combing through it (don’t care if the detangler is drying, because I’m going to wash and recondition it anyways).
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Coconut oil massaged in the dock area. A friend had a foundation appy with a little wisp of tail. About 10 hairs that didn’t even come down to her hocks. She started using the coconut oil on her tail and it actually got much thicker and got down below her hocks. It was pretty amazing.
Susan
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In the year I have been feeding a RB our 1 mare has really increased her tail growth. If your horse normally has a decent tail, it should grow back with good nutrition.
My mare on the other hand has a genetic issue ( all appaloosa) that is against growing a mane or tail of any substance, unfortunately the RB isn’t doing the same for her. Although I can see it is better than a year ago.
I second good nutrition and MTG. “Shapley’s MTG” is a sulfur-based oily topical, yukky smelling, and it somehow stimulates the hair follicles to grow hair faster. I have had very good results with MTG. Shake well and follow the label instructions. p.s. Be careful if you have a canine friend around. Mine thought it smelled delicious and tried to eat the rag I used to apply it.
Haha yeah I’m not surprised, I think it smells like old bacon grease!! But it works!
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Along with top notch nutrition, I find putting the tail up for the winter helps a lot. I learned how to do it from someone who had Morgan show horses.
Basically wash well getting all the scurf out of the roots.
Condition for 15 or 20 minutes then rinse clean.
Dry COMPLETELY. (you can do this gently with a hair drier to speed it along if your horse will tolerate it.
Separate hairs one at a time (Ya that’s time consuming).
Starting below the end of the dock, firmly braid tail with a length of gauze intertwined with each 1/3 of the braid. Secure with a braiding elastic.
Loop end up through the top of the braid a time or two depending on length. (It’s hard to describe verbally but if you google I’m pretty sure there are videos that make it clear.)
Secure with electrical tape.
Put into tail bag.
I usually wash the tails sometime in November before the snow flies and leave them up until after mud season in the spring. When I take them out, they are trailing on the ground. I end up having to cut off 6-8 inches minimum just to trim them back to fetlock height so they don’t step on them when backing up.
