Hey!
So I’m wondering if anybody has any tips on getting my hunter’s tail looking fuller? He’s grey (young and flea-bitten, so lots of colors) so I’d really like to avoid the purchase of a fake tail for shows.
Currently, I’m using MTG a few times as week and brushing it out RARELY and only after a lot of detangler (I’m very cautious not to rip out any hairs!).
Has anybody found any magical tricks to growing their horse’s tail out and getting it nice and full?
Genetics is going to have a lot to do with tail fullness and length but you could try braiding it, rolling it up and keeping it wrapped.
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Genetics and keeping hairs from being ripped out are your best bet to a nice tail.
I wish there was a magic bullet for tail growth because if there was, my appy would have more tail than he does. He’s only going to have so much, and I’ve come to terms with that. Good nutrition, gently caring for it, and that’s about all I can do. I can make what his genetics dealt him as healthy as possible, and it’ll grow as long as it’s supposed to grow and get as full as it’s supposed to get and that’s it. Kind of like my own hair. I’m never going to have long, thick hair. It just isn’t in the cards.
On the flip side of the coin, I had a QH gelding that I owned from birth and I never did anything special with his tail. He had a huge, thick tail that dragged the ground if I didn’t keep it trimmed. I showed him AQHA where everyone has those big fake tails in and his looked just like theirs only it was all his.
I raised him and several other horses and some just have it and some don’t. When I showed my appy in hunter under saddle classes he had a fake tail. It really balanced him out and made a much prettier picture.
I have seen some people say the brand Manely Long Mane is good…but it’s SO EXPENSIVE. Holy Moly. I have no experience with it though…and it seems like most of the reviews are from people who have horses with thick manes/tails anyways. I do follow someone on insta that started using it on a thin tailed dressage horse though and she has said it seems to be helping. But, that isn’t enough to convince me to spend that kind of money.
Even with my guy, who admittedly has an amazing tail, I still do everything I can to protect it. I use Cowboy Magic’s Spray-In Conditioner on the top/tail bone area, and any hair that isn’t braided, and vetrolin detangler on the bottom after I wash and condition it. After washing, conditioning, detangling, and THOROUGHLY drying(bust out the hair dryer!) it gets braided in a sheet (3 torn pieces, to wrap around each of the braid sections), then I double it back up on itself and wrap everything in another piece of sheet and secure with electrical tap. No rubber bands. I can take pictures when I get home if you’d like. I know that description is not a good one. I keep it up for a month or so at a time before repeating the process.(it’s be a little longer currently). The last I had it down it was a few inches on the ground. It’s been going up pretty religiously since last February, right as it was getting close to the ground), and now it has to be up all the time because it drags the ground. The end goal for him is to be able to cut off all the bleached ends, not necessarily to have it crazy long.
Things I have to be careful about: hosing off during the summer. Sometimes I bag it in a plastic bag, or you have to hold the tail out of the way while you rinse them off so it doesn’t get wet. They also can’t be out in the pouring rain with this set up because it’s just a sheet and will get nasty if it gets wet and can’t dry properly. This isn’t a huge deal for me because we normally stall our horses during weather anyways. But, messing up will hosing off during the summer is quite frustrating. Let’s just say it just messed with far more than once a month during the summer due to errors on my side.
I have MTG oil, but did not buy it for his tail. My trainer uses it on all his horses though and, aside from also having breed genetics on their sides, their tails are all long, full and healthy.
As the others have said though, genetics is key. We have a mini that can grow length, but can’t grow a lot of it. We have another pony that has a pretty thick tuft right at the tail bone, but it never gets very long. We had a TB who never had anything. Little sprig of a tail. Totally pathetic. Luckily, they were/are just pasture pets, so their scraggly tails don’t matter.
Healthy skin and coat come from the inside out… good nutrition is important but some horses are just more blessed in the mane and tail department than others… just like people. If you are feeding a hoof supplement that contains biotin, that will also benefit the hair as well.
Protect it and brush it as less as possible. Good luck.
A Show Groom taught me how to brush a tail:
Twist down the entire length - like a rope.
Start brushing at the bottom, do little sections, untwisting as you go.
Guaranteed nearly zero hairs in your brush when done.
I use Dollar Tree brushes with the round-tipped, wide-spaced bristles.
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I agree with protecting the tail as well as feeding properly, brushing VERY carefully etc. My mare has her tail up in a 3 tube bag all winter. Bag ties around the tail just below the dock, tail is divided into 3 and pulled into the tubes then the 3 tubes are braided, doubled up and secured with electrical tape. I take it out, condition with a leave in conditioner then re-wrap 1-2 times a month. Bonus is that her white tail does not look like it has been soaking in dark tea come the spring!
My neighbour swears by Tail Boots.
Also be sure your horse doesn’t has any bugs to switch for.
Tail switching will break the longer tail hairs, so keep flies to a minimum as part of tail growth programs.
A friend’s horses for years ended every summer with short tails, until he started using fly predators, now tails are back to normal lengths for pastured horses.
You can also loosely knot thin tails which will result in giving them a ‘fluffier’ look - see this article here:
https://www.proequinegrooms.com/tips/manes-and-tails/thin-tail
My boys grow nice tails and I don’t really do anything to them. I bang them off at the chestnuts every winter and it keeps them out of the mud.
So funny, I have had almost the same experience. My retired QH gelding is 17H and a few times a year I cut inches off his tail to keep it from dragging the ground. Rarely touch it any more, but if I washed it and brushed it out, it would be the envy of any show horse.
Then I got an Appy. She had not the worst rat tail, but it was definitely a little string of a thing. I did manage to turn it into a cute little poof of a tail that came past her hocks by following this regimen: when weather allowed, wash and condition (no particular shampoo and conditioner, I just used Vetrolin and Mane & Tail mostly). When dry, rub in the liquid type of coconut oil. Give that at least 20 minutes to soak in, and then carefully comb through with Cowboy Magic. The CM seemed to help with repelling dirt and keeping the hairs smooth so they were less likely to snag on anything.
Now I use this on my other two horses, though not as religiously. The one who doesn’t have spectacular tail genetics, and had her tail chewed off by a foal before I got her, now has a nice thick tail that is banged off right at her fetlock.
I definitely don’t cut any tails that short, but I do find that trimming the ends helps prevent breakage that makes the tail look scraggly at the bottom. At the beginning of winter I cut off a couple inches, and with the horse that tolerates it, I braid her tail up in cotton sheeting to keep it clean. With my other horse, the braid gets caught and bounces back and forth between her hind legs when she’s trotting and drives her nuts, so I just keep it trimmed a bit and give it a wash if we have a warm enough day to allow it to dry out properly.
Genetics and nutrition help!
Do not brush or comb the hair, hand pick out tangles.
I try to stay away from leave in products with any type of silicone.
I think keeping it moisturized helps with breakage.
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Exactly! My routine as well, don’t touch it with a brush. If I get a tangle, I spray with a leave in moisturizer and and hand pick out any tangles or trash. I cut off 3"+ spring and fall on two of my boys. If I didn’t they would drag the ground.
Gorgeous tails on two and then my TB. Genetics is genetics, he has no mane either. My new horse came from compulsive tail brushers…it is just broken hair everywhere. They were nice enough to explain his tail care regime 
, constant washing, conditioning, brushing and braiding and bagging. Funny, I haven’t touched it over a month and it is already laying flatter and looking much less crispy.
Half a century ago, before there were all those horse beauty products, grooms would smear some heavy gunk on the tails and believed the heavier hairs would stimulate and speed up growth by their extra little weight.
It seemed to work, if that is what was contributing, as their horses had fabulous tails.
I think that is the logic behind the tail boots.
I’m a little nervous of using them in our southern hemispheric summer. Anyone from the hotter US states used them before?
As I said, my neighbour loves hers but I’m just worried about damaging tails in the heat.
Yes, they can actually discolor a white tail in hot humid weather. I found that in the hot weather they actually swish more (even with fly repellent) and the you can get more breakage. It is almost like they use the tail like a fan in hot weather. The other thing is make sure the tail bag cannot get caught on anything in the stall or turnout. One snag and you can lose a lot of hair. Saw one get caught on a cribbing collar buckle once. One horse with the crap kicked out of it and another with a badly bitten butt and half a tail. Luckily the collar buckle broke. I decided to after that to just depend on benign neglect, finger picking, nutrition and genetics.
I also follow the routine of benign neglect. There’s only a couple things you can do to prevent tail hair loss: Don’t brush, wash or use Showsheen unless you’re going to a show. Only hand pick and condition or Showsheen the day before. THAT IS ALL. There’s nothing you can do to make the hair grow faster or thicker. I’ve had 2 horses that grew so much mane and tail, I spent most of my time trying to brush it so it wasn’t SO thick. Banged the tail at least 4 major times/year. That current horse is an ISH mare who looks 100% TB, except laid back and a great mane and tail. Everyone compliments me on her mane and tail and I never take credit…cuz I don’t do anything!
