I have a mare who constantly wrings her tail when riding. Before anyone asks, it is not from pain and her back has been checked out, she is just sassy. She’ll do this under saddle and during ground work and even if I just push her hind end to any side in the cross ties which tells me she’s probably not using her tail solely for balance so much as she’s just pissy. I’m hoping to make her into a cute little hunter pony because she has impeccable form, but am curious as to how much do judges dislike tail swishing/wringing? I know it’s not something you want to see in a hunter round but could you get away with it if everything else is good? She has potential for jumpers as well so doesn’t concern me too much if she wouldn’t do good in hunters because of this, but I’ve never had a horse be so aggressive with their tail like this before so wanted to see what other people thought. Thanks in advance.
My gelding does it Over Fences (typically when asked for the change). He also has absolutely no physical reason for it. He has been a very successful guy in up through the local A/AA shows in the low adult hunters (does not have the ability for more than that).
He does not tend to do it on the flat unless the ring is sloppy or we end up in a ring full of ponies. Then he’ll ring his tail to express his displeasure. We will get knocked down in the hack because he’s not very expressive in the bridle and will wring that tail if anyone gets too close. I could care less because he’s a saint.
Mine does the same thing to the point that my trainer said I should rename her Wind Me Up. Once again no reason what so ever expect being a sassy mare. She wasn’t a great hunter to start with so I’m not sure if the tail changed that at all. We ended up in the jumper ring because she likes it better. I think in the end it’ll truly depend on the judge you go before. Some won’t mind and others will, this is one of the reasons we left hunters because some of the judges in our area didn’t like paints.
You could always just start in the hunter ring and if you feel she isn’t placing as well as she should be switch to jumpers.
I’m sure someone will yell at me for this but my old gelding did the same thing. I got a fake tail with weights in it (not a lot. Maybe a pound. ) but when that is in he barely uses it. He always carries it a bit elevated but he stops the wringing aspect
lol I was going to suggest this…and I am a judge. 
Quite a few hunter barns use this trick for a horse with a busy tail. I always feel there is a reason for a busy tail. Sometimes it is just due to a sensitive horse but it can also be a sign of discomfort, pain or resistance. I don’t mind a bit of swishing, but a really busy tail is distracting in the show ring and is more often than not a sign of resistance.
Agree, we had a large pony that had some Arab in him and was very proud of his tail. The fake at shows helped a lot and we did not use weights. He was very competitive in the large division.
The fake tail does help us too 
From a braiding perspective, I’d say only consider a weighted fake tail if horse has enough hair to actually hold it up show after show. Some fairly large fake tails are about a pound just by itself and that might be enough to reduce some wringing. Could also make some horses worse, especially if it’s making the tail bone sore/sensitive. Horse that wrings tail while being braided was my absolute least favorite part to braid. Almost impossible to hold onto the hair and make it look decent.
Knew one in particular that wrung so badly, he’d fling the fake tail out of his tail while going around, because all the movement loosened the braid/knots — of very good/experienced braiders (stumped them as to how to tie it in and still have hair to braid the next day; it’s not like their tails were falling out on other horses)— or broke the hair. Eventually they stopped trying to use a wig and as far as I know horse went around and ribboned fine in the opens on the As, both without a wig and with a lot of wringing. Sold for good money too I heard. Saw this horse many years later, probably nearing retirement age, at a big B show and he was still wringing his tail but able to go around with a fake tail, without swishing it out. Most are probably/hopefully not that bad!
I will get comments for this, but in the olden days people would cut the nerves in the tail so it could not move. It was obvious and cruel. Others might numb the nerves that swish the tail while still allowing the tail to move up and down and remove flies. This method wears off over time, so if you do not like it, the decision is not permanent. People in my barn did it but I did not,
so I have no personal comments to make.
As a judge I find it very distracting. Try a heavy fake. At the end of the day it is a tie breaker not a deal breaker for me.
I had a gelding who was a tail swisher, and it was exacerbated by being braided. I never did anything about it, and it didn’t ever seem to affect his placings. But after I sold him I found a video of a round from WEF where they very obviously stuck a rod/plate of some sort behind the tail braid, which made his tail bizarrely stiff for the entire length of the tail bone. But it seemed to prevent him from wringing it.
I also had people suggest a weighted fake tail. But he already had such a huge tail, I thought it would look weird to add more hair (full disclosure, though, the reasons were numerous and included; I didn’t have one, and I don’t do the hunters as a general rule and really wasn’t loving the idea of buying one, and his tail was a weird color which meant it wouldn’t have been used in the future, and I’m cheap, and I’m the epitome of a “lazy hunter” when it comes to prepping any of my hunters beyond braiding).
I would not be quick to dismiss a physical cause for wringing/swishing (as opposed to just a natural high flaggy carriage like an Arabian, which is different). I would have said the same thing about my tail wringer until last year. When at age 11, this horse who I have had since he had 30 days put on him was diagnosed with kissing spines. He never once showed any other sings. Not bucking, not being cold backed, not being fussy about saddle fit-- nothing. The only thing he ever did was swish a little in the corners/when he got super deep to a distance. In retrospect, he’s a tough stoic horse who could work through a lot of discomfort but he was trying to tell us something 
What the OP describes could be discomfort. A horse that wrongs her tail under saddle, on the flat, and even when asked to move in the wash stall could very well be a horse with some lingering soreness somewhere (hocks or back would be my initial guesses) who is resistant to moving because it hurts. It really isn’t normal for a horse to have a “pissy” reaction to be asked to step to the side in the tack stall, I would dig a little deeper into a physical cause.
