What Tale May A Tail Tell?

[phippsie62]

I was watching videos of jumpers for sale through an import sales operation, and the first video I looked at–a gray mare going at 1.30–showed her flipping up her tail over every single jump. I don’t mean a little flick of the tail–this mare’s tail shot straight up so that, as she cleared the fence, I could see her whole hiney, not just once, but every time. That seemed odd to me, and I wonder if it might be a red flag that she has soreness in the spine, since the tailbones are part of the spinal column. Or might her heaven-ward tail flip signal something else?

Watching the video reminded me of other tail action I’ve seen in horses going around, either a jump course or on the flat–the tail-wagging ( big wags or little swishes) up to a full-on tail-wringing.

Opinions about what these various tails may mean?

[equisusan]

Ha my grey hunter mare does the same thing. She is a former jumper and her daughter who is jumping 1.50m now does it as well. I say it’s genetic and/or part of being careful. Brunello does it too I think.

I think you have to know the specific horse to interpret the tail movements. Some horses just seem to be much more expressive and others when they wring their tails or swish their tails are showing signs of discontent. In isolation it’s not enough to make judgements.

[222orchids]

I am not sure whether there is an answer for this, but I would like to comment that I think this is perhaps the greatest name ever for a thread on COTH. “What tale would a tail tell”: Genius!!

[foursocks]

My jumper flips his tail up most of the time, but especially when he’s feeling extra-sassy. I have some great landing pictures from shows where it is basically parallel to my back as I am sitting up. It’s just him- nothing bad has ever happened to him, his back isn’t sore, he just likes to flip his tail. I prefer that to the bucks he sometimes throws in when the sass is even higher!

[GoodTimes]

A slight “tail wag” on the flat is actually a very good thing. It means the horse is relaxed through its back and the tail is just moving as an extension of the spine vs the horse using its tail to express an opinion.

Like another poster mentioned I think you need to know the horse in question to determine if tail flipping or wringing is just them having a good day, or if it’s a sign of pain/attitude. When my hunter was young he would flip his tail up if we got a long spot and he had to jump a little harder, sometimes he would land a squeal or shake his head saying he was having fun. He doesn’t do it anymore though.
My jumper comes off the trailer waving his tail like a flag, you’d think he was a stud unless you saw him sleeping in the shade 5 minutes later.

[AllisonWunderlund]

Yeah it can mean something, but as others have mentioned some horses just do that over fences. My first pony for one. True story…

This was back in the late 70’s/early 80’s when mud knots in tails were still pretty common when it was, well, muddy. One rainy show morning Mom decided my grey pony’s tail needed a mud knot to stay clean for the bigger classes later in the day. All was fine until we hit that first warm up jump. Flip…wham! Pony popped herself in the butt, scoot/bucked my a** off, and took off back to the stabling area. Poor baby was shaking when we caught up with her.

We opted to just wash her tail mid day after that.