A Tail Tale (pics and a question)

Woolly Hat n Wellies

Woolly Hat n Wellies

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Billy has never had a very impressive tail. As long as I've known him it's always been a bit thin and wispy, and a bit short and uneven .Up until now I've been washing his tail with Megatek but otherwise leaving it alone as much as possible, thinking it has just been chewed off by little ponies. I did notice he has a short tailbone, shorter than other horses of a similar size that he's lived with, but I just assumed that was him.

Today I was combing some particularly well-smushed-in poo out of his tail (he is a constant delight) when my mum started exclaiming at just how very short his tailbone really is, so we decided to have a thorough investigation. His tailbone is REALLY short. It's also blunt at the end, and at the end there is a pink bald spot. His skin is black everywhere else but his nose. We compared it to the pony's tail, and her tailbone comes down past where her buttocks become her legs (if that makes sense!), it tapers to a point at the end, it's the same colour all the way down, and hair grows from all over the tapered section.

We took some pics.

This is his tail. It hasn't been trimmed or pulled, at least since October 2013, probably longer. He doesn't rub it.

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The top of my thumb is underneath the end of his tailbone:

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The end of his tailbone:

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Is this natural? Is it just him? Or has he been docked? Or could he have lost the end of his tail in an accident? He has absolutely no hang-ups around his tail or his back end, but it just looks and feels weirder and weirder the more I look at it. Should I give up on the idea that he might ever be able to grow a normal looking tail?

(As an aside, I'm still mad at the woman who came up to me when we were out to ask "what on earth happened to your horse's tail?!?!?!?!" and when he said it had always been like that she said, rather sniffily, "Hm! He could have been quite handsome if it wasn't for that!" ... rude...)

Sorry about the size of the pictures, I don't know how to shrink them...
 
My newest horse has a tail that makes that one look positively magnificent in his case it dropped out after being traveled back from a competition on the continent with a too tight tail bandage on .
I bought him with the top pulled I am doing nothing to it at all it looks hideous ATM.
When the flys have gone I am cutting off all thin wispy bottom ,it will be hock length after that .
And then I am going to wait and wait and one day he might look ok .
My youngest ID arrived with a very very short tail he looked awful ( I got a £500 reduction because of it ) we trimmed back to a line and in a year it was beautiful , my new horse had lost his tail before his previous owner got him so that's five years ago so the growth must have been permanently slowed by the damage .
 
It looks as if he has a normal length dock, also that he grows plenty of hair that breaks as it gets longer, I have had horses come in with similar tails and do as Goldenstar plans to, they get the bottom cut off to no more than hock length for the winter.
I never brush their tails, they get washed, conditioned then fingered through before shows and not touched unless they absolutely have to be in between, I would never use a comb on a tail that thin, if they have mud or muck in it then it gets dunked in a bucket of water to ease it out with some baby oil if required.
 
No help I'm afraid, I pay little attention to manes and tails! That lady was very rude though OP, I think his tail is cute.
 
I would trim the wispy bits and condition it frequently. It looks dry, which is possibly why it's breaking because the top is lovely and thick. Also agree not to comb it but to tease any knots out with you fingers and use baby oil to remove the 'delightful' bits (I feel your pain, both my girls have disgusting tails!) His tailbone doesn't seem particularly short to me.
 
The only thing that sorted my ponys tail was hacking it short with scissors. It was a pathetic sgraggy thing when I got her but a few years of chopping it at the hocks encouraged it a lot. Now I get comments on what a nice thick tail she has. I have always brushed it out (with a human paddle brush- combs are rubbish!)and put coat shine it in too, but the cutting made it grow dramaticly.
 
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My gelding has a wonderful, thick long mane and a rather unimpressive tail. It does grow long at the end, but as you can see it's not thick.

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I'd love him to have a better tail, but I suspect that that is it.
 
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