Horse Rubbing tail sore in horsebox - help!!

Snozzo

Snozzo

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Hi, I wonder if anyone can come up with any suggestions for me.

Barney has always leant back on his tail against the ramp ever since I had him, but we had an accident last year where he was in a trailer that turned over and since then he has understandably got much worse.

Ive bought a lorry now, its forward facing. When he travels in it he leans back on his haunches and every time I take him out he rubs the top of his tail to the point of rubbing bald patches and making it bleed, he also rubs the underside of his tail and his bum around the tail.

I took him out last week wearing a tail guard with surcingale with a tail bandage underneath and on top and he has still managed to do it really badly. Ive also tried a hold up tail guard and just a bandage. The horsebox is fully padded at the back, so I cant do much more there.

Please has anyone experienced this problem and if so can you give me any other ideas to try as I want to take him out but I dont want him to hurt himself every time I do so.

Thank you
 
It could be that your horse is balancing/supporting himself on his bottom and tail which is a no-no when travelling. He must be encouraged to spread his legs wide and learn not to use the ramp for balance with his tail. Is there some way you could put him at an angle by moving the partition wider? He will need a partition to the floor though as they can then put one hoof against the partition and one against the ramp if that makes sense. They need room to spread the back legs and if they haven't got it they feel they need to lean. Leaning on their tail can also cause them then to lose their back legs underneath them which is a disaster.

Its a bit like a human standing on a train or bus, if you kept your feet together you would find it very difficult to balance, specially round corners.
 
Is there some way to make his tail guard better padded? I have in the past used a brushing boot on my horses tail to stop it being rubbed in travel (had forgotten to bring tail guard !), I know this probably isn't ideal but it worked well because the material on the boot (was a woof boot) is sturdier than just padding alone, could you find a way to sew some better protection onto his tail guard? Or tr putting a boot over the guard to see if it stayed on and helped? Also i have seen somewhere tail guards with a bum guard built in too to protect all of the horse's backside but I can't remember where sorry! But they are out there, someone on here might know.
 
You can buy a thing that goes round the tail to protect the bum and attaches to a surcingle. They are kind of round with a cut-out in the for the tail to go through. Have you tried a neoprene tail guard - the ones with a large bit at the top?

Will try to find some pics!
 
We had a similar problem with our cob, but he rubbed because he has sweetitch. We bought a padded tail guard that reaches a little above the top of the tail. We also made sure he was herringbone, as this prevented his ail reaching the back. Of course, for this, you need a herringbone layout in your box.
Would it be possible to fit a cross bar, like a rear breast bar. he can then lean his haunches on this and keep his tail area clear of the ramp.
 
or put something liek thick folded towel on the lorry wall ( stick on velcoe, so you can remove it for washing) so it does not rub.
 
Hi
Thanks everyone, I did try and post my thanks before, so apologies if it appears twice.

Thank you Gina, I didnt know that quarterguard existed, and i'll also try the showsheen option. I did also wonder about travelling herringbone, ironically why I bought this forward facing horsebox was because the stalls were bigger. Will also try and pad out my tailguards more. I did try the neoprene ones but they just made his tail sweaty and he pulled them down, bless him!

Thank you once again
 
No worries - i had the same problem with my horse and someone on here recommended it. Only used it a couple of times because we retired her but it seemed to help a bit
 
I had a horse that did the same, she would get off the lorry a bleeding mess. I used to tie a haynet up behind her and then she lent on that and nothing got rubbed. She also had tailguards etc.
 
Murphy used to lean in the trailer and rubbed his side and tail. We got a comfortzone padded travel rug.
http://www.cz-equestrian.com/index2.html

They aren't cheap but we have had ours 5 years and it is still in great condition, the tail flap is padded with neoprene and does a good job of protecting the tail. We don't use tail bandages now to travel him.
 
Spot on answer from Oldred IMO - if the horse is leaning so heavily that he can damage himself with all that padding, the issue is his positioning, not padding. I really think you need to get him travelling herringbone immediately. Imagine if you had an emergency driving (swerve/brake etc) - I would guess he'll do himself a serious injury if he's not self-balancing.
 
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