Sh*t dreadlocks in tail?!

My_old_warmblood

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 April 2020
Messages
291
Visit site
Long story short, my pony has an upset stomach on hay. The vet has had a look (nothing found), he has a regular worm count & wormer, and home grown hay (some of which comes from his paddock) but it makes no difference. haylage does nothing, hard feed does nothing, but out at grass he is completely normal. He’s his usually and happy self.

however, he gets dreadlocks in his tail. After only a week (I only have the weekends to dedicate to scrubbing his arse unfortunately) it’s horrible. I can’t stand so much as touching it without disposable gloves and I can’t imagine how awful it must be for him.

last weekend, I scrubbed the lot in fair liquid and brushed it out throughly. I braided while wet, and redid it later that day when it was dry. I keep rebraiding it, and today I unwound it to give it a good wash- and I didn’t have to! After a good brushing, the small amount left came out, and his arse was cleaner too. He holds his tail higher now.

The braid is extremely loose and is redone every few days. Will it cause him issues though? He isn’t a scratcher either, and his paddock is pretty much a padded cell (post and tape so he can’t itch on it , no trees or hayfeeders, rubber buckets.)

will he be okay?
 

EllenJay

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 June 2011
Messages
2,576
Visit site
I would investigate the pool issues. My old boy had loose droppings, which caused a "dreadlock" tail problem. A small change to his diet sorted. For him, it was the addition of pink mash, which added both preand pro biotics. Tummy sorted
 

AdorableAlice

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 October 2011
Messages
13,000
Visit site
Could you just thin the tail through the dock and bang it off at his hocks to lighten it enough to allow him to lift his tail out of the way of his droppings. Plaiting or braiding can cause the end of the dock to rot.

My old lad has had awful runny tummy recently, caused by too rich haylage. He is better now on nice meadow hay. We had a very good forage making summer this year, there will be a lot of goodness in it which does upset some tums.
 

OrangeAndLemon

Afraid of exorcism
Joined
5 October 2015
Messages
11,431
Location
Cheshire
Visit site
My lad got a dodgy tummy going on to box rest. I added gut balancer which would normally fix it but no improvement. Spoke to the vet about me changing his feed and adding fibre-beet. She didn't want to leave it too long in case it was the bute. He improved after about 3 days on fibre-beet.

I also switched from Dengie Alfa-A to Healthy Tummy but less of it now we've added fibre-beet. I'm keeping the gut balancer in the feed to support when we can start to introduce grass again.

Maybe a call to Protexin to discuss their new gut sponge product?
 

bluehorse

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 January 2008
Messages
361
Visit site
My boy gets a very upset stomach on hay or haylage which contains rye. If your hay isn’t old meadow hay maybe try that if you can get hold of some bales of that to try? Or try soaking? That really helps mine. I do have to manage his grazing but even on restricted spring grass he doesn’t get the same issues as he does on hay.
 

poiuytrewq

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 April 2008
Messages
17,392
Location
Cotswolds
Visit site
I feel your pain. I have a pony the same, utterly disgusting. His whole back end is covered. He’s white too which makes it so much worse.
In summer I hose it daily but it’s just too cold now so it’s builds up and up ?
I’ve tried everything under the sun, he’s a very healthy happy pony but nothing changes this. Even keeping him in for weeks (tried due to being slightly footy)
 

DSB

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 October 2018
Messages
141
Visit site
With"squirty"foals,we liberally coat their bottom with liquid Parafin Oil..Makes it much easier to wipe or wash.
 

ILuvCowparsely

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 April 2010
Messages
14,396
Visit site
Long story short, my pony has an upset stomach on hay. The vet has had a look (nothing found), he has a regular worm count & wormer, and home grown hay (some of which comes from his paddock) but it makes no difference. haylage does nothing, hard feed does nothing, but out at grass he is completely normal. He’s his usually and happy self.

however, he gets dreadlocks in his tail. After only a week (I only have the weekends to dedicate to scrubbing his arse unfortunately) it’s horrible. I can’t stand so much as touching it without disposable gloves and I can’t imagine how awful it must be for him.

last weekend, I scrubbed the lot in fair liquid and brushed it out throughly. I braided while wet, and redid it later that day when it was dry. I keep rebraiding it, and today I unwound it to give it a good wash- and I didn’t have to! After a good brushing, the small amount left came out, and his arse was cleaner too. He holds his tail higher now.

The braid is extremely loose and is redone every few days. Will it cause him issues though? He isn’t a scratcher either, and his paddock is pretty much a padded cell (post and tape so he can’t itch on it , no trees or hayfeeders, rubber buckets.)

will he be okay?
My mare always gets these and has some now, lots of poo bits like grains of rice, she has a big tail and a long tail but does not lift her tail out to the side or up enough. Its gross trying to get it out as it is stained so much and supposed to be a whit e tail.

The poo just slides down her tails.
 

SEL

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 February 2016
Messages
12,305
Location
Buckinghamshire
Visit site
I have this problem. Pony is on a herbal mix with slippery elm now and it's made a huge difference. I've had to eliminate beet, linseed and keep her on a basic grass and oat chaff diet or the cow pats return.

She has a very heavy tail and I've cut the most disgusting bits out and thinned it as much as I can. With gloves on I've rubbed pig oil in which helps with the washing too.
 

splashgirl45

Lurcher lover
Joined
6 March 2010
Messages
15,044
Location
suffolk
Visit site
what about something like protexin to sort out the cause. my loan mare got squitty when the grass started coming through in the spring and protexin worked quite quickly on her
 

Crazy_cat_lady

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 January 2012
Messages
6,888
Visit site
Mine is the same, it's a fairly recent thing. I washed his tail Wednesday in radox shower gel as that's what I had available, and it's already grim again today

I wonder if maybe now he's older, his digestion isn't what it was. He also has to have coolstance, as he drops weight, so possibly also that as well.
 

My_old_warmblood

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 April 2020
Messages
291
Visit site
I would investigate the pool issues. My old boy had loose droppings, which caused a "dreadlock" tail problem. A small change to his diet sorted. For him, it was the addition of pink mash, which added both preand pro biotics. Tummy sorted
All investigations are done. Grass solves it but obviously he can’t graze on no grass.
 

My_old_warmblood

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 April 2020
Messages
291
Visit site
Could you just thin the tail through the dock and bang it off at his hocks to lighten it enough to allow him to lift his tail out of the way of his droppings. Plaiting or braiding can cause the end of the dock to rot.

My old lad has had awful runny tummy recently, caused by too rich haylage. He is better now on nice meadow hay. We had a very good forage making summer this year, there will be a lot of goodness in it which does upset some tums.
Why would the dock rot? Surely dreadlocks would do it too? His tail is already really thin, and cutting it high did nothing last time
 

I'm Dun

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 May 2021
Messages
2,033
Visit site
just start the plait loosely below the dock. You can do the plait tight so long as the top bit is loose. I'd absolutely smother the whole thing in oil or show sheen before and after as well.
 

hobo

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 March 2010
Messages
9,276
Location
dorset
Visit site
While you are trying to sort out the runny poo's and I agree with putting him on protexin gut balancer when you do the weekend wash use a generous amount of mane and tail conditioner which will make the following weekend wash much easier.
 

Wheresthehoofpick

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 October 2018
Messages
430
Visit site
I've said this before but I swear by Max gut health from Richard Maxwell. I had a horse like this. Protexin. (Which is my usual go to) pink mash, pink powder etc all failed but the gut health was like magic. No more hideous tail and bum scrubbing. I took him off it to test the theory and it definitely worked. So he went back on it.
 

Polos Mum

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 September 2012
Messages
5,931
Location
West Yorkshire
Visit site
I had one on load that had a broken tail bone so just couldn't lift his tail, it was grim. Lots of pig oil helped some of it slip off but I did loosely plat/ braid all the time an not disasters.
Show ponies over the road have their tails in bags 24 / 7 for six months of winter and don't seem to suffer any ill effects. A bag would be most hygienic of you can swap them every few days and wash them, as even with a plat some will get on.

They are very light weight material so no heavier than a thick tail.
 
Top