Tail swishing = pain?

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Ceifer

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As the title really. Does tail swishing = pain? The horse in question kinda flicks his tail up and down intermittently seemingly no triggers physically. Occasionally indoors. More outdoors. Unsure what it does in winter so if it's 'fly ' related. Doesn't seem tense when doing it.

Hope this isn't a totally random thread!
 
What are you or is it doing during this tail swishing?

I am a qualified tail-swish practitioner. I specialise in Swishology.
 
Well I've experimented lol
Any ridden work. Light work schooling and hacking. Jumping. There's no correlation between frequency of hard or light work. Sometimes he'll do it in lateral work then you'll repeat the same movement and nothing.
He's only doing basic laterals. Leg yield shoulder fore shoulder in and a 'showjumper ' flying change. He's had his back checked. Recently had an MOT from the vet lol which he passed and the vet said he couldn't fault him. Teeth fine. He always seems a happy chappy but it's always the quiet ones that can hide the pain well :(
 
Sounds like tension to me. How old is he? Does he do it on the lunge? Does he swish less as your session goes on?
 
He does it on the lunge he does it walking in hand. He'll be stood tied up asleep. Wake up. Swish his tail then go back to sleep!
 
Ceifer said:
Well I've experimented lol
Any ridden work. Light work schooling and hacking. Jumping. There's no correlation between frequency of hard or light work. Sometimes he'll do it in lateral work then you'll repeat the same movement and nothing.
He's only doing basic laterals. Leg yield shoulder fore shoulder in and a 'showjumper ' flying change. He's had his back checked. Recently had an MOT from the vet lol which he passed and the vet said he couldn't fault him. Teeth fine. He always seems a happy chappy but it's always the quiet ones that can hide the pain well :(
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Hmmmmm.......... his seems to me like a "thinking tail" with intermittent "horsefly-repellent" behaviour. I would keep a very close eye on things.

Does he do it when he has perfectly executed a given command?
 
I was covered in thunder bugs today whilst riding. If I had a tail, I would be swishing it as much as I possibly could without it dropping off. Which is my way of saying that unless something more severe or obvious manifests itself, I would wait until we are out of harvest time at least before panicking too much. Also, I wouldn't rule out the horse just objecting to your leg. Mine grunts if you ask too much of him. Nowt wrong with him, its just his way of pointing out he would rather not bother.
 
Ceifer said:
Ooh I don't know. I'll have to see. My problem is I think my timing is out. He'll do it and my immediate reaction is what are we doing right NOW. Not a thought as to whether ive completed a movement.
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Ah. I see. Well, next time just pay attention to it.

Check facial expression. I'm coming to the conclusion it is a very simple and gentle way of him saying "oh for god's sake, get it right woman!".

I get this occasionally.

Alot.
 
Fun Times said:
Are you thinking he may be a Triumph Swisher Tallyho??
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NOt sure... I need OP to observe specifically when exactly this swish is being displayed. She has homework.

I did suspect triumph swishing at first but I need more data.
 
tallyho! said:
Ah. I see. Well, next time just pay attention to it.

Check facial expression. I'm coming to the conclusion it is a very simple and gentle way of him saying "oh for god's sake, get it right woman!".

I get this occasionally.

Alot.
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Ah me too probably. As long as he's not in pain. He's such I good boy all the time. And I love him to bits
 
Ceifer said:
Ah me too probably. As long as he's not in pain. He's such I good boy all the time. And I love him to bits
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Every horse deserves to be loved by someone like you... I'm sure this tail swishing is a crude form of communication that one day you can enjoy! Like me and my mare....

If worried, call vet again and check everything. Joking aside, its important to rule out pain. However, horses do communicate a lot with tails.

I had one that when happy curled his tail to one side... so many people said he was crooked, unbalanced etc.. but nope, he was just happy :)
 
My horse is a chronic tail swisher - always has done it & probably always will. Does it worse when you ask more of him. BUT he has no other issues & is the worlds biggest wimp (can't pull his mane or clip him and slight mud fever can make him almost lame) so I reckon if he was in pain he'd be doing more than swishing his tail!! So we've never read into it. I think some do it more than others and if yours has no other signs or symptoms I wouldn't panic about it!
 
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