thick tails and living out?

Another vote for chopping tails this time of year - and 7 day mud away for feathers etc.
ETA mine also have long manes and forelocks kept native because they live out (and I like it) but a bit off the length of an otherwise full tail really helps I've found.
 
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he isnt out 24/7, but bruces tail is long and thick and white-the tailgator bags work really well and are pretty tough.

i dont know how well they would work in a big herd of rough and tumble though.

even if you cant bag-wash, coat shine it and plait it then run some oil over the outside of the plait.

i think if if we had horrible clay, id have to plait and bag everything, as i LOVE long thick tails.thankfully we dont get mud, so the tails might get wet, but never muddy or knotty or dreadlocks.
 
I have my cob's tail just below hock level - white tail, show cob.
When I wash it, it use this:

http://natural-equine.co.uk/equine-2/mane-tail-detangler-and-conditioner/

the serum

as a mud repellant / conditioner - it's amazing, you use a 50p size blob and rub hands together then sift through the tails and brush.
I brush my cob's tail out every day and it's lovely!

PS as I'm a showing person, i get a desperation to cut very long tails especially the very long dressagy ones. I know...! I HATE it when you see a horse with amazing movement and its' tail is somehow wedged up between the hind legs and it can't move.
*slinks back out of post*
 
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Once my sec D's tail gets dreadlocks it starts to interfere with her hind legs/movement, so at that point I cut it to just below her hocks! That way its shorter, cleaner and she can move properly.

She's hogged also so it doesn't bother me having a trimmed and tidied native ;) I did this a month or so ago now so by the time the mud dries up and the flies appear it'll be long enough to swat them away again!
 
I keep my Friesians plaited, as well as his mane :) Keeps it tangle free. Does still get muddy, but is easily brushed off due to the tail not being tuggy with it. I might try adding the baby oil too :)
 
I'm thinking about dyeing my grey horses tail. Technically it is white at the end, but currently it is a strange greeny grey & quite repulsive. Black dye, no one's the wiser I think.
 
As the owner of two greys, I'm another fan of tailbags. They don't interfere at all and stay put really well. I've got the ones that fold in half, which they say are so you can ride in them. I don't, but I think it helps to keep them out of the way and make them less likely to be rolled/trodden on so more secure.
 
pennyturner said:
I just leave mine alone. The tail's no muddier than the rest of the pony :)
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Ditto. Tails are the least of my worries!

1467233_10152065332385730_758609721_n.jpg
 
I'm a new convert to tail bags with my grey Dales pony. He's the only one of ours that wears one as I was getting sick of the 'rat-tail' look as he is a complete mud monster and rolls in it at every opportunity. Since I've used the bag his tail is keeping so much better.
 
sussexbythesea said:
Tail bags work really well I used one when I was at a yard with clay soils that set like concrete.
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OMG! PLEASE please please peeps, be VERY careful of tail-bags, or basically ANYTHING which could constrict the dock area.

I say this because when I was a kid I remember that another girl in Pony Club washed her pony's tail, and then put on a tail bandage and left the pony in the stable overnight. She was hunting the next morning and had got him all ready the night before.

The tail bandage got wet, and shrunk, and consticted the dock area which then began to swell up, and started blistering. Infection set in, the tail/dock went gangrenous, and the poor pony had to be PTS. And this wasn't a kid who knew nothing about horses, her father had been an MFH.

I'd be very very chary indeed of putting on a tail-bag and leaving it on when a horse is turned out; yes OK fine to use it for what its basically intended for, i.e. travelling, to protect the tail, but I wouldn't leave it on anything turned out. OK so call me neurotic, but better to have a muddy tail than lose a horse in a horrible way like this.

My traddie cob has a mega-huge tail. Best thing is to wash the tail and get it clean to start with. Do it properly if you want the best result, but if you're pushed for time then spray some Lynne Russell Stain remover into the tail and then hose down (quick and easy!). THEN when you've got a nice clean tail, apply either baby oil, or pig oil and brush through. Or if you want to be extravagant, Muddy Marvel is good. It will help considerably in keeping mud away.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
OMG! PLEASE please please peeps, be VERY careful of tail-bags, or basically ANYTHING which could constrict the dock area.

I say this because when I was a kid I remember that another girl in Pony Club washed her pony's tail, and then put on a tail bandage and left the pony in the stable overnight. She was hunting the next morning and had got him all ready the night before.

The tail bandage got wet, and shrunk, and consticted the dock area which then began to swell up, and started blistering. Infection set in, the tail/dock went gangrenous, and the poor pony had to be PTS. And this wasn't a kid who knew nothing about horses, her father had been an MFH.

I'd be very very chary indeed of putting on a tail-bag and leaving it on when a horse is turned out; yes OK fine to use it for what its basically intended for, i.e. travelling, to protect the tail, but I wouldn't leave it on anything turned out. OK so call me neurotic, but better to have a muddy tail than lose a horse in a horrible way like this.

My traddie cob has a mega-huge tail. Best thing is to wash the tail and get it clean to start with. Do it properly if you want the best result, but if you're pushed for time then spray some Lynne Russell Stain remover into the tail and then hose down (quick and easy!). THEN when you've got a nice clean tail, apply either baby oil, or pig oil and brush through. Or if you want to be extravagant, Muddy Marvel is good. It will help considerably in keeping mud away.
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I'd assume they mean like the tail gator bags where you plait the tail below the dock and the bag fastens through top of the plait, dock is left untouched. Widely used in the states even in summer. I've heard similar stories to yours tho, very sad.
 
I love baby oil :) great for sweet itch in summer(with fly sjeet so doesnt burn in sun) excellant for mud in winter :) i luuuuvvvv baby oil. aldis is cheap and good
 
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