thick tails and living out?

cob&onion

cob&onion

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Both my horses have heavy thick tails. The welshies black tail is touching the floor, but its caked in mud and gone into dreadlocks! My girls white (which is snow white when washed) cob tail is shorter but equally as bad :/ she looks smart apart from a yellow muddy ratty tail! I work dont have time in winter to detangle a massive tail so normally I getvthe worst off then leave it and brush her off everywhere else. I have access to a warm shower to wash it in as a one off but how is the best way to stop it going ratty again after washing? Products? Pig oil (never used before? ) Plaiting it and folding it out the way??
Thanks
 
Is it mud or poo that's mucking it up? Poo is another matter, but the best thing we ever did with our mucky cob was banging it shorter to below the hocks. Seems to keep the worst of the mud away, and then it's not so much of a job to go through/wash!
Also we use "7 day mud away" when he had muddy feathers too. It smells pleasant enough so it's not too disgusting to have all over your hands and makes the tail more slippery so the mud doesn't stick. Worked a treat!
Trust me, I feel your pain when it comes to muddy cob tails, they're never ending in their thickness :(
 
I just don't look, my cob shows, has a white (allegedly) thick mane and tail, I plait his mane which helps, tried plaiting his tail and folding it up, (too heavy) I keep him in overnight once a week to let his feathers dry, then give him a thorough groom and check over
 
kamfira said:
Is it mud or poo that's mucking it up? Poo is another matter, but the best thing we ever did with our mucky cob was banging it shorter to below the hocks. Seems to keep the worst of the mud away, and then it's not so much of a job to go through/wash!
Also we use "7 day mud away" when he had muddy feathers too. It smells pleasant enough so it's not too disgusting to have all over your hands and makes the tail more slippery so the mud doesn't stick. Worked a treat!
Trust me, I feel your pain when it comes to muddy cob tails, they're never ending in their thickness :(
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Its mud!
The cobs tail is short, just below the hocks. However the welshies tail is very long and could do with a trim!
 
My two young cobs have really thick tails, I leave them long in summer to swish at flies, but take off shorter in winter as they do attract mud.

I just use show sheen every few days on manes and tails, they stay silky and it helps prevent the wind tangles in manes.
 
Tail bags all the way!! Use one on both my grey and my black all winter, if they are not being ridden their tails are in the tail bag during the winter (leave them free the rest of the time so they can fly swat)
 
Pretty much as Adopter. My Section D mare has her (very thick, very beautiful) tail to her fetlocks in summer to keep the flies off. In early October I take about 6-7 inches off it, and from then through until the spring I always brush Johnsons Baby Oil through it. The tais looks wonderful (she's a mahogany bay with black points), never clags up, and is waterproof. You can see the rain running down it. (She is out 24/7). I use it on her mane as well (and, incidentally, on any portion where she has got muddy when rolling etc.) It's the best non-horse horsy product there is, IMO.
 
Pig oil is good as dried mud/poo just slides off and tail remains tangle free. Ensure you do patch test first. I pig oil my gangs legs and tails once a week and it keeps them clean and mud fever free. You don't need to use too much especially in tails.
 
Rose Folly said:
Pretty much as Adopter. My Section D mare has her (very thick, very beautiful) tail to her fetlocks in summer to keep the flies off. In early October I take about 6-7 inches off it, and from then through until the spring I always brush Johnsons Baby Oil through it. The tais looks wonderful (she's a mahogany bay with black points), never clags up, and is waterproof. You can see the rain running down it. (She is out 24/7). I use it on her mane as well (and, incidentally, on any portion where she has got muddy when rolling etc.) It's the best non-horse horsy product there is, IMO.
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Never thought of baby oil will give it a go after I have washed it :)
Thanks
 
Rose Folly said:
Pretty much as Adopter. My Section D mare has her (very thick, very beautiful) tail to her fetlocks in summer to keep the flies off. In early October I take about 6-7 inches off it, and from then through until the spring I always brush Johnsons Baby Oil through it. The tais looks wonderful (she's a mahogany bay with black points), never clags up, and is waterproof. You can see the rain running down it. (She is out 24/7). I use it on her mane as well (and, incidentally, on any portion where she has got muddy when rolling etc.) It's the best non-horse horsy product there is, IMO.
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Brightbay said:
I do the baby oil too, but it is a black tail, and we don't get much mud - it does help with all the twigs and things he seems to manage to get caught in it though!
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My welshie is the same! He had a mini tree trailing behind him the other day attached yo his yail! :p
 
amymay said:
Chop the tails off to the hocks. Job done.
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Noooooooooooo!

Mine all have tails down to the ground at the mo - I'm having trouble forcing myself to trim them to fetlock level. I might just leave them. If you use baby oil, furniture polish or show sheen, the mud comes out with hardly any effort. I don't trim or pull manes/forelocks either. ;)
 
Faracat said:
Noooooooooooo!

Mine all have tails down to the ground at the mo - I'm having trouble forcing myself to trim them to fetlock level. I might just leave them. If you use baby oil, furniture polish or show sheen, the mud comes out with hardly any effort. I don't trim or pull manes/forelocks either. ;)
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Ewww, horrid. :eek::eek::D
 
I leave my mares in a plait over winter (can be lethal when swishing her tail). It does still get a little dirty but brushes out a lot easier.
 
I'm another that chops short in the autumn, they are longer again by by the start of the showing season.

For horses that have thinner tails I cant understand why people leave them long. Long hair gets tangled, caught in things and made thinner. The key to keeping a thin tail nice and voluptuous is to keep it short.

For horses with long thick tails, it must be a misery dragging around a heavy soggy tail, probably full of mud and twigs
 
At the beginning of winter, i've have through the years, taken to cutting about 8 inches or so off the bottom of the tail as it is too near enough on the ground. Then it get a good combing through (which yes, can take some time in a traditional's tail!!) and comb pig oil through it too. Then i start to plait it just below the dock and plait down for about 8 inches and stop,...band it and duct tape over the band...then i'll comb through the remainder of the 'pony tail' as it were and run some pig oil through the bottom of it again to keep the mud at bay. it makes it very neat, it's easy to comb just the bottom part of the tail through regularly and also stops the inside of the tail getting any 'surplus' droppings hitting it as he poos!! LOL

This has worked really well for us through the years as by plaiting it just a bit, it takes up some more of the length in the process too! It grows very quickly so it doesn't bother me to take a little length off over Winter.

Just another suggestion for those with flippin long and very very thick tails!!
 
No - they don't have trouble with clods of mud, branches/twigs getting caught, or tangles. ;)

I fully accept that an arab's tail isn't as thick as many cobs etc... have.
 
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cob&onion said:
My welshie is the same! He had a mini tree trailing behind him the other day attached yo his yail! :p
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Mine had a long bramble in his tail a few weeks back. That was a b****r to get out - he was less bothered about it than I was!

He's not a cob or a native, he's a "sports horse" :p (supposedly), but he missed out when all the good confirmation points were being handed out but just got "grows a nice thick swishy tail", so I think he deserves to keep it, in the best possible condition and as long as practical (I cut it when it starts touching the ground).
 
amymay said:
This is what I've always done as well. More convenient for me and more comfortable for the horse.
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I feel that life is too short for faffing around with tails! I never touch them with a brush, winter or summer - apart from a quick comb through after washing and baby oiling
 
Interesting replies everyone has their own way of managing. Not sure about turn out plaited have heard of some accidents when others have done this.
My two young cobs/live out 24/7, high up onthe moors without rugs so I leave them with full manes and tails as nature intended to help keep them warm. The addition of some sort of conditioner oil helps keep them free of tangles and any thing picked up is easy to remove.
 
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