warning - new stretchy bandages.

kerilli

kerilli

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a v experienced friend of mine has had a bit of a nightmare... someone was grooming for her at a comp (unusual, friend usually does it all herself), the horse was pratting about, so the groom ended up pulling the (new, Roma elasticated) tail bandage tighter than she meant to, without realising it... and at the other end my friend couldn't pull the bandage off, it was so tight. tail now gone very scabby and horrible, and very sore. friend really worried that horse may lose tail...
so, if you have a nice new elasticated bandage, please be even more careful than you think you need to be. friend is gutted. she's always sooo careful. :( :( :(
cotton-only bandages, which only have the tiniest bit of give, are definitely safest...
 
Have had the same thing happen to us. Just before we bought our little mare, YO, who bred, produced and evented her to PN took her to an event with a new groom. Said groom put the elasticated bandage on far too tight and left it on the night they returned. I gather she decided that seeing as the horse had its legs bandaged, that the tail needed to be kept bandaged. YO found a very unhappy little mare in the morning, with a very swollen dock and feel very sore. Anyway, groom got her marching orders as at the the time she was for sale and she had had a lot of people looking at her and it was just treated with some hibiscrub and fresh air, and it healed quickly enough. It was sore for a few days, and it has left some scarring on her dock, but its not visible without pulling up her tail and actually looking at it.

We bought her about 6 weeks after this and this is noted on the vetting as well. As this mare can be a bit of a diva, we did wonder if she would be funny about her tail, but she is fine, no lasting damage has been done. However, we always use nice, non stretchy tail bandages anway - Mini TX won a tail bandage at a PC competition last year and it was a stretchy one. It went straight in the bin.

Hope your friends horse is ok, YO did wonder if Bonnie would lose her tail, but she was fine, so tell your friend not to worry too much and fingers crossed for her.
 
The very reason I wont use bandages, having never been shown how to do them properly and not on a yard to learn - I use a velcro one :)
Hope the horse recovers without too much trouble.
 
Theres a dressage rider around here who has a horse with a grey tail at the top. I asked him about it once and he said somebody had put a tail bandage on to tight,horse then wouldnt let them remove bandage once home so had to wait until vet could come out to sedate the horse. Tail fell out and grew back grey
 
But where do you even get the non-elasticated ones these days? I can't find them anywhere! I remember when I was a kid they were nowhere near as stretchy, these days they are really elasticated.
 
I stopped using tail bandages around 10 years ago. I only ever use a tail guard now which has Velcro straps. It's quite long so covers the entire dock.
Really hate tail bandages, hope your friends horses tail is ok. A friend of mine's horse wasn't so lucky.
 
I learnt long ago how to bandage everything properly, but it's been too long and I can't quite remember, so I no longer bandage. I feel it's a pity as it was something I was good at, but I don't want to risk harming a horse.
 
I don't understand how people do them THAT tight? I use a variety of bandages, some of them are elasticated, albeit old and have never had a problem, and tbh its not something that would even cross my mind.

But then I'm more of a one who has trouble making it stay on, so doing it too tight will never be a problem for me :)
 
MrsMozart said:
I learnt long ago how to bandage everything properly, but it's been too long and I can't quite remember, so I no longer bandage. I feel it's a pity as it was something I was good at, but I don't want to risk harming a horse.
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I also learnt long ago :) but have continued to use them (like Kerilli, have store of good old fashioned ones).
However, will never - not for love nor money - allow anyone else including vet to bandage mine - and I never use tail bandages except for demo when instructing (if I 'have' to)
 
FCs tail was trashed on the way to hungary- the transporters put on a tail bandage that they wern't suppose to and it blistered all over and he lost qutie a bit of tail and is scarred. 2 Of dads also had the same thing on the way to denmark :( I doubt they were awfully tight when they went on- but with them being on all day in the heat they tightened in the wrong places.
 
Should add that mine has never had his on longer than about 2-3 hours - so a lot less than the journeys some of you mention :)
 
oh wow Ive been not reading this up till now as I thought it was just going to be about matchy matchy!

I still use bandages, but I never do them tight, I certainly wouldnt ever let anyone else bandage for me after this :(
 
I always thought I was clued up at bandaging, having grown up putting on exercise bandages as a wee kid before we even owned such a thing as a brushing boot..... but then worked on a stressage yard for some time and the first day I was there I was told "you bandage like a pony club kid" and very quickly learnt how to bandage to perfection -I'm totally OCD about it now and cringe when I see polo/fleece bandages not put on evenly (every layer visible the same size), or the velcro not finishing at the top outside, or no "v" shape at the front of the fetlock. Told you, I'm a bit obsessive compulsive!!


RE tail banadges I have some very old (20 year plus!) cotton bandages that have no stretch, and that is all I will put in a tail - I can't find anything half as good these days though, what is marketed as tail bandages is just scary - and I've even seen someone use vetwrap on their horse tail "because it doesnt slip down"??
 
When I was at college the YM had an argument with the person showing us how to bandage as the YM wanted to put it that tight that she had to bend the tail with quite some force to stop it sticking straight out :(. She was pulling it very tight with every wrap and insisted that if it was any looser it would fall off.
 
ETA your comment just reminded me, the other thing that I was always taught is to bandage past the end of the dock - otherwise the effect can be that of putting a plaster around the top of your finger - even without being on 'tight' it still gives you a funny feeling in the tip of your finger and could do the same to the dock. . When I was doing some NVQ assessing, I had a stand up row with the IV who was adamant you must always end an inch before the end of the dock, and just as you commented bandaged so firmly she had to "bend" the tail back to wards the horse and it stayed fixed like that - and refused to sign off my students unless they did it her way :-(
 
I treated myself to an Acavallo Gel tail bandage, and can honestly say it's the best thing I've ever used. You can see if you're doing it up too tight because the holes in it distort, it doesn't slip down, it is antibacterial so always smells nice, and it can just be hosed off or dunked in some water after use. I love it. My only criticism would be that it could be a bit longer, and I can't bandage all the way to the dock if I am overlapping, but for keeping the top of the tail tidy before a competition it's ace. If horse isn't a good traveler, I will put a tail guard on top.
 
Dotilas said:
I treated myself to an Acavallo Gel tail bandage, and can honestly say it's the best thing I've ever used. You can see if you're doing it up too tight because the holes in it distort, it doesn't slip down, it is antibacterial so always smells nice, and it can just be hosed off or dunked in some water after use. I love it. My only criticism would be that it could be a bit longer, and I can't bandage all the way to the dock if I am overlapping, but for keeping the top of the tail tidy before a competition it's ace. If horse isn't a good traveler, I will put a tail guard on top.
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I liked the Acavello bandage, but I found that 1) it was too short and 2) it rubbed the inside top of the dock. Now I am not sure whether this could have been an allergic reaction - there was no swelling, just soreness, and it wasn't too tight, as the holes weren't stretched. Maybe it was this one horse that I used it on as the other three were fine, and I bandaged all of them. It caused there to be white lines where the rub scared over and fell off, on the insider of the tail. I only use a Velcro tail guard on this horse now.
 
I won't put a tail bandage or anything on my lads tail again.

A few years ago, one hot sunny day, I bathed him, washed his tail, and bandaged it. The bandage was only on a hour or so. Took it off and thought no more of it. Over the next few days I kept finding chunks of tail in the field. Even as I was riding it was falling out. Called vet out who said with the heat etc had aggrevated his dock and she wasn't sure if it was lasting damage or not. The whole of his tail came out, luckily a bit remained on his dock so I was able to use a false tail. It took a good 18 months to return to normal. Never again will he have a bandage on!!
 
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