What can it signify if a horse holds its tail to one side?

[arizonahoney]

Question in title!

 

[Luci07]

More info needed.... soundness, general health etc etc

 

[arizonahoney]

Horse in question seems very genuine, but right hind leg seems to move a little out of sync with its other legs - plaiting a little?

I took some vids of it and friends pointed out that its tail was held to one side - and that this could be indicative of a problem further up the leg - for example, with the hip. The seller tells me that the horse has not been worked much for a while and the stiffness goes away with work.

Thoughts, opinions, experiences?

 

[BigRed]

It is a simple answer really, if the vendor admits it is stiff and the stiff works off. Walk away and buy something else that doesn't have this problem.

 

[posie_honey]

usually seen as a sign of a problem with the horse - mine had it when she came to me from back problems - she also has a 'stiff' leg but now she's fully fit and happy thruogh her back you can hardly notice it
her back is now fine and she has maintainence massages - saddles are checked regularily and fit perfectly - she still holds her tail squint - but she's older so i do think that its partly habit now
tbh- my mare was cheap - and would not have passed a vet - but i took the risk on her and it paid off - i'd not advise anyone else to do that though!

 

[Ranyhyn]

I thought it signified hip or back problems. My old hack Murphy had this and he had big issues in his hip/stifle area which meant he failed vetting and couldn't do work in circles etc but was fine for light hacking.

 

[Kenzo]

8 times of out of 10 it means the horse will have a soundness issue, although at times you you'll see some top competition horses that often move with the tail to one side, I can't imagine that every single one of those horses has a problem.

However in this case, it's down right obivous, both with the tail, the stiffness and the way the horse is moving.

Could be something quite bad or something less serious and simple to treat, just that it hasn't been identifed or been treated correctly.

Plenty of sound horses out there for sale, no point buying problems.

 

[Tr0uble]

My horse holds his tail to one side and shows slight stiffness, in his case it is a mild symptom of something much worse.

He has been diagnosed with RER (Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis) - Tying up.

I love my boy, but I woul nver knowingly have bought into this. My boy has a home for life with me, but it is utte hell at times.

 

[Flicker]

Depends on the degree to which the tail is held. From what you say, it is quite noticable and combined with the stiffness, I'd be inclined to look for something else.
My lad holds his tail very slightly to the right, always has, and flew through a 5* vetting, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

[corrie153]

we rescued a pony that held his tail very much to one side. For him it showed that he was unbalanced and stiff so we begain some ground exercises with him. We led him over raised poles and walked him over poles on circles. Along with this he had a lady come out and do t-touch with him but any type of massage would help. After about a month of this his tail came and remained straight.

For us it was balance and stiffness but maybe get vet to see if there is anything deeper down

 

[arizonahoney]

The tail is very slightly to one side - to be honest, I didn't notice it that much, it was when I asked friends to really nit-pick and critique the videos I took that they picked up on it.

Again, if I were to consider buying this horse, I would have him thoroughly vetted by my vet to try and get to the bottom of it.