Horse Tail Care

Tail Boot: A Review

Pretty tails… the bane of my existence. I love a long, thick, beautiful tail. However, I have struggled to grow one with the horses I have!! Fizz has finally started to grow a longer tail since I brought him home in 2022, but a lot of it grows WHITE. And, well…it doesn’t stay that way. No one likes a pee and dirt stained tail-send help. Duke’s tail grows like crazy, but he so angrily swats at flies he has ripped a lot of it out having it put up. The nice long part is so thin I want to cry every time I take it down and more hair falls out.

I have used many different style tail bags and even sewed my own and NONE of them have been great. The 3 strand ones, the lycra ones, biomane ones, generic canvas ones, I’ve put them up using a sock, using panty hose, using vet wrap, I’ve tried so many things. Props to you if you can get any of the aforementioned things to work really well, because I simply cannot seem to figure it out.

Being about at my wits end, I ordered the “Tail Boot” because why not, I’ve tried everything else!!

They arrived in short order and I set off washing tails. Let me just say, I might be a little slow because I had to watch the tail boot video a few times before I figured out the real life application of these things. It wasn’t (for me) a “plug and play” deal BUT, they’ve been on for several weeks now and I have had ZERO issues. No broken hair. The boots have not fallen off. No ripping, tearing, etc AND they have “swishers” so Duke can angry swat at every real and imaginary fly in existence.

The construction is really nice. The outer layer is neoprene with velcro to secure it. They swishers are made out of what appears to be baling twine. They are replaceable (you can purchase different colors from the tail boot website) or honestly, I figured if these got damaged I could just make about 12,000 new ones from all that hay string I hoard because I am so unhinged I think I may need it for something one day. There is an inner pouch attachment that holds the braided hair to help secure the boot onto the tail. They come in different standard sizes or they have an option to buy custom sizes, which would be nice for someone who has a horse with a really long, super thick tail or something that may not fit into a standard size category.

I ordered one size small (for Fizz’s shorter, not super thick tail) and one size medium (for Duke’s super long but pretty thin tail). Below you can see the difference in sizing. I almost needed to size Fizz’s up to the medium, but the small works for now. The medium was perfect for Duke, and has some room to spare if I am able to get his tail thicker.

The hardest part for me was figuring out how to get the tail in the little pouch inside the neoprene outer layer. Again, I might be a little slow. Despite any struggles I had with application, this is the feature I actually loved the most about these! It wraps over the braid to give the tail an extra layer of protection and helps secure the boot to the tail. It really is a very well thought out design.

The natural tail (no boot) to how the boot looks once I applied it.

On the tail boot video, it shows braiding up the hair without leaving any feathers out. This goes against everything I’ve ever been taught about braiding tails and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I only braided and put up the “bottom” part of the tail, the same way I’ve been doing since I was a little kid in 4-H. I’m not saying the other way doesn’t work, I’m just saying I am a creature of habit and leaving feathers out of a tail braid is one of the things I’m not capable of changing as a 40-something year old human.

Overall, big thumbs up to these tail boots! I really really like the design, they have (so far) held up really well, and they’ve kept the boys tails dry and clean even when I’ve been having to hose them down a lot due to the KY summer heat we’ve been experiencing lately. A word of advice though, try to steer clear of the swishers; I did not personally like being smacked across the face with a wad of hay string. But whatever, you do you!

Mane-ly Long – A Product Review

I will start this like most of my reviews.  I am not in any way affiliated with or compensated by this company (or any other companies I review) for saying the things I say. 

I follow a group on Facebook that pertains to grooming horses, show prep, coat, mane, and tail maintenance, etc.  There are a lot of folks on there with feathered breeds, who have long, thick manes and tails and I have seen them recommend this product many times.  I’ve seen their before and after photos.  And for a while wondered, “how could this product help my boys?” 

Fizz struggles with growing his tail.  I have owned him for over 10 years and his tail has barely gotten longer than it was when he was 4.  And he hopelessly rubs it, so his tail “feathers” are just… Sad.  I made my first order directly from the Mane-ly long website on Sept 4.  It came pretty quickly.  I only ordered small versions of their shampoo, conditioner, and polisher/detangler to get me started and try it out.  The stuff is pretty expensive after all, and I wasn’t sure how well I would like it or if it would work any better than anything else I’ve ever tried.

Day 1: Here is what Fizz’s tail looked like.  sorry I don’t have better photos, I didn’t really think I’d be writing a review.

I have since washed, conditioned, and detangled it twice.  Every few days, I rub in the “shock” treatment, which is a half and half mix of the conditioner and detangler/polisher. 

After using this product for the last 2-ish months, here is what his tail looked like on 10/20/23.  I have done nothing different aside from using Mane-ly long products in it.  It appears longer and thicker, and while he does still rub it here and there, he is not viciously rubbing it at every opportunity he gets.  I assume this is because the conditioner keeps it from being dry, so it’s less itchy? When he does rub it, the hairs don’t seem to break off nearly as bad. They ARE growing. Slowly but surely. And I consider that a win.

Over the summer (and I don’t have photos of this unfortunately) the top of his tailbone was almost rubbed raw he was rubbing so bad. The feathers on the tops and sides of his tail looked like I had shaved them. I wish I had taken photos of that!

I’m also using the products on Duke, who has a long, thick, pretty nice tail. I braid and bag Dukes tail, but he swats at flies and wrings his tail like he’s a dang helicopter about to take off. I was struggling to keep it unmatted at the top portion between the tail bone and where the braid starts. I spent so much time picking through it with other sticky detanglers with not a lot of success. The manely detangler is not super sticky, it seems to soak into the hair, and it works. I use the “shock” about every 3-4 days (about a quarter size drop, a little goes a long way) and so far, it’s kept it unmatted!

I’ll continue to take and post photos of the progress and post them here when I can, but so far, I am pretty impressed with these products. Expensive, yes. But they are working for us. And a bonus, his tail always smells really nice.

Tail Rubbing-A Lifelong Battle

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but ever since day 1, Fizz has been a “tail rubber”. It is literally the WORST. He will rub his behind on just about anything he can find if left alone and naked with something to rub against. He’s 15 this year and I’m pretty sure after 10 years of doing this (probably longer), he isn’t going to stop now.

He’s been in just about every living situation one could think of since we got him in 2013: Full turnout, part turnout, full time stalled, in full professional training, part time training, etc. He’s been fed a variety of different feeds, been evaluated by several different veterinarians, all the things have been cleaned, he’s had just about every potion known to man slathered all over his tail. It’s been put up, it’s been let down, it’s been conditioned to kingdom come and back again. NOTHING stops the rubbing. I feel like it’s just a habit of his that started for one reason or another and now he just likes the way it feels to scratch his behind.

People suggest:

  • De-Worming (pinworms are common cause of tail rubbing)
  • Sheath/udder cleaning
  • Check for sweet itch
  • Check/Tests for Allergies
  • Condition Dry Skin
  • Consider a “no grain/anti-inflammatory” feed
  • Feed ground flax as a supplement
  • Apply Listerine/Baby Oil 50/50 mix
  • Use MTG (Sorry, I can’t get past the smell-I tried, really, I did)
  • Use coconut oil

While the above (or something else I haven’t heard of yet) may have worked for some, it did not work for us. It’s always been bad, but by November of this year I had enough. There wasn’t even enough left at the top for me to start a braid so that was just not going to work. I also suspect Duke was munching on his tail too, making it even worse. They have a wall with open bars in between their stalls, and I watched Fizz put his butt up to the bars and Duke bite at his tail one day! That was the last straw.

My solution: Just keep it covered, and keep it clean and conditioned as best I can. He lives in a turnout sheet or blanket with a tail flap (depending on the outside temp) since it’s winter and colder here right now so when he does rub, it just goes on the smooth lining and doesn’t mess with the actual tail since the surface is slick. He will live in a fly sheet/scrim sheet in his stall in the summer if he keeps up the rubbing!

Here is the process I follow, aside from keeping his sheet/blanket on him.

  1. Wash 1x per month with an antibacterial/antifungal shampoo (you know, just incase-even if there isn’t the kind of funk you’d usually attack with this type of shampoo). I use EQyss Medicated shampoo that I got at Tractor Supply, our local farm store but you can find it on the internet also.
  2. Condition ( I like Biomane’s conditioner-it smells so good! Or Cowboy Magic’s Rosewater conditioner)
  3. THOROUGHLY dry. You do not want your tail to rot. It will rot if you put it up the least bit damp, then all your work and effort will have been for nothing. I use a blow dryer, but he careful to desensitize your horse to this and make sure they aren’t going to run off, kick you, break everything in the general vicinity, etc.
  4. Do NOT rake through it with a brush. Hand pick out all the knots, use a wide tooth comb but be careful not to rip on the tail or you’ll be losing valuable tail hairs. Every little one matters especially when the tail is as sad as Fizz’s tail.
  5. Braid/put up into a tail wrap or tail bag. I use a Sleazy Sleepwear 3 tube tail bag. He doesn’t have a long tail, so it’s sort of tricky but it still works well, even if it works better on Duke’s nice long thick tail. Lots of people use vet wrap and/or a sock but I don’t prefer this method. If you’re interested in that though, HERE is a great resource with some more tips on “show horse” tails.
  6. Keep dock/tail bone conditioned/oiled. I use a variation of THIS concoction by the Savvy Horsewoman (who has a TON of really handy DIY recipes and ideas) and apply it 3-4 times a week. I just keep an eye on his tail bone and put more on if/when it starts looking crusty again. So far, it’s working pretty well and it smells great if you add the essential oils!
  7. Repeat once monthly. Fair warning, this is not fun in the winter. You’ll have to use a bucket heater, if you don’t have hot water in your barn. You’ll have to try and wait for a “nice” winter day where temps are not freezing. If you go over or under on the month mark, don’t fret. Just take the tail down and inspect it, and re-wrap/re-braid regularly to make sure everything is still good.

This photo was taken somewhere around Summer 2022. Sorry for the crap quality, but you get the point. You can see all the super short hair up by the dock, and the rest of the disheveled hairs all down the top of the tail bone.

This one is from January 2023 (a few days ago) after using the above method. You can see the tail braid bag, down in the lower left corner of this photo. This is still not the “ideal” tail, but it’s MUCH better than it was.

I will have to keep revisiting this page when I have more updates to his tail “progress”. I don’t think we will ever have that long beautiful dream tail, but at least we can keep it from looking like a brillo pad.