Show Horse

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!

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

Do you ever look at your horses and think “you could have been so much more, if you weren’t just stuck with me?” Do you ever compare where you and your horses are to where other people and their horses are and think “we aren’t doing enough” and get a little upset at that?

So many times I flip through magazines and I see all these people and horses in tip top shape doing all these big things and I get a little down. I lose motivation and I lose some faith at times. I look at my knowledge and skill level for training, I look at the talent and natural ability of my horses and I think, they could have really gone to the top. I look at them in awe of their natural abilities, in awe of their tolerance and forgiveness for me, and I wonder what they could have done under a compassionate, more skilled teacher. I look at other horses that maybe aren’t as naturally talented working and showing under very talented trainers and doing big things and I think “that could have been my horses” if it weren’t for me. If only I had more money to pay someone to help them, to help me. If only I had more skill, more talent, more, more, more. It is so easy to feel guilty in the horse world, to feel like you’re not enough, you don’t have enough, aren’t doing enough. It’s so easy to downplay your accomplishments because you are too busy judging them against others.

But, isn’t that part of the problem with the horse world anyway? Isn’t this supposed to be FUN? Sometimes I have to force myself to take a step back. Maybe even a lot of steps back and look at my horses; Horses no one wanted because they were labeled “problematic” among other things, due to being under the direction of people who didn’t believe in them, pushed them too hard, had expectations beyond the horses skills, didn’t have enough time for them due to other responsibilities, etc. I have to look, I mean really look at how far they’ve come with only an amateur to teach them. I have to look at myself, where I started to where I am now and the skills I didn’t have in the beginning that I have learned over the years. When I really look at all I have learned since I began my AOT journey, not only out of necessity but also out of sheer determination, then I can see my horses have overcome so many hurdles and proved so many things people have said about them wrong. I have done the same myself. These horses have excelled because I have not given up on them when others did. I have made it a point to learn from anyone I can, find answers any way I can, and I have kept that “try, try again” attitude through setbacks, through failures, through all the highs and lows that come with working with horses. I have to meet them where they are, praise them as they stand, and be proud of how much we have done with so little.

At the end of the day, the horses don’t care. They are happy to stand in a field and eat grass and hay and they are happy to be loved and fed and cared for. THey could care less if we go to a horse show. They could care less what anyone thinks. They are happy to have someone kind to help them learn skills they didn’t even know they needed. They are truly and honestly GOOD boys who try so hard. So what if they could have done more? Others with more skills than myself could have done more for them, but they didn’t. They could have ended up in bad situations but instead, they landed with me: The determined amateur. And I won’t stand for ANYONE to talk poorly of my good boys, even if we accomplish absolutely NOTHING. So, why would I stand for myself looking poorly upon our accomplishments? I need to learn to use that at motivation as we ramp up into show season. There’s always things to learn and always fun to be had.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Learn to be happy as you are, and if you want more, go WORK FOR IT!

Trail Ride Numero Dos

I read somewhere that show horses take to the trails like ducks to water, and I can honestly say that I believe that more than ever now. We went on another great trail ride, this time at Taylorsville Lake State Park, with Mary Jo and her terrific seasoned trail horses Romeo and Cruiser. I got to ride Cruiser, so that Cindy could take Fiz out on a real trail since she wasn’t able to go last time we went. We had tougher trails including some rocky inclined paths, narrow paths, and trails by the road. Our boy was a champ, and just went on like it was no big deal. Our American Saddlebred is a perfect example of the versatility and willingness of this breed. So before I go on running my mouth about how incredibly proud I am of our horse and the fact that he is simply amazing, I’ll just put some pictures from our ride down here and call it a day.