The tail is the one part you can ruin

Mane hair grows back. Tail hair does too, only so slowly that the mistake stays visible for years. A case for fingers and against the brush.

There is a simple experiment. Brush a tail out firmly every day for a week and put the loose hairs in a bowl. By Sunday you have a handful that bears no relation to what a tail replaces in a week. That is exactly why so many tails are thinner after two years of diligent care than they were before.

A tail is not combed. It is taken apart.

Your hand is the better tool

Hold the tail in one hand, a section in the other, and work upwards from the ends. Knots are opened, not pulled through. The first time this takes twenty minutes and after that five, because a tail sorted regularly never really mats.

If a comb is unavoidable, use a wide-toothed one, and only after a detangler that lets the hair glide. Fine brushes with densely set bristles are to a tail what a garden rake is to silk.

Washing and drying

• Dip the tail into a bucket of lukewarm water rather than hosing it. That lifts the dirt without swirling the hair.
• Shampoo the top half and the dock only; that is where the grease sits. The ends rarely need soap.
• Rinse until the water runs clear.
• Wring it out like a towel, then let the horse swish. Do not rub.

A damp tail attracts dust and mats when the horse rolls. If you can, wash it on a day when the horse can then stand dry or graze in the sun.

The dock

The interesting part is at the top. The dock has skin like anywhere else, except it rarely sees daylight and often sits under a tail guard. Scurf and crusts there are the most common reason a horse starts rubbing. Wash the top and rinse it thoroughly and you prevent most of the bald patches that take so long to grow back.

Bandaging, done properly

A tail guard makes sense for travelling and for wet weather, not for every day. Anything that pulls at the tail continuously or fits tightly restricts circulation and creates bald patches exactly where you meant to protect. A tail put up for a muddy morning is practical. A tail put up overnight is damage you asked for.

Length

A tail that drags on the ground gets trodden on and broken. In dressage it usually ends around the fetlock, in jumping a little shorter. Cut it with the horse standing and the tail lifted, because a horse carries its tail higher in movement than at rest. Cut to fetlock height at a standstill and you have a short tail in trot.