Dyeing horse's tail

Here's a photo from the show I was in yesterday with my 2 friends...notice the bay in the middle and her lovely BLACK tail...now notice my buckskin in the foreground with her brownish orangey sunbleached all to HECK tail! Underneath that top layer is her lovely JET BLACK tail...



Now I have dyed it before with regular hair dye but that's a bit of a pain what with the rest of her being light colored so if a fly so much as lands on her and she flicks her tail OHHHHHH boy black dyed streak on her side! I can only wrap/hold her tail so much and it always seems to work free somehow!

Anyway someone mentioned Henna as an alternative because it's organic and will wash off more easily...but has anyone tried using black henna to dye a horse's mane or tail before? How did it work/was it worth it?

An idea to keep dye from getting on her is put an old blanket on her to cover her butt and sides

Henna takes longer to set than regular hair dye - hence it's easier to get off of where you don't want it, but you have to leave it on longer where you do want it. Kind of a catch-22. I would stick with the regular dye.

What do you wrap her tail with? What if you tried saran wrap or shrink wrap under a tail wrap? Surely that would keep it all in?

I need another set of hands! Usually the issue isn't after it's all in her tail and it's wrapped up with a plastic bag, it's as I am putting the dye in, holding her tail with 1 hand and squeezing the bottle with the other, when she seizes the opportunity to swat her tail at something LOL!

Coat everything you don't want dyed with conditioner! It creates a barrier and is a lot easier to wash off, then she can flick her tail. Create a pretty thick coat of conditioner on her, kind of a pain. Saves the hassle of washing dye off, lol.

Hmm id still say grab an old sheet/ blanket and cover her back but and sides tie or clip it to keep it on before you star and you should be ok :)

One time I actually used a plastic dropcloth like painters use LOL...but it was a royal pain to work with, kept sliding off her butt...the sheet idea would definitely be easier, but couldn't the dye just soak through the sheet onto her hair anyway? Or are you saying HORSE sheet, not like a regular bed sheet?

It could if you use a thin one but you could stick a thick towel or a thick blaket anything really dpesnt have to be a certain kind haha. I use a sheet filded twice on the floor when I dye my hair sonce my friend is messsy when she does it haha doesny soak through too much

Get a plastic flannel backed tablecloth and use it as a drop cloth on her. Then, thread her tail through an umbrella bag like you get at Walmart and dye it, using the bag to keep the tail contained. The flannel will keep the tablecloth from sticking so bad and the plastic will be waterproofing.
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Great idea!! Last night I went to Walmart, bought a box of "soft black" and just wrapped an old towel around her tail so that it covered her butt, and clipped it using a hair clip...well that worked for about 5 minutes, after which I was putting dye in with 1 hand and holding the towel which was falling off her butt with the other LOL...next time I will use your idea cakemom!!

Anyway I think it came out very well

It was nice how the orange sun burnt hair just turned into a deep red highlight, so it doesn't make her mane and forelock, which aren't burned as badly, look funny like a pure jet black tail would have! (and I do not bother with mane and forelock, too messy and too much movement to mess with those LOL!)