"Fake" Tails (tail extnetions)
 

Everyone in the horse show world knows about the controversial "fake tail". They add length, fullness, and grace. But they make people wonder what else is fake on your horse. I can say I love them because I show saddlebreds and it is all about beauty and tails get A TON of attention...hours in fact. The fake tail lets a horse have a longer tail and have it flow behind then hang well past what normal should be.

Anyways, are these pricy show assets worth it, or are they just another seemingly pointless come and go fads.

I like the finished look that it gives the horse. Now if I were to be judging a class based on skill, it wouldn't influence my placings. If I were judging a class that looks are part of the class, it would influence my placings.

I think the tails are worth it if it helps finish off the appearance.
Other than that, I don't see it being useful for anything.
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Personally, I like a full,thick tail. People also put weight in them to discourage high tail carriage...

Luckily a fasley is uneeded for me, Tess has a nice, long, thick tail so im Lucky :D

I agree full thick and long tails are stunning. With the saddlebreds I ride though weighting is a sin, high tail carriage is a major important factor

If they are high quality ones, they are beautiful and can be hard to tell if they are real or not. As far as what is legal in shows, I have no idea. But I have seen some in the western pleasure horses and they looked really good.

All things being pretty much equal in a class, you must have the advantage with appointment by having a properly attached, matched and correct tail extension. Improperly attached, dragging on the ground, wrong color/fullness is NOT a proper appointment, in fact it would count against you.

Many of the Saddlebreds I worked with needed no switches put in. Matter of fact, I think maybe 3 out of show string? But most didn't have to have them.

It's very important though to put it in properly as well as remove it promptly.

One of the Gaited Horses, he had 3 big braids in his tail, when he was up in set, and when it was let down? You could wrap it around his body, and around past the front again, almost to stifles.

I had to lay down a queen sized sheet behind him to pick it out, and could stand in alleyway at the shows too. He had a magnificent tail. He was a liver chestnut, so his tail had silver in it, and used White Mink on it, so the silver shone under the lights in the ring.

The longer the better is what I've learned, but also that with saddlebreds the five gaited horses are normally the ones with naturally full and long tails, three gaited ones are less so and pleasure horses normally use them. The longest I've seen is on a western pleasure horse and it dragged 6 feet on the ground naturally. Normally 1ft or so of dragging is what is desired. I am not quite sure what is needed with other disciplines though

also it sounds beautiful

my horse, a chestnut gelding, has one of the longest manes on an ASB I have ever seen and it is highlighted with flaxen with a few liver strands, and a few white ones. His tail is very full and is chestnut with flaxen and some liver and white. We do use a fake tail but a short one because his is about 5ft long naturally and is about 6in off the ground so we put in a medium thickness flaxen and chestnut one adding a foot and a half on.

Just like with people....