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I did what I thought I'd NEVER do...

21K views 153 replies 71 participants last post by  churumbeque 
#1 ·
I cut Mystique's tail :shock:



Here's how it looked when I first got her:
(I'm going to post links so you can zoom in on her tail)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3352654364_f08081c384_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3406/3336311940_782b1816e8_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3355649270_fb024b80d0_o.jpg


And with years of much more turnout, more brushing, and too-tight tail bags it turned into this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2614/3833144374_db74b5f1ca_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3658/3446930886_f11d345877_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/3218734427_a0c7cc6372_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/3112354808_206f8cf25f_o.jpg


You can see a definite change here between 3.5 and 4.5:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2652/4140239617_ef6bca8bf5_o.jpg





Basically, the bottom half thinned out and the top half stayed thick. So... I cut off the bottom half and I'm going to be super careful to make sure it grows out thick. It looks like it's going to be even thicker than it was when she was 3.

Here it is now:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4693992071_a920fa1d18_b.jpg

She looks so weird with a short tail, haha. It's been to her fetlocks since the first day I saw her.



I'm going to be putting MTG on it and updating weekly so I can have some B&A pictures. I'm going to do the same with my gelding, whose tail was chewed off by Mystique, haha. Here he is: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4694632106_ff0d4ecd88_b.jpg
 
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#5 ·
It is natural for a tail to thin toward the end. I think it looks better than an artificially thick tail that goes all the way to the ground.
 
#13 ·
It definitally looks different, but she is pretty enough that she pulls it off!
And I kinda like your gelding with the mohawk and the short tail!
I don't think I could do it to my horses, but your horses look like babies, and makes them look cute! hehe
 
#15 ·
i honestly couldnt tell a difference between the old and new till she cut the tail off. except that sometimes it was a little wavier then other times. i let mine grown and never do anythign to them. always nice and thick and a bit whispy at the end. natural breakage. i only trim the ends of mine off to mid-cannon beggining of winter, to keep mud balls down. by the end of spring its back down to their ankles.
 
#25 ·
LOL, your gelding looks like a trojan horse. I would totally keep him that way! Adorable. I couldn't tell a lot of difference in your mare's tail, but it's YOUR mare. If you want to try to thicken her tail, power to ya! :) I've given up on all mine.
Look, CloudsMystique did what she wanted with her horses tails and she didn't exactly ask for opinions. People cut their horse's tails all the time. Maybe it will work and maybe it won't, but if it doesn't work she will learn from her mistakes. I honestly don't see any problem with it. This is how people find out if things actually work instead of just sitting there saying yes it will or no it won't without even trying.
Thanks guys :D


i personally like the longer tails, but she's still gorgeous =)
Thanks! See guys - this is exactly how you give constructive criticism. It's not that hard. Disliking something doesn't give you the right to be rude.


I just chopped off a bunch of Soda's tail too, not as short as yours but still significantly shorter than usual. He kept stepping on it and pulling it out and it grows so fast, so I just decided to cut it up to mid-cannon level.

I think she looks very cute, she really is a beautiful horse. Good luck with your expirement!
Thanks : ]
 
#21 ·
LOL, your gelding looks like a trojan horse. I would totally keep him that way! Adorable. I couldn't tell a lot of difference in your mare's tail, but it's YOUR mare. If you want to try to thicken her tail, power to ya! :) I've given up on all mine.
 
#22 ·
Look, CloudsMystique did what she wanted with her horses tails and she didn't exactly ask for opinions. People cut their horse's tails all the time. Maybe it will work and maybe it won't, but if it doesn't work she will learn from her mistakes. I honestly don't see any problem with it. This is how people find out if things actually work instead of just sitting there saying yes it will or no it won't without even trying.
 
#29 ·
WELL SAID!

I personally like an average/long tail. Her tail isn't bad at all. If she cut it that short and it was whimpy and thin then that would be a dumb idea IMO. She is wanting to experiement and see what happens so stop bashing her about her horse's tail. If she cut your horse's tail then you can yell at her or whatever but Mystique is her horse,her property.
 
#24 ·
I just chopped off a bunch of Soda's tail too, not as short as yours but still significantly shorter than usual. He kept stepping on it and pulling it out and it grows so fast, so I just decided to cut it up to mid-cannon level.

I think she looks very cute, she really is a beautiful horse. Good luck with your expirement!
 
#26 ·
I wish my TB had a thick tail like Mystique's, her tail is gorgeous no matter. good luck getting it longer and thicker. Are you going to use anything to help get it the way you want? I wanna see B&A to.
 
#27 ·
Haha. I can't believe your being bashed for cutting your horses tail. o_O

Best of luck getting to it to grow back nicely. I've been waiting about three years for Ricci's black tail hair to grow back [she ripped it off the dock=|], and it's STILL shorter than Mystique's now, lol.

It will be nice to see B&A pictures. Maybe it'll give me motivation to actually keep on Ricci's tail with MTG, lol.

Either way, Mystique is beautiful. She's one of those horses that you couldn't make ugly no matter what you do. =] And I personally think your other horse looks fantastic with the short tail. =P
 
#31 ·
Thanks for all the replies :D





I haven't tried one. I've used regular tail bags, but if I tied them too loosely they'd fall out and if I tied them too tightly they'd cut off her circulation and cause hair loss. I was thinking about trying this one: Kensington Tail Cover from SmartPak Equine

I like that it's breathable and I like the velcro (it won't cut off circulation, but I'm hoping it will stay in). I also like the little fly swatter.


I wish my TB had a thick tail like Mystique's, her tail is gorgeous no matter. good luck getting it longer and thicker. Are you going to use anything to help get it the way you want? I wanna see B&A to.
Thanks! I'm going to put MTG on it and see how that goes : ]
 
#30 ·
People are funny. I did this with my OWN hair after thinning and breakage. I've taken much better care of it over the past year (including braiding it every night before bed) and it's so, thick, shiny, and healthy now. Sometimes it's necessary to cut off the damaged hair in order to grow it back right. It works :)
 
#34 ·
Oh I never thought of that. We have dumb barbwire...I'm hoping we can fix the fences and get hot wire. My horse is destructive and maybe a tail bag would be a good thing. They aren't horribly expensive and you can even make your own! I might do that. It would be fun to have holiday tail bags =P
 
#36 ·
hahaah, not good! My horse doesn't have a thick tail...kinda whimpy on the bottom but I just brush it and spray it with conditioner. Her mane is looking good now...She has waves so when I brush it it turns into a fro.

I am going to see about getting some material and making some and see what you guys think.
 
#51 ·
First of all... I just looked at the picture I posted of her tail now and it's actually not that short. I'm guessing it looks shorter because a) she was in the process of swishing it, and b) she was grazing with her head down which raises her tail. It's actually just to her hocks, and I'll post a better picture of it later.




I don't like short tails either... I'm growing it out, haha, not keeping it that way. Yeah - I was pretty annoyed with her after she chewed his tail off. It's grown out some now, but when she chewed it off it was RIGHT to the bone.


Of course I like long tails, but this is temporary - hair grows back :)
I think they look cute and your gelding looks like a baby!

I hope they grow back out nice and thick!
Thanks :D


Lovely horse and nice thick tail... but why so short???? :S If you wanted it to look like 'all the pretty show horses' you cut it below the hocks... not above :/ Tails takes YEARS to grow, far slower than manes.... scissor happy?
Wow, condescending much? Where exactly did I say I wanted her tail to look like "all the pretty show horses"? I wanted it to look how her tail used to look. But thanks for making me sound like a backyard rider who tried to follow show trends and screwed up. I know how to bang a tail - that's just not what I was doing here.

If you read my posts, you'll see that I explained exactly why I cut it that short - because that's where it was as thick as I wanted it. Her tail grows fast - about 6 inches a year with no care and no MTG. That means in one year it'll be AT LEAST halfway down her cannon bone, and in another year it'll be AT LEAST to her fetlocks. That's without factoring in the braiding and the MTG.

I'm really failing to see why this is such a big deal. It's like you people have never heard of trimming a tail. Yes, I cut it shorter than most people, but why is that such a problem, especially with a horse that grows a tail faster than most horses?


^ She explained in the first post she cut it short to allow it to grow back out healthy and thick like it used to be.

I don't know why so many are getting their knickers in a knot - it is quite a common practice and causes no harm, except for a slightly funny looking tail for a while!

I would do it to Latte if I thought it would help but her tail is pathetic at the top as well, lol.
Haha, thank you!


I have never seen it before except on draft horses so not sure that it is a quite common practice.
You're not actually comparing me trimming my horse's tail to her hocks to someone docking a draft horses tail, are you?

I guess you are.

Since you obviously have no clue what docking is, why don't you read this article? Tail Docking in Heavy Horses

Here's a picture: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/PDA_Diane/Melting.jpg

And no, not all draft horses with short tails have been docked. Some of them have just been bobbed, which is when the tail is cut to the bone. But even then, the tail isn't even level with the stifle.

There's really no comparison here.






Really guys, this is ridiculous. A lot of people pull their horses' manes, right? I think it's ugly and would never do it to my mare. But do I go to any of the many threads people have started about pulling their horses' manes and tell them it's ugly and give them grief about how their poor horse now has less protection from flies? Nope. I sure don't.
 
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