[FoxyRoxy1507]

when i got Swoop he had no tail really and it was thin, i started putting good quality conditioner in it and leaving it and it grew pretty quick and thick. His tail now with me doing nothing to it is pretty thick and i have to trim it every couple of months or he would be walking on it.

same thing w Petey, wish i could give you some of his its naturally really thick, long and wavy but very pretty

[Rhythmic Hooves]

Wow! Thanks for all the great suggestions! For now I think I will try just the oil and leaving it alone. If it doesn't start growing out then I'll go back and start really working on it.

What exactly is MTG and how do I know if my horse is allergic?

[Alliekk]

I found a tail bag made of tent material at a local tack store once. It was GREAT! Also, you don't want to wrap the strings AROUN the braid, the tail bag will come right off. You need to put the strings through the braid, in between the weave and tie it. Some pasture horses don't do well with the electrical tape idea, but its worth a shot. Also, as much as it would probably kill you to do, cut the bottom of his tail. Cutting off the dead tips promote growth. Have you ever noticed your hair grow quicker after you cut it? That's because all the dead stuff is cut off.

[medicinehat]

If it is too cold to wash your horse, the coconut oil will most likely be hard. You can warm it up in your hands, in your car, etc. But I find I use it a lot more in the summer, and it really made a difference.

[Quick2Skip01]

Everyone has given you great suggestions, however you don't HAVE to wash the tail all winter long.

I don't bother washing my boys tail in the winter. I keep it up, MTG it once a week, and only take the tail bag out when I have to. (I usually keep the tail bag, or wrap up for a couple weeks.) ONLY when I Have to take the tail bag out will I moisturize with coconut oil, or Healthy Hair Care Moisturizer.

Its a horrible pic and that is near the end of the day, so its not freshly combed through, but that is ALL of his tail. No fake tail in that pic

[nrhareiner]

No you do not HAVE to wash the tail all winter long. However it needs to be clean when you put it up. Once it is up and as long as it stays in a tail bag or a braid in trail wrap it will stay fairly clean. Just re do it ever so often. I re do my horses tails about once a week in the winter and about 2 times a week in the summer and put in MTG. Same with manes.

[Jess!]

I use MTG once a week, or every two weeks, depending on the mare. Vogue gets dandruff if I use MTG too often on her, so it's normally every two weeks.

Her tail is up in vet wrap because there is NO WAY I can do crochet/figure-8 knots on her tail without it being torn up because she is hard on everything. She's still a baby. I redo the vet wrap once a month, more in the summer because it gets ratty faster.

The MTG helps a lot, as does keeping it clean and up out of the way of bushes, sticks, etc.

I haven't used Coconut oil yet, but have heard great things

[tryintofly]

MTG wahoo I love this stuff put in on everyday for five days then once a week and feed lots of biotin it will grow out a tail to be pretty!!

[XxBreak LevelxX]

I am growing my horses tail out for Show Season 2010. I was using vet wrap to wrap the tail up, but when i went to re-do his tail last week, a lot of it feel out. i think what happened is that as vet wrap gets wet and dries it tightens up. I think it tightened up and broke some tail hair off. So now i am using a "tail bag" that i made. I took a sock and cut 5 strips into the top. I washed his tail with shampoo and conditioner and let it dry over it. Then i braided it from the dock down to to the tip and then i made a hole right under the dock adn looped it through about 3-4 times and i taped it about 3/4 of the way with black electrical tape. then i put the sock over that and tied the 5 strips through the hole the tail went through. Then i taped the sock 3/4 of the way down with black electrical tape. this is working well... but I will have to change it probably every 2 months.

[Jess!]

Originally Posted by XxBreak LevelxX

I am growing my horses tail out for Show Season 2010. I was using vet wrap to wrap the tail up, but when i went to re-do his tail last week, a lot of it feel out. i think what happened is that as vet wrap gets wet and dries it tightens up. I think it tightened up and broke some tail hair off. So now i am using a "tail bag" that i made. I took a sock and cut 5 strips into the top. I washed his tail with shampoo and conditioner and let it dry over it. Then i braided it from the dock down to to the tip and then i made a hole right under the dock adn looped it through about 3-4 times and i taped it about 3/4 of the way with black electrical tape. then i put the sock over that and tied the 5 strips through the hole the tail went through. Then i taped the sock 3/4 of the way down with black electrical tape. this is working well... but I will have to change it probably every 2 months.

The thing with any kind of tail wrapping, bagging etc is that all the hair is contained in one area. Meaning when you take it out, you're going to get ALL the shed hairs at once. A tail sheds naturally, but if the shedded hairs can't leave, it looks like a lot when you take the tail down.

I've never had problems with the vet wrap "shrinking" after getting wet, and I've used vet wrap for a long time. I just redid Vogue's tail, and had a lot of loose hair but they were hairs that were shed hairs anyways.