I used to think that the trick to keeping my horse's tail long and beautiful was to brush it everyday. After all, I brush my hair everyday so why shouldn't I brush my horse's tail everyday? Because daily brushing doesn't benefit horses. It only works for humans.
A Weekly Regimen for a Long Beautiful Horse Tail
I once rode with a cutting trainer who specialized in breeding and training Appaloosas. If you're at all acquainted with Appaloosas, you realize that they're notorious for having short skimpy manes and tails. equine products
Nevertheless, this trainer was able to get her horses' manes and tails long and beautiful. She followed a straightforward weekly regimen that worked such as a charm. Once per week she:
Washed the horse's tail with a delicate conditioning shampoo that cleaned and detangled the tail hairs.
Brushed the horse's tail, first with a big brush and then with a wide-tooth comb.
Applied Shapley's MTG product liberally.
Braided the tail (if the horse's tail dragged the floor, she doubled up the conclusion of the tail and put the whole lot in a equine tail bag).
That's it -- a straightforward but effective regimen. I've since followed this regimen on my own horses and the results are pretty darn spectacular. What's neat is that you just follow these steps once a week. Brushing and messing with your horse's tail more regularly than that creates hair breakage, which shortens the length of the tail.
FYI: When applying the MTG be sure that you take off any silver rings or jewelry. The sulphur in MTG will stain your silver dark. You can polish the silver to replace the shine again, but why make more benefit yourself?
My Own Extra Step for Long Horse Tail bags
I've several horses who like to rub their tail heads on fence posts. I wormed them and ran fecal tests in it, and they weren't heavy on worms, so I figured it absolutely was a skin problem. The MTG is effective to keep the itching down, and I discovered that applying the MTG just to the the surface of the tail worked well to keep the butt-scratching to a minimum.
Later, when I started feeding a top quality mangosteen juice to the horses, I noticed that those two horses stopped rubbing their tails. Their tails also started to cultivate faster. When I researched the ingredients in the mangosteen juice and consulted an acupuncturist about this, I then found out that the ingredients in the juice support kidney health. From the Chinese Medicine point of view, the kidneys rule the pinnacle hair (in humans, that is). Translated for horse anatomy, healthy kidneys mean healthier manes and tails. The acupuncturist noticed that older dogs, for instance, who suffer from renal dysfunction, generally have thinning hair on the tails. Horses with kidney problems also provide poor tails and thin mane bags for horses. It's wise to me.
I'm always surprised when I bring a brand new horse home and start applying this weekly regimen. I've one mare who started out with a relatively short tail (it reached only so far as her hocks). After about 6 months on the program, her tail reached down past her ankles, nearly touching the ground. That's pretty fast progress, and I've seen it happen over and over again.
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