The tail wrap

You would think that after owning a Friesian for 17 years, I would be well-versed in top-notch grooming techniques.  But you would be wrong.  It's not that I didn't groom Nimo, but I admit that I mostly stuck to the basics - curry combing, mud brushing, rinsing dirt and sweat with water, and the very occasional intensive bathing endeavor (because giving a full bath to a large horse with a lot of hair is an event that lasts many hours and brought neither of us joy).  

Benign neglect was probably the technique I used most with his overflowing mane and tail.  And it worked just fine.  Nimo didn't have the crazy really long, really thick mane that some Friesians do, but that was OK because that kind of mane would not have been practical for our frequent riding out on the trails or for my limited time.  And his tail sort of took care of itself, although I think I did purchase a tail wrap for him a long time ago.  I used it once before I realized that it was just going to spend all of its time being muddy and create another laundry item for me.  No thank you.

However, Donut is a whole other horse.  She has a mane that is already unbelievably long for her age.  Thankfully, it isn't very thick, so keeping it detangled is not a full-time job, but I do give it far more attention than I ever had to give to Nimo's mane.  Her tail is also growing pretty well on its own.  But for whatever reason, it is always so coated in filth that the hairs could literally walk on their own.  Normally, I'm happy to let horses be horses, but the tail situation was reaching critical levels as each day over the last several months has brought more mud.  I don't think the ground has been dry since maybe October.  That isn't unusual for this area - a better name for winter might actually be Mud Season.  As an example of how winters work here, we got five inches of snow one morning a couple of weeks ago, and it was all melted by evening.  And then it rained and sleeted and snowed and rained and rained and rained some more.  And somehow, Donut had coated her tail with every bit of mud she could find and created layer upon layer of stiff mud.

As luck would have it, I purchased another tail wrap a couple of months ago.  I happened across it during my periodic browsing of the horse tack websites I like.  (I consider it my responsibility as a good horse owner to be aware of the current offerings for horse tack and supplies.  After all, who knows when I might need something?)  As I was browsing, I happened across a tail wrap that spoke to me.  Despite having almost no experience with tail wraps, I have an impressively strong preference for the wraps over the bags.  The wraps have three tubes for inserting the hair and then braiding it while the bags are one tube that goes over the tail after it has been braided.  I feel like the wrap has a greater likelihood of staying on, but I have zero proof, anecdotal or otherwise to justify that belief.

I also have a strong preference for color, and the tail wrap that I bought for Nimo oh so many years ago was, of course, black (which really does hide the dirt a lot better!), and even more importantly, had gone missing.  I'm pretty sure that someday I will find it wadded up at the bottom of a container in a state of untold microbial growth.

The thought crossed my mind that maybe Donut's tail was a good candidate for a tail wrap, and when I saw a tail wrap with bright purple and unicorns, I couldn't resist.  (I would give the link, but alas, it does not appear to be available any longer.  Here is a similar wrap, although the listing calls it a bag: Professional's Choice Lycra Tail Bag.)

The wrap sat first in my house for weeks and then in my truck for weeks.  I kept looking for a good day to dedicate to washing Donut's tail, and either the weather or my schedule prevented me from achieving that particular goal.  Finally, we had a gorgeous 70-degree day, and I took advantage of the beautiful day to wash her tail.  I used the same technique I had used in the fall, which she seemed to tolerate well.  I carried five gallon buckets about 3/4 full of water in to the stall and dunked and soaked her tail until the water looked less dirty (about 6 buckets later).  Then I sprayed her tail with Shapley's Easy-Out No Rinse Shampoo, let it sit for a few minutes, and then dunked her tail in bucket after bucket until the water was relatively clear.

My daughter took pity on me when I was nearing the end of my process with the tail.  Because Donut's tail wasn't the only gross thing about her that day.  She had coated her whole body in mud, which is something that she actually doesn't do very often.  I think the warm sunny day inspired her to roll around and probably take some extended naps.  I had been focused on the tail, and neglected grooming the rest of her.  Gemma thought that was horrible, so after she had groomed and worked with Star, she set about currying Donut.

This is Donut after Gemma had already been scraping mud off of her for quite a while.

While Gemma was brushing Donut, I detangled her tail enough so that I could braid it, and inserted it into the tubes of the tail wrap.  The tail wrap was easy to use and Donut didn't mind the process or the wrap at all.  And when I was done, Donut had one bright, shining clean spot on her body:)

Behold, the beauteous tail wrap!

Other boarders jokingly speculated about how long the tail wrap would stay on, and most people thought it wouldn't make it past the next morning.  I was inclined to agree with them - I've seen Donut run around the field, and not much could stay on her through all that.

When I arrived at the barn the next day, I wasn't sure what I would find.  But there she was, standing in the field, completely covered in mud, but with her tail wrap perfectly in place.  It was kind of nice to have one less thing to be horrified about, and I was able to dedicate myself to extracting as much of the caked on mud from her body as I could.

What impressed me the most was how she coated her eyelashes in mud!

Over the next few days, the tail wrap stayed on, although it gradually got more and more filthy until the bright purple and unicorns had all but disappeared behind a wall of dirt.  I did end up taking it off yesterday, less than a week after I put it on, because I could see that it was slipping, and I didn't think it would be too much longer before it unraveled.  In hindsight, I think I could have rebraided the tubes and it would have been OK, but we've been getting so much rain and there was more in the forecast, so I thought it might be good to take it off until the dry spell that local meteorologists swear we are going to get starting tomorrow.  Which would be a good thing, because at this point, the ground is so saturated, I think we probably have enough moisture to get through August.

We are also supposed to have nice, seasonal temperatures in the 50s and maybe even the 60s, so I'm thinking I can dedicate another day to washing her tail this week and put the wrap back on...assuming it survives the washing machine.  Because it is really gross.

Oh, little unicorns, I can still vaguely see you!

The good news is that the tail wrap did seem to do a good job of keeping the tail clean.  I was impressed that Donut looked like she had a normal tail for the first time in forever.

You can see all the mud on her lower legs and yes, the mud in her field is quite literally at least 8 inches deep in most places.  It's an equestrian's horror story out there.

So my conclusion from all this is that I think I will try to incorporate the use of a tail wrap at least some of the time until fly season starts (which will probably be in about 4 - 6 weeks...gaaaa!!!!).  Because I'm not riding, I think I have some extra mental energy to devote to grooming, and Donut seems to need a little more maintenance that Nimo did.  Which is fine.  Every horse has their own stuff, right?  At least she is much smaller, which makes the maintenance a little easier.  (Although I still see a huge difference in the height of her butt and the height of her withers, so at some point, she is probably going to grow a few inches...)

I'd love to hear about your experiences with tail wraps or anything else grooming related.  Do you have a go-to technique or product that really works for your horse?