Short bits in tail - how to plait?

[*Sez*]

Salsa's tail is much finer and thinner than Jacob's, as I would expect. I try not to brush it too often, just sweep my body brush over it to take out the worst of the mud and grass. Usually, I tease out any serious knots with my fingers, but sometimes, a section of hairs will come away in my hand. At the top of his tail all of the hair is very short until about four or five inches down from his dock, then they become longer, which means it's impossible to plait his tail from the top. I'm not sure whether his tail is naturally like this ( :confused: ) and if there's a particular technique for plaiting short bits of tail for shows, or if the hair has broken and will need time to grow through. One of my "barn neighbours" said she leaves her horse's tail plaited nearly all the time, so that it doesn't get mucky enough to require brushing and encourages her to leave it alone long enough to grow through quicker. I always thought if you did this it would make the hairs brittle when they are unplaited?

If his tail will always be like this, will we get marked down at shows for not being plaited?

[cvb]

Sez

On one hand brushing a tail brushes the natural oils through it, but on the other hand it sresses and stretches the hair.

Plaiting it out of the way and reducing the brushing can hence reduce the stress...but you really need to condition it as well. We used to tail wrap ours (with the legs of tights, into a plaited up version) and then take them out once a week, condition, and rewrap. That was because of mud (which dries the hair).

I got the idea when I was in Michigan ages ago and the yard there did it for all their horses.

But wrapping it like this only works on the part below the dock - not the bit you want to plait ! Conditioning it will help it all grow. How long have you had the horse - if its recent it could be that his tail was pulled previously ? remember that the plait is like a french plait so if the hair will reach from the outside edge to the middle plus a little bit, it is long enough to plait ;)

[*Sez*]

I've only had him since October, so it's quite likely he was pulled before he came to me (his last owner seemed very proud of the job pulling his mane she had done just before I arrived and said I would be intending to let it grow :o ). Please could you describe how you tail wrap with tights?

[cvb]

You need a very strange person with 3 legs ;)

Seriously - collect old tights with not too many holes in them. I used to where the really thick black ones (and DMs) and they were ideal for thick cobby tails ;) Cut the tops off so you only have the legs.

Now - take your clean and conditioned tail and divide the part below the dock into 3 equal sections. Take each section and put it in a "leg" of tights. You may find you need to just knot the top slightly to keep it in place. Then from the top, plait all the way down. Once you get started you will find you can stretch the tight slightly as you go down so it will cover the full length of the tail plus a bit more....

Plait down all the way and continue plaiting for a little way past the end of the hair, and then tie a knot in the end.

You now have a fully wrapped/plaited tail. Take the knotted end and, folding the plaited part roughly in half, with the bottom part underneath, thread the end through the plait about 25% of the way up (or the remaining half). Then thread it back through to the back about 25% down from the top.

Then - if you have a reasonable length of free tight left after your knot, loop the free ends around the tail above the last point you threaded through, but still below the dock - and secure it.

If you don't have much free tight left, undo the knot and then secure the same way (i.e. wrap the tail ends around the tail and knot them to each other).

Ta ** - one wrapped and "up" tail :D

You do get some odd looks hacking out with their tails up like this - but so what ;)

[*Sez*]

Thanks :D I will go out later and mug a three-legged person wearing decent tights :p . If I remember my camera, there might even be a picture of the finished result.