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  Discussion on Clipping and pulling tails
Author Message
Member:
Lala

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 17, 2004 - 7:13 pm:

I grew up knowing that certain horses when shown, eventers, dressage, British, horses had their tail hairs pulled to promote a tidy tail appearance.

Flash forward 30 years to seeing dressage horses in the US and their tails are clipped not pulled.

Does anyone still actually pull tails instead of clipping them?

And if you do, do you have any instructions on how to it? Not the mechanics of it, (I'm used to pulling manes -- tho' love to cheat with scissors) but more where does one do it and what tricks of contouring etc, for different sorts of hairiness of tails and shapes of hindquarters.

Thanks everybody for any advice you might have!

Fiona
Member:
Andrea1

Posted on Thursday, Mar 18, 2004 - 9:10 am:

Hello Fiona,
I too grew up with all horses on the yard having pulled tails (except those living out). To say the least, I had major culture shock when I saw brightly coloured yarn in the horses mane plaits , and full tails. Still, I have been here since 1981, and now at most of the shows, there are very well turned out horses.

Anyway to your question. We were taught to pull tails by starting at the dock region removing all the hair underneath. Then work sideways pulling a few hairs at a time evenly on both sides. I personally would taper it in to the center so that the hair on the outside stayed long, and did not give the appearance of the rubbed-tail look. I used to apply a tail bandage for a short time each day while grooming to keep the desired look.

More recently, I found a long-handled comb with a razor blade embedded, which gives a very similar appearance without the risk of being kicked. I don't do either with my mare, since she rubs her tail in the summer , but thats another forum.

I hope this helps

Andrea
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