Need to grow back my geldings tail?

Question

My Oldenburg gelding has a very thin tail. It used to be nice and long a thick and now its sort and ratty at the end. Anybody have a good trick for growing it back nice and thick?

Answer 1

First, you need to figure out why it got thin.  If he was rubbing it, treat him for pinworms.  Check for places it's getting caught on and pulled out - underbrush in the field, a rough spot in the stall, whereever - and fix that.  If other animals (usually foals or yearlings) are chewing it, you'll have to separate them.  If it's just falling out, you might want to check with a vet.

Then, do all the things you would do for your own hair.  Shampoo, rinse really well, put a conditioner on.  Human ones work quite well; they also make horse ones.  Always rinse well.

Check his nutrition.  Many people use supplements for things likethis, but I don't recommend any.  Just make sure he's getting a good, balanced feed and has a mineral block.  Don't feed straight oats or a backyard blend; use a good commercial feed.

You can protect the tail by loosely braiding it, folding the long end up, and putting it in a tail bag.  Don't do this if flies are bad; he'll need it.  Take it out and redo frequently, at least every other day.

If you're already bagging it, stop bagging.  It may be irritating him and making it worse.

Then, give it time.  Tails don't grow real fast.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

First I would ask a vet to look at his tail to see if they can figure out the cause of the hair loss.  If they can find no reason, then MTG is an excellent product, smells like bacon grease to me, but it truly does work.  A feed supplement such as Source TM can also help.  I also use the sock method during the winter to help grow a horses tail by loosely braiding the tail from the end of the tail bone, don't band it or tie it off, just tuck it back up through the braid and yank an old sock over it, cut a few strips down the top of the sock, twine these through the braid and tie it all off then leave it alone for a month, then undo everything, use a silicone product and CAREFULLY brush out the tail so you don't break or pull out valuable hair.  Once you've combed it out, put it back up in a new sock and throw out the old one.  You can continue to use MTG as often as it recommends on the hair covering the tail bone.

Answer 3

Try using some MTG.  It works really well to re-grow tails.  Wash his tail (concentrating on the tail bone) with a mild shampoo.  Then apply some MTG to the tailbone, rubbing it into the roots of the hair.  

    It smells a little like barbeque sauce, but it works really well.  Make sure that you shake the MTG up really well before you use it, because the stuff kind of settles at the bottom of the bottle between uses.  It works even better if you loosely braid the tail after applying the MTG.  If flies are a big problem, you can go without the braid.  A once-weekly application of MTG should help with the tail growth.

     I saw an ad for it once where a woman had used MTG for one month and had gotten 4 inches of tail growth.  Believe me, it works!  Plus, if your horse is loosing his tail because he is rubbing it, the MTG helps prevent and treat causes of rubbing.  Good luck!