Banging Tails
To bang a tail correctly, first shampoo, condition, and gently comb through the tail until it all hairs lie straight and smooth. Then, have a helper place their forearm across the horse’s point of buttocks under the tail. This will simulate where most horses (other than Arabians and other high-tail breeds)carry their tail in work. With the tail raised like this, grasp the end of the tail and cut parallel to the ground. Where you cut depends upon personal preference,your horse, and your sport. Some like to cut the merest wisps of ragged hairs to neaten the tail into a tapered bottom. A true bang, however, should leave a pretty square bottom, several inches above the fetlock.
Daily tail and long-mane maintenance.
Don’t use a brush, you should hand-pick or carefully comb, and only when you have the time to do it right! “Doing it right” includes a good shampooing (with Quic Silver or Quic Color, of course), and a 10 minute conditioning and detangling treatment with Quic Condition 1. Then and only then pick through the tail with your fingers or comb(I personally like the Grooma™ comb with the wobbly teeth), from the bottom up. For several days after, spray the tail with Quic Condition 2 and re-pick or comb. Once the tangles become difficult to remove without hair breakage, you’ll know that the horse has finally overwhelmed the dirt-repelling feature of Quic Condition 1 and 2. Leave the tail alone again until the next bath (try a tail-only bath in a time pinch... it’s fast). You can take it a step further... bagging or tying the tail up will keep it clean, tangle-free and growing beautifully for days or weeks at a time.
Rubbing tails
Most horses who rub their tails have worms, a fungus, or dry skin. If you’ve ruled out the first two, the best way to combat the dry skin is to spray Quic Condition 2 daily into the skin on the dock of the tail. I use a comb to hold aside small sections of hair so I can really spray the skin. If it’s dry skin, the horse should stop rubbing immediately. (Plus, it will strengthen the hair to reduce breakage.)
Yellowed Tails
If you have a gray or palomino horse with a yellowed tail, use Quic Silver to remove stains, color-balance the yellow, and add silvery highlights. Just shampoo-rinse-repeat until the color no longer improves. Because old stains are often permanent, the best color you can get may be a mix of silver at the top and light gold at the bottom (usually this is a fairly attractive color). Continue on a once or twice weekly maintenance program with Quic Silver, and for badly stained tails, wait for the tail to grow out to all silver. (Tail bags can lessen the maintenance program). The key to this approach is maintenance + patience = healthy hair that’s beautifully silver from top to tip.
If you still have light gold in the hair, and it’s driving you nuts, you might consider banging (trimming with a flat bottom) the tail pretty high up, and waiting for the tail to grow out, as described above. DO NOT use any sort of household detergent or bleach solution. This is truly deadly for hair, causing extreme dryness, lifted cuticles, swelling, and ultimately, severe breakage.
High Shine
Get the most of your coat moisturizer (such as Quic Sheen) by rubbing it in with heat. Simply spray one side of the horse, then briskly wipe your hands over the coat in the direction of the hair growth. The friction of brisk hand-on-hair movements will generate a fair amount of heat, allowing greater absorption of the moisturizing agents.
Fetlock Clipping
Start off with clean, dry legs... wet hair won’t cut well and dirt will quickly dull the blades. Keeping the blades parallel to the leg, run the clippers down the back of the leg from knee to fetlock, going with the hair. Then, clip from the side underneath the fetlock, again with the lie of the hair, to remove the “feathers.” Above the snow line, you’ll want to allow this hair to grow in the winter for added protection (unless you’re showing), but come spring, neatening the legs will make your horse look sharp.
Coronary Band
Really give your horse’s feet a knockout appearance by trimming the pastern hair that hangs over the hoof. Hold the clippers so the blade is parallel to the hoof wall, with sharp ends pointing up the pastern. Carefully move the clippers upward to just touch the edge of the hair, then go down, move to the side, and lift again. You’ll continue to just “touch” the edge of the band of hair, shortening it by tiny amounts until the tips are neatened and above the hoof wall.
Whiskers and Feeler Hairs
There are lots of opinions on this one... whiskers and feeler hairs (the long ones around the eyes) do serve a purpose, allowing a horse to use his sense of touch to protect his face. So, if you don’t show at the highest levels, you may want to consider at least leaving the eye feeler hairs intact. To remove whiskers, use your clippers and carefully work the blades around and underneath muzzle and chin, taking care to trim the rim hairs on the nostrils. For an exceptionally fine finish, use a disposable razor on the short stubble. (Use care... you can cut your horse pretty easily!) If you feel you absolutely must trim the feeler hairs around the eyes, carefully trim with a pair of blunt scissors, while gently holding your horse’s eyelid shut. Finish around the eyes, ears and muzzle by applying Glis’ning Hilites highlighting gel or Quic Shade sunscreen/highlighter.
True Equality for English Stirrups
Nothing to do with grooming, but too good not to share: Don’t have a friend squat in front of your horse and eyeball your stirrup length... a slight uneveness of how your horse is standing or where your saddle is sitting can throw your friend’s estimation way off. Instead, for the average adult rider, grasp one stirrup and flip the foot rest up to touch the saddle flap or side of horse while pulling down gently to straighten the leather. This should place the foot rest in close proximity either above or below the edge of the saddle flap... close enough to do an eyeball measurement. Then, repeat on the other side to see if the eyeball measurement matches. This gives the best idea of stirrup length equality short of pulling out a ruler.
