Forgive me, for I have sinned . . .

[dressagetraks]

I was out in the pasture today grooming the mare while waiting for the vet to get there. I had not groomed all week, because I've had a virus and was doing well just to give 'em a once over, feed, and fill the trough. Monday couldn't even keep water down, slowly and gradually better since, today the first day really feeling anything close to well, which is good because the vet was scheduled.

So the horse had not been groomed in a week. The horse had obviously spent that entire week fighting the burr patch in the far down corner. Her tail had a central burr knot that was over 18 inches long, 3 inches thick, rock-hard solid. The vet was coming imminently to palpate said horse. This thing was a weapon. I had no Show Sheen or even vegetable oil to hand, and even if I had, I had no time. Do I threaten my vet with assault by tail? Do I make myself look like someone who didn't groom her horses all week?

No. Both unacceptable. I carefully picked at the knot for 15 minutes. The vet was due any minute. And then I . . .




Got the SCISSORS. :eek::eek::eek:

Yes, I cut a huge chunk of my mare's tail off. She does still have plenty of full length hairs (she had a great tail in the first place). But the big central burr club of tail was cut completely out and thrown way over to the side where the vet might not notice its freshly-amputated evidence. Of course, he would notice the chopped tail hairs, but hey, maybe aliens came down and did that last night and it wouldn't be attributed to me.

My first trainer, H/J lesson barn, had a horror of scissors and would lecture all of us from first lessons on on never, ever, ever using scissors on a mane or tail. :no: It's been ingrained in me since my first horse encounters.

And I took scissors to my horse's tail. :uhoh:

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

[ThisTooShallPass]

A little too late, but if worried about injury to the vet, vet wrap around the offending tail area works until you can get the burrs out.

[pj]

OOOOOOOHHHHHHH MY!!! Did the Vet scream and pass out when he saw...the tail?
It's a wonder he didn't resign right on the spot as your vet..I mean after all who wants to be associated with someone who does "that" type of thing. :)

[dwblover]

Ha, I got gum in my hair when I was sixteen and decided that cutting a huge chunk of my hair out was better than dealing with the situation. Luckily it was underneath so you really could not tell while it was growing back. But the moral of my story is that if I lived through it so will your horse!!!:winkgrin:

[Chief2]

DT, if that's the worse thing you ever do to that horse, then you have earned your halo! :)

[rcloisonne]

You might want to invest in a bottle of Cowboy Magic. The results look better. ;)

[SLW]

I saw this story on CNN Headline News last night. They said the police had a suspect and if caught, the perp would spend life behind bars. ;) Stay safe!!

[Auventera Two]

I was out in the pasture today grooming the mare while waiting for the vet to get there. I had not groomed all week, because I've had a virus and was doing well just to give 'em a once over, feed, and fill the trough. Monday couldn't even keep water down, slowly and gradually better since, today the first day really feeling anything close to well, which is good because the vet was scheduled.

So the horse had not been groomed in a week. The horse had obviously spent that entire week fighting the burr patch in the far down corner. Her tail had a central burr knot that was over 18 inches long, 3 inches thick, rock-hard solid. The vet was coming imminently to palpate said horse. This thing was a weapon. I had no Show Sheen or even vegetable oil to hand, and even if I had, I had no time. Do I threaten my vet with assault by tail? Do I make myself look like someone who didn't groom her horses all week?

No. Both unacceptable. I carefully picked at the knot for 15 minutes. The vet was due any minute. And then I . . .




Got the SCISSORS. :eek::eek::eek:

Yes, I cut a huge chunk of my mare's tail off. She does still have plenty of full length hairs (she had a great tail in the first place). But the big central burr club of tail was cut completely out and thrown way over to the side where the vet might not notice its freshly-amputated evidence. Of course, he would notice the chopped tail hairs, but hey, maybe aliens came down and did that last night and it wouldn't be attributed to me.

My first trainer, H/J lesson barn, had a horror of scissors and would lecture all of us from first lessons on on never, ever, ever using scissors on a mane or tail. :no: It's been ingrained in me since my first horse encounters.

And I took scissors to my horse's tail. :uhoh:

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

You could have avoided the scissors to the tail by using a heavy dousing of a silicone product like Show Sheen or Vetrolin, Cowboy Magic, etc. Another good one is Shine Drops from Walmart. It's a thick, silicone oil. You soak the hair, and you can slide the burrs right out. Sorry you had to wreck your horse's tail. :(

[deltawave]

I thought your confession was that you let your mare out in the pasture. :lol: Grass! Poison! You might as well feed her a CARROT, for pity's sake! ;) :D

You are forgiven. Nothing is worse than that skanky club full of burrs that is a horse's tail when it's lost a battle with a cocklebur patch. :( Sometimes you have to cut your losses, so to speak.

Personally, I am envious that you have things growing and not covered with snow! :sigh:

[Cherry]

DT, if that's the worse thing you ever do to that horse, then you have earned your halo! :)
I totally agree with that remark! ;)

Go, and sin no more! :yes: :winkgrin: :lol: :)

[ThatScaryChick]

DT, if that's the worse thing you ever do to that horse, then you have earned your halo! :)

I also agree. :yes:

[whoacorwin]

Hey I used to worry myself to death about how the horses looked before the vet came..spent hours grooming and making the "kids" pretty..only to have the dear doctor comment on how well behaved they were.....I am sure your "sin' was not even noticed!!

[FindersKeepers]

DT... we will start a support group.

Last summer, my mare nearly severed her tail... we still have no idea how, but regardless, her tail was barely attached to her body... and we had to remove a lot of hair to properly get her cleaned up and bandaged.

Thank GOD, she regained full use and sensation of her tail! But now there are just little whisps of tail hair...its so sad, she has always had the most beautiful snow white tail...

It's growing back, slowly... but it's still quite sad.

[Honu]

Don't feel bad, I had to kinda do that once (not by choice).

I had put M-T-G in my 2 year old filly's tail and her two pasture mates decided that M-T-G tastes great. Yup they ate a huge chunk out of her tail in one night! I could have killed them. I couldn't stand looking at the missing chunk so I cut it to make it all even. I was also trained at a early age to never use scissors on anything! So that was really, really hard for me to do. :) This was the only time I have used scissors any on my horses tails.

So don't worry it will grow back, my filly's did and it is just as nice as before. At least it is winter and there are no flys!

[dressagetraks]

I really feel worse about the scissors than about depriving my colt of his manhood yesterday on the same vet call. :winkgrin:

But I am happy to report that not all is lost, some benefit has come out of bad, and all things can be useful. My litter of formerly feral kittens that I trapped near railroad tracks in town last summer and imported to my hay discovered the tail last night and were having a wonderful time dragging it around this morning by the long wisps coming off the bottom. :lol::D

[QM2]

We must have had the same trainer because I started to get dizzy just reading this.

I think we also had the same bug. I was out all last week.

Let's also not forget that that birdsnest that you cut out could have happened overnight.

I've come to the barn in morning to find 3 unicorns where my horses were the night before.

Don't worry it will regrow eventually.:)

[pines4equines]

...were having a wonderful time dragging it around this morning by the long wisps coming off the bottom...

These things always do come to the surface and the truth is always revealed. Would this have been the funniest if the kittens dragged that thing out when the vet was there? Arh, arh!

[sublimequine]

My mare's tail is cut blunt right at her hocks, and I roach her mane with clippers. Does that make me the devil himself or what? :lol:

[QM2]

I think I just had a seizure!:D

[WeDoItAll]

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.


Your penance is 3 Hail Mary's and 4 Our Father's. I had to do something similar early fall ... I've done my penance.

[blackstallion2]

I've taken scissors to more than one hopelessly matted tail :no:. If you cut vertically straight down the mat, -usually- the rest will brush out and the cut is not as obvious as a horizontal cut is. One thing is for sure, if you don't do something, the tail will only get worse and worse!

[Sansena]

<snip>..I've come to the barn in morning to find 3 unicorns where my horses were the night before. <snip>..:)

Oh THAT look is charming. Especially frustrating when you wrestle to braid the 3 sparse hairs there, but those !@#$% BURRS can magically get a stranglehold. Doesn't say much for my braiding ability.

I also vouch for the vertical cut. Ask me how I know.

[veebug22]

It will grow back! It's okay! I actually did perhaps the worse option -- I was in a huge hurry last time I needed to take my mare to the vet. She had been outside and in a burr patch and it was a matter of dealing with the issue or being late for the vet. Two other unexpected issues had already popped up that I had to deal with in order to leave when I should have. I opted to be on time and just apologize like crazy. They know she's usually clean and tidy, so I think all was forgiven. Some Cowboy Magic when I got home later did the trick. But I too contemplated trimming off those sections with scissors!!! I figured my vet's opinion on her tail's appearance didn't matter as much as my agony in chopping off her lovely tail and then having to wait for it to grow back! BUT, it WILL grow back!! :D

[veebug22]

I've come to the barn in morning to find 3 unicorns where my horses were the night before.

That is a great description!

[matryoshka]

Thanks for the laugh! Especially thinking about how funny it would have been if the kittens dragged the burr-laden tail out while the vet was there! :lol::lol:

Hey, at least you didn't add to your sin by blaming another horse for chewing the tail. I got an OTTB in that had had her tail chewed up above her hocks. Now I'm wondering if it had been chewed or had so many burrs it was cut. ;) She had a few long wisps hanging down and it looked ridiculous. I banged the rest off. Tail hair takes a while to grow back.

At least you have a good story...

[railmom]

My mare Bella had beautiful tail that I spent years growing it out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bellafoals/2481587232/

Days after this photo her colt, we will call him the little turd, chewed it off! Nice angle from above the hock on one side to just below it on the other. We are still in repair mode. When I saw it, I thought I would never be able to exhale again....

[ButterflyIris]

It kind of weirds me out a little that people are SO into their horse's tails. I understand if you're showing and it matters, but still...

SO... my confession, when I first got my horse, he was a rescue, I determined that the tail was beyond repair. He had been turned out 24/7 in clay. His tail was disgusting to say the least and he was a booger to deal with on the wash rack. So I alleviated a big part of the problem with a little snip-snip... All the BO's who saw it were horrified, but hey, at least I didn't have to deal with it for awhile and I could work on getting him comfortable in the wash rack in the meantime. Now, he seems a little nervous when I'm messing with his tail, thinking I might chop it off again, hee hee...
But it has grown back and all is well.
I have been redeamed!
Don't worry, you've saved yourself a lot of work !

[Holly Jeanne]

I cut a big chunck of a mare's tail last fall. Then, I donated it to an artist who makes horse hair pottery. They will never know but everyone who buys Raku pottery this woman has made for months to come will have a connection to my mare. :lol:

[trubandloki]

You could have avoided the scissors to the tail by using a heavy dousing of a silicone product like Show Sheen or Vetrolin, Cowboy Magic, etc. Another good one is Shine Drops from Walmart. It's a thick, silicone oil. You soak the hair, and you can slide the burrs right out. Sorry you had to wreck your horse's tail. :(


You quoted the entire original post but did you read it?

The OP says right in it that there was not show sheen or the like available.