Gross mare tail help - too cold for a bath!

[pony89]

My mare's tail is so gross! It is getting "dreds" from being soaked w/urine, I can't brush it because it is so caked, and when I try to separate it by hand, it still feels greasy and gross, so I know it is just going to cake back up, even if I can get it brushed out. She looks like no one loves her :no:

I don't have access to a wash stall or running hot water. I probably could haul a small bucket of hot water down to the barn. Washing her tail with normal shampoo is probably out of the question, it is too cold for a full wash (high teens, low 20's)

Please help! Is there some kind of leave in shampoo that could cut through the grime? Some kind of towelling technique? Her tail is greasy and dandruffy near the dock, but I can't even get to it through the rest of the tail disaster. Anything I do use on her will need to be fairly mild, she has sensitive skin.

Thanks!

[Simkie]

I wash my mare's tail every few weeks in the winter. It's not a big deal.

Fill a small bucket with hot water. Dunk the tail in the bucket, swish it around, try to get the bucket and water as high up the tail bone as you can. Soap up the tail with something that rinses out easily (I use Suave) and work it through the tail. Dunk the tail in the bucket again to rinse. Refill bucket, rinse again. Work conditioner through the tail, rinse. Towel dry. You could use a blow drier on low if you really wanted to.

Takes me maybe 10 minutes to do from start to finish and the only part of the horse that gets wet is the tail.

[pony89]

A blow dryer probably isn't going to happen - so it won't hurt her tail bone to be wet in this cold? Obviously I will towel dry it the best I can, but it will still be damp.

I am a little more willing to try a bath now that it is up to the low 20's, it was low single digits for the last 2 weeks, and I wouldn't even attempt it in that kind of cold.

I'm mostly afraid that I won't be able to get the shampoo rinsed out well using the bucket method, especially since my access to the hot water is so limited, and that she will end up rubbing her tail out. I guess it can't get worse than it is now :sigh:

[Simkie]

I have never had any issues rinsing Suave out of my mare's tail when I wash it in a bucket. If you're worried about soap residue, just add a couple glugs of white vinegar to your rinse water--it will cut the soap.

I wouldn't worry about her tail bone getting too cold. Just have a couple towels. I'm able to get a ton of water out with a regular cotton handtowel.

[luvs2ridewbs]

If you are worried about the tail bone, do what I do: Same method but stop at the base of the tail bone.

[deltawave]

Just a good soaking in hot water would probably take care of 90% of the nastiness--no soap required, no rinsing required.

[pony89]

Just a good soaking in hot water would probably take care of 90% of the nastiness--no soap required, no rinsing required.


I think I'll try that first. Then I can spot treat some of the bad spots above the dock w/out getting her too wet trying to rinse it. I can always try again w/soap if we have a heat wave or something!

I've never been huge on tail maintenance, I just kind of let it do it's thing without a ton of primping as long as it's not getting too out of hand, but it has never done this before. Blech.

I suspect her new winter blanket, which has a much bigger and heavier tail flap. Maybe she has less clearance or something :uhoh:

[FlashGordon]

I wash my mare's tail every few weeks in the winter. It's not a big deal.

Fill a small bucket with hot water. Dunk the tail in the bucket, swish it around, try to get the bucket and water as high up the tail bone as you can. Soap up the tail with something that rinses out easily (I use Suave) and work it through the tail. Dunk the tail in the bucket again to rinse. Refill bucket, rinse again. Work conditioner through the tail, rinse. Towel dry. You could use a blow drier on low if you really wanted to.

Takes me maybe 10 minutes to do from start to finish and the only part of the horse that gets wet is the tail.

I used to do this with my little grey gelding when I was a teenager.
After you wash, you can braid it to try and keep it clean/tangle free... I used to put a tail bag on my guy but with my grey now I just keep it braided up sans bag.

If you don't have hot water at the barn, you could always bring out a hot plate or even those electric tea kettles.

It HAS been absolutely freezing here tho, like you said! Maybe try it on a day when the temps are hanging in the upper 20s, low 30s?

[twofatponies]

I suspect her new winter blanket, which has a much bigger and heavier tail flap. Maybe she has less clearance or something :uhoh:

Aha! Thanks for thinking of that! My mare is having a frozen-clumps problem and she never had it before. It's the big tail flap on the new blanket!

I generally do winter tail/leg cleanup by taking a bucket of hot water and couple of rags and just gently wiping off the worst parts, so nothing is dripping wet. But I hadn't had a whole tail problem yet as bad as you described. A dunking might be better in that case!

[pony89]

I generally do winter tail/leg cleanup by taking a bucket of hot water and couple of rags and just gently wiping off the worst parts, so nothing is dripping wet. But I hadn't had a whole tail problem yet as bad as you described. A dunking might be better in that case!

I think the reason it got as bad as it did is because it really doesn't look bad on the outside of the tail. She has a black tail and it just looked frozen, which is not uncommon in this weather. I just decided to have a "spa day" on one of the days where it was too cold to ride, and discovered this issue when I started trying to brush it out.

We do have a microwave, so if I can find a suitable receptacle, I can probably heat up enough water that way.

I generally love winter, but it sure would be nice if it would throw in a 75 degree intermission here and there so you could deal w/some of this stuff more pleasantly!

[CJBean]

I'm curious as to why you couldn't blow dry the tail, is it that you have no electricity at the barn? Or you think horse cant handle the sound of the blow dryer? I think you said you have a microwave at the barn so there must be electricity.

Any who..in regards to hot water in the barn not sure how far away you live from the barn or what. But here is a suggestion for hot water. I buy from a camping store a 5 gallon water jug and I fill this with hot water from my house. If you use the hottest water from your house it will stay warm for quite sometime even when the temps are cold. Since it holds five gallons you will have plenty of water to put into bucket to soak your tail then even have enough for a good rinsing as well.


I just think the blow dryer is nice and easy to get the tail dry quickly when its cold out. But if you are not apt to using the blow dryer definitely use lots of towels to towel dry the tail.

Just if you decide to braid the tail and put in any kind of tail bag you have to make sure the tail is completely dry before doing that.

[Guin]

If you don't want to use any kind of soap because of the not-enough-water-for-rinsing problem, add "a couple of glugs" :D of white vinegar to the regular hot water. That will definitely help dissolve some of the crud and won't do any harm at all if it's not rinsed out.

[Mariequi]

The vinegar def helps. I wash Dublin's tail every couple of weeks throughout the winter. It's stark white (aah!) with a small black streak running through it. I use very warm water and Lucky Braids shampoo. It's so mild that even if I didn't get it all out it would be okay. I use a small bucket and wet it, including tail bone and as far up as I can wetting and rinsing with a small cup w/handle. I let it sit about 10 minutes and rinse with 2-3 small bucketsful. Agree about carrying the hot water from the house. I go back and forth to our tack room sink. I don't use conditioner, but use Lucky Braids whitener after it's dry. Seems to help the dirt stay away and rinse out easier the next time. It's enzymatic and seems to condition a bit too. She has a big, wavy fluffy tail. I wish I liked tailbags, but I don't. I've been putting her Wug over her medium with this cold and precip and I'd taken the tailstrap off of the medium because the poop would fall at the back of her tail and sit on the strap. That's probably the bigger problem I'm having now. Because of the two blankets, I'm leaving the tailstrap on. It's a mess.

[Rev]

I just saw some cool new product for exactly this purpose and now my early onset senility ;) has wiped the detail of where to find it....ergh..
Ran about $15/$20..it was basically a thick, large polyurethene tail sack. It velcroed up onto the tail base to stay secured and has some sort of valvle opening where you add your water and s'poo, then soak/agitate/clean the tail using the bag itself.
Another valve/flap thingy near the bottom emptied the sudsy dirt water & you refilled/rinsed a few times until done.
All without getting you, your hands or the horse's tuckus sopping wet!
I absolutely wanted one or two the minute I saw it...but am on the self-imposed "if you lived without it until now, you cannot have it" home/business budget for the foreseeable future.
Maybe google it?

[Mariequi]

Yep, I considered that too, but just use the vinyl or latex gloves and tie it up to soak in. Actually, the one I looked at didn't have a valve. You cut off the end every time, so I figured I didn't want anything disposable.

[Dad Said Not To]

If her tail is super nasty and you're worried about shampoo not rinsing out, wet the skirt down with dilute white vinegar, pour about 1/4 cup of baking soda into your hand, and scrub her tail with the baking soda as if it were shampoo. Swish the tail in a bucket of warm water to rinse, and generously apply leave-in conditioner.

[pony89]

I'm curious as to why you couldn't blow dry the tail, is it that you have no electricity at the barn? Or you think horse cant handle the sound of the blow dryer? I think you said you have a microwave at the barn so there must be electricity.

Any who..in regards to hot water in the barn not sure how far away you live from the barn or what. But here is a suggestion for hot water. I buy from a camping store a 5 gallon water jug and I fill this with hot water from my house. If you use the hottest water from your house it will stay warm for quite sometime even when the temps are cold. Since it holds five gallons you will have plenty of water to put into bucket to soak your tail then even have enough for a good rinsing as well.


I just think the blow dryer is nice and easy to get the tail dry quickly when its cold out. But if you are not apt to using the blow dryer definitely use lots of towels to towel dry the tail.

Just if you decide to braid the tail and put in any kind of tail bag you have to make sure the tail is completely dry before doing that.

I am just not sure she would approve! I don't have anyone to hold her, and I'm not sure I want to take a blow dryer to her butt while she is on crossties :eek: I am concerned she would be alarmed :lol:

[ptownevt]

What a timely thread. Just a couple of days ago, I mentioned to my daughter that we had to get some hot water to clean up her mare's tail and back legs this weekend. We have a plug in water heater that will heat up a bucket of water. It's like the thing you put in tea cups, but much, much bigger. I just set up the bucket and heater and go about my chores while it heats. I don't know how much they cost, but if you have a mare it might be worth it for the winter. Anyway, I will bring some white vinegar with me today. Thanks.

[wishnwell]

Well this stuff won't "clean" her tail, that just may have to wait till it's warmer out. Maybe you can try dunking it in water and towel drying it, that should be fine, but I love this to detangle
http://www.kotrading.com/browseproducts/Vetrolin-Detangler-Concentrate.HTML

[Cherry]

I think the item Rev is thinking of is "Tail in a Bucket", or something like that....

I Googled it! Here is the link to the product I was thinking of: http://www.horse-spa.com/news.html .

Like Rev, the minute I saw it I thought it seemed like a great idea. Alas, I hate spending money on something so extravagant but thought it would make a great gift for someone at Christmas time (or anytime) to have "in case". I might buy one for myself and keep for an emergency though--you know how horses can be. ;) :yes:

If you're interested I would shoot off an email to the company to see where you could get one.

[cloudyandcallie]

You don't have to pay all that $ for a "tail sack" I think it was in THE Horse mag.

You can take a cylindric shaped plastic bag, like the one your newspaper comes in, but longer, or use a small volume plastic bag, not the 40 gallon size, and wrap it at the top of the tail. You can then open a small hole thru which to pour warm water, and you can rinse the same way, except then of course you will want to put a 2nd hole in the bottom of the bag when you are ready to end the "soak cycle" and start the "rinse cycle".
And of course you'll want to put in a leave in conditioner since the tail is in such bad shape.

But first you should divide the tail into small sections, cut thru it vertically with a knife or mane trimmer, that serrated blade that some people can "pull" manes with, it's only 3 or 4 dollars in Jeffersequine, and gradually work thru the tail till you get it where it is not one big mass of tangle.

My BO's big gelding's tail was a horrid solid "brick" of tangles, and the barn sitter went out to "fix" it. I was afraid he'd just cut the tail hair off, but he worked thru the knots like above, and ended up getting them all out, with minimal tail loss. I was amazed.

I try to brush my boy's tail daily and wanted to start the coconut oil which is supposed to be great, but I'm afraid it will attack bugs. So I bought the Pink stuff, see that thread, and sprayed it yesterday. I don't let him get dreads, if it starts looking a little curly, I stand there and separate the hairs by hand, but I try to brush daily, even though everyone says leave tails alone so hairs aren't pulled out. His tail reaches the ground, but it isn't really full, maybe cause I'm always brushing it.

BTW you can use excalibur sheath cleaner to get manure and grease out of tails. When a grey pony owned by my BO got diarrhea, we tried all shampoos and no luck. Then I got out my excalibur shealth cleaner, and all was cleaned off of his rear end and his tail.