Horse sucking on tails...

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dali1111

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I couldn't figure out why Bear was missing a spot of fur and a chunk of his tail. It is up at the base of his tail so at first I thought it could be worms, even though I hadn't seen him rubbing his tail, so I wormed everybody. Then I thought maybe he had lice that I couldn't see and was going to powder him when I found the culprit. Fly is sucking on his tail!
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He just goes up to Bear and latches onto the base of his tail and sucks. Bear tries to run away but doesn't really fight Fly. Poor Bear is going to look mighty funny when he's clipped if he doesn't grow some hair mighty quick. I've put a muzzle on Fly and MTG on Bear's tail to prevent further damage and encourage new growth. What would cause a horse to suck on another's tail? I noticed that Fly was almost trying to nurse from Copper (a gelding). Fly will be two this spring. The only thing I can think of is maybe it stems from a weaning issue, maybe he was weaned a little early. Maybe he feels insecure and wants his 'mommy'. Is there anything I can do or will I just have to wait for him to mentally mature? This behaviour just started a few weeks ago and I've had him since August so I'm very confused. Any help would be great.
 
Unfortunately, I think it's just a bad habit. I've seen quite a few tail chewers. Sometimes they will chew tails over/through fences and the other horses LET them!

I don't think it's a lack of nutrition... and a lot of younger foals do eat their dam's mane/tail.

You could try putting something bad-tasting on everyone elses' tails. I think most people just split them up though. Tail-less horses aren't very pretty, and the one doing the tail eating can end up colicing on hair balls.

Good luck,

Andrea
 
Anything change about the time you noticed this starting, perhaps something upset Fly and he started this habit as a comfort. Don't know, just thinking out loud.
 
Put Vaseline on his tail and then put cayenne pepper on top. Hopefully he doesn't like spicy things lol It has worked well for me. I have also used rap blast but it is VERY strong and you have to be careful not to get it on their skin because it will burn. It is just a bad habit. Lots of foals do it, horses that are bored, or just because they can!
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Hot sauce works great to fix this problem
 
I had a friend who had a horse that was a bad wood chewer and he tried rubbing Texas Pete on the chew spots...wound up being just more flavor for the horse, he LOVED it! I had a horse at a boarding barn that chewed my thoroughbred's beautiful tail off...as in nothing left! Happened within the short few days since I had seen her last too. Wound up just having to seperate them. Never chewed on any other horses tail...just my mares! Took forever to grow back but I did learn some great tricks on growing a tail back!
 
I would just spray some bad tasting spray stuff you buy for dogs to stop them from licking/chewing. Its called bitter apple or Phooey taste something, I found mine at pet-something store. My pony has to wear a Guardian Mask and his buddy thinks its real fun to pull it off and flip in it the air
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I spray the Velcro flap under the jaw and for the most part he leaves it alone. I bet you just spray that tail and he will quit.
 

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