Manes and Tails after show season??? What do you do

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~Lisa~

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Wondering what you all do during the winter months - do you braid manes? Braid tails and keep them up

What tricks do you use to keep those manes and tails long and full?
 
I keep them down, I try (hence TRY) to go through and MTG the manes, tails, forelocks atleast once a week on the show horses and that seems to help keep them tangle free and conditioned.
 
Im a firm believer in leaving them alone. We try not to brush or comb them unless we have to as that leads to hair breakage. Feature probably has the biggest mane and tail on the farm and I will say his mane can be a bit of a pain because its so thick and long but Rusty keeps begging me not to cut it LOL. I do have to brush and condition his mane about once every 2 weeks but I do think his is unusual. I love love that Olive Oil Conditioning Spray and Sheen that I put on their manes, tails and bodies. I use it mostly during show season but for feature we use it continually. People at the area 4 national show kept asking me what I used to make their bodies sparkle and I showed them its that Olive Oil spray. That stuff is awesome. I will have to take some new pics of features mane and tail. I seriously think it needs to be cut
 
Yes, I LOVE the Olive Oil Spray! Told you it was awesome. Better than pepi but cheaper.
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Whenever I have left a horses tail down during winter the tail shortened, thinned and overall looked terrible. I like my tails to look like QH tails. During the winter I wash the tail, dry it, braid, add MTG, fold it up and wrap it with vetwrap. Every few weeks I redo it. And by winter they are long and full. I like my tails to be ground level too.

I will get a few pics of my horses tails in a few days so you can see.
 
I do absolutley nothing with them. Tails get very little combing here all year--the show horses get theirs combed out a few times before the show, driving horses get theirs combed a few times when they're in work, the others get theirs combed out once in awhile--anyone getting photos done gets their tails combed out--come fall everyone will get their tail combed out at least once, and then no one will have theirs touched again until spring.

No problems here with short, thin or scraggly tails (other than my pinto pony who just naturally doesn't have much of a tail!) Almost all of them are thick & full, and nearly all of the mature horses have their tails dragging on the ground--to the ground if not actually on the ground. I notice, because too often when I go to push a horse over out of the way I discover that I'm standing on his or her tail!
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I've never used tail bags nor braided tails, and likely never will--have never needed to in order to keep tails looking good!
 
LOL It's Olive Oil Nourishing Sheen spray. It is used on AA hair. Walmart and Sally's sell it for around $5 depending on where you live. Up here it is a penny cheaper at Walmart. You can spray it in their manes and tails either wet or dry. It is a very fine mist and you can also put it on their body to get them to glisten. We had a couple of AA young ladies with us for a short spell and after using it on their hair I had to try it. It was wonderful so I started putting it on the horses. You should at least try it once.
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Jeepers, you people are crazy!!!! I have a Sallys near me with a salesperson girl that is AMAZING!!!! She makes my head spin when I talk to her about stuff. I will tell her about this and I will buy some for sure! I own a dog grooming business, and maybe will keep this in my shop!! I'm always open to the best and natural products!!
 
We do nothing to the manes or tails after show season is over. They are all turned out to get as scruffy and dirty as they like. From Fall til early spring it is time to be a horse. Our main show mare had a mane that was knotted up in a roll with burrs and poke salad stems all in it, we use this oily stuff made by show sheen that is in a small bottle, squeeze it on til wet thru and it brushes right out. The more you brush their manes and tails the more breakage you get, especially if they are dirty.
 
Leese I don't like to put the tails up ever unless absolutely necessary. Seems on most of mine, they will loose a lot of hairs as they will break off. During the winter months, I keep them trimmed up above the pasturns and I will keep them clean by soaking in warm buckets of conditioner and rinse in another bucket. I try to comb them with my fingers only. If I have a couple that tend to get tangles easily I will use show sheen. A clean tail is a happy tail.
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Now when it gets nasty out there with mud involved, then I will braid and put up in a kid's tube sock with a diaper pin from General Dollar Store. I don't want tails dragging in the mud. I would rather be boiled in oil than to see that as that HURTS me so bad!. But I won't leave them up for long. I'll take them right back out soon as possible.
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I brush and fuss with my 2 mares, they are my Barbie replacements ...40 is a little old to be carrying around a Barbie , and the mares have OK manes and tails, they tend to break at the base, and the person before me did a lot of clipping around the tail, so thats still growing. Now , my gelding hates to have his hair brushed , and I only get to do it a few times a year...his mane forelock and tail puts "Super Star Barbie" to shame , his mane is to his leg, way past the shoulder , and the tail is breakage free and long and thick...I would have to say for me the more I fuss the worse it looks. I use "Biosilk" its a silk infused oil that absorbs right into the hair and strengthens it instead of coating it...I dont think it helps to be honest , stick with the cheap stuff.
 
Manes and Tails in the off show season, depends upon time of year up here in the cold tundra. I try to do as little as possible, but try to keep knots out so I do go through once in awhile. With my Show ponies they want the tails to touch or drag on the ground, so I do braid and put up carefully, I put a conditioner on it and it keeps the tail from drying out and breaking. But the extreme weather means they are put up sometimes for a month to six weeks at a time. I don't have much breakage.
 
Well I had planned to maybe show a little bit this year, but my life is just way tooo busy and I just cannot seem to find the time and also with Chrysler's bankruptcy that was out so.......................................no showing, I always wash, condition, braid and tie my tails up for the winter. For me it seems to keep them in really good condition and when I let them down in the spring (I do brush out, condition and re-braid several times during the winter) they drag the ground by several feet. I do not start tying them up until the flies are gone. Don't want to take away their fly swatters...................:)
 
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I'm one that leaves the tails alone during winter unless they start rubbing it. I know of big horse people who tried to keep the tail up and wrapped and ended up losing a lot of it. Too much conditioner can weaken the hair.

My stallion's tail just grows and grows without doing anything to it. In fact I have to trim the ends about twice a year so he doesn't step on it when he backs. All my horses drive. My filly's tail grows but I can't seem to get her mane to lengthen no matter what I do. My gelding, over 20 yrs old, only grows body hair. In spring he looks like a yak while his tail never seems to get below his hocks. They all get about the same feed so it can't be that. I just don't think that there is a good answer for how to grow a tail and mane.
 
Ok, i need to know what MTG is. My 2 year old mare has almost no mane & very little tail left - it's breaking off. There was another thread about MTG, but I can't find it. Anyone, Please!
 

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