I could use some help/advice with a problem I'm having with a little 2 year old mare.  She eats the tails of any horse that will stand still for her.  She has "bob tailed" my 3 year old mare because they are pastured togther and my wife is not happy about this! Is there anything I can do or that can be done to prevent this from happening? Thoughts and comments are appreciated.

I can't wait for the smart comment that windwalker2 will have about this one!

  I truly don't have a come back on this one..........

But seriously, you could bob all of your horses tails..............at least they would all match.

windwalker, you should have heard the question my neighbor kid asked when she saw the tail chewing thing going on, "is that horse flossing?"  I thought I was going to lose it! You have to picture the horse grabbing a mouthful and the other horse taking a couple of steps forward while grazing. It sort of looked like cooperative equine flossing if you were thinking in that direction. Too funny.

As for bobbing all the other horses tails..............you go first just in case we all go trail riding together.  Then we would all match?

No way,,,,,I'm not bobbing my horses tails.....................If I need to point you out to someone in a crowd I  can just tell them to look for the folks that ride the Bob's.  Makes you kinda "unique" don't ya think.

But I must say, every once in awhile I'll find several large chunks of my horses tails lying around the paddock.  Not enough to notice like yours, but  I can't figure out why they do it either. It will be interesting to see what other opinions come forth on this subject.

Hmmmmmm, equine's flossing.  Don't mention that to an Equine dentist. That will give them something else they might want to charge us for, or maybe come up with a product to sell us. "Equine Dental Floss", All natural 100% horse hair..........

   I just had to use this smilie face........

Y'all have some very good advice; I wonder how you would stop a horse from rubbing his tail so that he has sparce hair on the but-end?  I've doused him with MTG several times but don't see much improvement so far.  I rarely catch him in the act but the evidence speaks for itself.

Elaine

BTW, I hope you don't mind the large print.  I do this because on another board I used to frequent, an elderly gentleman asked us to print large and bold because he had very poor vision.  I found I read it easier as well, though I have no particular vision problem. If nobody here is troubled with poor vision, I can stop using this type.

Elaine

Brisco

Have you had him checked for pin worms.  They will sure make them rub their tails.  Also sometimes they get an ingrown hair that has to be pulled out.

How do they treat "pinworms"?

Just wondering.

  Is the tail white??  My spotted horse's tail gets sunburned and it itches, therefore, he rubs it.  Also, deworm.  Make sure the area under the tail is clean -- use a baby wipe to remove any dirt, which can also cause itching!

I haven't had him checked for Pin Worms, but I wormed all of them a month ago with one of those newer wormers that does pin worms and all.  His tail is black.  I'll keep my eye on the tail and see if it begins to improve with the last worming.

Thanks.

Elaine

Thanks Horsecrazi,,,,,,,,,,My herd is on a regular worming schedule so I guess their being treated for pin worms. 

One of my geldings rubs his tail for like a month or so, just around August into Sept.  I'm thinking it's most likely knats. 

Here's one I never heard of until the other day while talking to a horse friend..........she claims that geldings that constantly tail rub could need a "sheath cleaning".  So I asked her what if it's a mare?  Does she need a "vaginal" cleaning?  That's a first for me............I'll leave this one open for debate.......