A Tale of a Tail

There once was a lovely little horse, who had a horribly tangled tail.

I don't mind the task of detangling a tail, but how and with what. Now I have detangled some horrible burr filled tails before. Luckily, this was just a nasty gnarl of a knot, no icky burrs.

As everyone knows, you start at the bottom and work your way up. On the first day, I only had a stiff hair brush from Dollar Tree and this brush from my Schneider's Deluxe Grooming kit. I actually really like this grooming kit, and this brush was okay. I didn't have any detangling spray.

Several people suggesting  the Oster version of this brush for detangeling.  I really didn't find it that helpful for really, really tangled, matted hair. Even when I got Mane and Tail detangling spray the next day, this brush was just horrible for detangling a mat.

So I moved to my old stand by; a good old hard plastic comb. I find these combs are wonderful for really getting in to a tangle or mat. That little end works like a pick to gently pull out a few hairs at a time. I used the Mane and Tail spray again.

 The thing I hate about the spray is working it into the mat and waiting for it to dry. Although Tank is trooper and doesn't mind being sprayed at all, I just got tired of spraying. I also really hate the idea of spraying on dirty hair. With this comb and the spray I did make it up several more inches.


You can see (I hope) in this picture that about half of his tail looks looser than in the first photo, which looks like a hair bat.  I did this part on Sunday and just didn't make it out to the barn again all week. Darn weather and work!

So in the mean time I found a recipe for a dry shampoo: equal parts ground oatmeal, baking soda, and corn starch. So armed with this and this comb I had bought at Walgreens for my hair I headed back to the barn. Now I am not sure if this comb was better than the other combs, but it was defiantly not worse.

Now the dry shampoo was easy to pour over the mat and really get it all the way through the mat. I didn't need to keep getting more of it. The oatmeal absorbs the oils, the baking soda absorbs odor, and the real magic is from the corn starch that looses everything up. Perfect!

Another suggestion I was given was a brush called, "Wet Brush." I did not get to try the "Wet" brush because, of course, it came after I left for the barn. I ordered the pack figuring it was good enough for Tank, it would be good enough for me also. I did try it on my hair. It really is easy and painless to use. Lucky for Tank I ordered two and so one will go out to the barn.

The end result:

Of course that sucker is now braided and tied up in a tail bag!

One Happy Surprise After Another

Every moment I spend with Tank, I feel renewed. Which is a good thing because things in my professional life are less than perfect right now.

Tank keeps surprising me. I ordered a rope halter, making one will come in the future. I got very confused, even watching it on YouTube. He is, of course, much more responsive to the rope halter than the other one. Plus I can hide it in my pocket and slip it on easily. (note: goal for this month is to teach Tank to be caught easily.)

I discovered that Tank must have worn blankets in the past because he has not issue with them. Even when I didn't tie him and he wandered around with a blanket half on. No spook, just wandered around until he managed to step on it and pull it off. Otherwise, he has been blanketed with no issues what so ever.

I also discovered that his tail is one big rat's nest. In the picture it might looks like it is nice, but under those outer hairs is just a big tangle. I was unsure what to do as I have been lacking places to tie him up but.. hey ... if I loop the lead around something ... anything really. He stays. Damn he is a good horse. So most of the weekend was spent trying to untangle his tail. I am about 1/3 of the way done. Last weekend I used Mane and Tail Detangler. This weekend I think I am going to use a mixture of cornstarch, baking soda, and ground oatmeal. A dry shampoo that should help with the tangles also.

I must admit that I enjoy the challenge of detangling a tail. It is relaxing and at the end, it is like unwrapping a present as you see a beautiful tail . I think that he is going to have a very nice tail when I am done.

Over all it has been a nice few weeks. Although it has been cold. I am very much looking forward to the nicer weather coming. 40's and windy is okay, but I would like a nice few days in the 50's or 60's.

Day 3: Mirror Mirror

Okay horrible picture of Tanky..

I came out on Sunday with a totally different attitude. I decided to play with a little of the Horse Speak book. I went out without the idea that I would catch him. Although I did want to give him some feed, when I went into his paddock I didn't try and catch him, just have a conversation.

Well it was much easier to have a conversation with Tank's pasture mate. We did the greeting, mirrored each other, and I explored some of the "buttons" mainly, the move your head out of my space button. I have to admit that it worked really well with him. But as I was doing that, Tank got curious and came over.

Although it was not as easy to have a "conversation" we did have a greeting but he was not into mirroring. At least not into mirroring my behaviors but he is a perfect mirror for attitude.


With a attitude, of " Hey let's get to know one another," he was much more relax. He even licked my hand. Okay that made me laugh. It has been a long time since I was licked by a horse. After a long time of just talking and petting (and licking) he let me halter him. I took him out to eat some feed.

Our walk was calmer. With a gentle pressure, he was willing to follow. He even was okay with me digging my car. I do love the way he doesn't spook. If something bothers him he stops and looks. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head.

Everyday is just learning what Tank knows and what he doesn't. And sometimes what sets him off.

On a side note, as much as I love this purple halter, it has to go. It is just too big and probably why he isn't responding well. He came with a halter already, so it might be back to that one.

But how could I stay annoyed with this face for long!

Days 2: Who's the boss?

It's Mr. Tank to you.

Sorry that picture just makes him look so full of himself. Not to say that he isn't.

Weather gods were shining favorably this weekend, so I took full advantage of that. It was nice to have a horse to go see. I am actually figuring out how to get down to the barn and back without getting lost.

Yea! Progress!

Tank is a work in progress and I am still evaluating him. His whole known history is only 6 months. I wonder often what happened to him from the time he was captured to until he found himself with a one way ticket to Mexico.

Over the weekend I did a lot of stuff wrong, and a few things right, Saturday was mostly wrong. Saturday, catching was a problem and then I had groomed him just outside of the paddock. I have no place to tie him up except in his paddock, with two horses lose in there I didn't want to do that. He stood really well while I was on his left side, but right was difficult.

He was trying to walk through me and I was doing my best to put him in his place. Eventually he had a temper tantrum. Tank stepped away from me and started pawing. He lifted his leg way up. He pawed the air two or three times, when he realized that he was not hitting the gate. So he moved to make sure he got a few good swats in on the gate. Is he a brat or what!

Getting him to back was next to impossible, he just was not going to give to pressure for anything!

By that time I figured what did I have to lose. I wormed him. OMG ... he didn't care about that. Stood there and ate it all. Didn't even try to spit it out!

I did take him for a walk around the farm, which is part of our routine. Just trying to getting him use to the sights and sounds. He hates going in the barn, but we went in anyway. He is pretty good once we get in there but he is nervous.

As we were leaving the barn, I was working on him not rushing past me. We would back, but he was not going to. At the door he really wanted to rush past me, I tried to block him. Choice to back up to rush through the garbage can. He chose to take out the garbage can. I was a little perturbed.

I ordered a rope halter and I changed my attitude my attitude for Sunday.