Any Horse Can Have a Long Lush Mane and Tail! Here is the Secret!
Rose Has a Lovely Mane and Tail Even Though She is on Pasture 24/7
In the late 1970’s I owned a Tennessee Walking Horse named Sun’s Love Surprise. She was a lovely 16.2 hand homozygous black mare. Everything about her was lovely, except for her mane and tail. She had a broomstick for a tail and her mane was so thin that it looked like baby hair. She had to wear fake manes and tails in shows. I struggled with her lack of hair. I tried everything, except the right thing. When I groomed her, I noticed that she had very flaky skin. No one could tell me what the problem was.
I was told to use mineral oil, among tons of other products. None of which worked. Then one day while I was at work, (I was apprenticing with a horse trainer named Herbert Smith) one of the “old time” trainers, Henry gave me the answer.
Henry and I were talking about preparation for an upcoming show. I was riding a lovely strawberry roan with snow white legs, mane and tail that Henry had trained. The Roan’s name was Easter Parade. He was breathtaking, even more so because his mane was thick, snowy white and hung to his knees. His tail had to be tied up so that it would drag the ground behind him as we entered the ring to show. He always won. I made some kind of comment to Henry about my mare’s lack of hair and need for false hair to show. When he laughed, I thought he was mean. Then he handed me a bottle of secret yellow elixir.
One week later, I could see thick new growth and no more flaky skin. A couple of years later, she no longer had to wear falls to show. Henry shared his secret mixture with me. The secret was simply a sulfur solution. Back then, we had to mix it ourselves using mineral oil and powdered sulfur. It was scary to mix.
In 2006 when I purchased my horse, Rose, her prior owner had shaved half of her mane down in an attempt to train it. I started immediately looking for a sulfur solution that I would not have to mix myself. I found two. One is easy to apply, but does not contain as much sulfur as some horses need. It is however, easy to find, easy to use, and works pretty good over time. It is called MTG or Mane and Tail Groom. Used once a week it will increase growth and condition the hair. The sulfur also works to kill any nasty fungi that cause flaky skin and hair loss. (That is something that would have been great to know 30 years ago.) MTG is an oil and sulfur mixture basically so it is thin and easy to apply.
The second sulfur solution is called Nustock. It is a thick sulfur cream. It is necessary to rub it into the roots of the mane and tail. This takes a bit of time and neither one of these solutions smells very good. Nustock is much stronger and works much faster. The picture of Rose, above was taken just one year after I received her. Notice that her mane has grown out more than 12 inches in that one year. One inch of hair growth a month, that is pretty impressive.
I have Rose on pasture 24/7. I do not stall her. I do not wrap her mane or her tail. As you can see, her tail touches the ground and is so thick that I can’t reach around it unless I use two hands. I have not had her on any supplements other than Seminole Pasture Block in the past two years.
If you like the tail dragging the ground, just loosely braid the bottom below the tailbone to shorten it. The tail will naturally break off wherever it drags the ground. Same for the mane, if you want it longer, just wrap the ends to protect it.
If you like to use supplements, I like Super 14 for mane and tail growth and health of hooves. It will make the growth faster and stronger.
Check out my Hub on strong healthy hooves if you liked this one. Let me know how this works for you. I love success stories.
Seminole Grass Balancer Block and Feed Supplement
- http://www.seminolefeed.com/pdf_files/grassbalancebloc_03.pdf
- http://www.seminolefeed.com/pdf_files/grassbalancemineral_03.pdf
