Tails Should Be Called Tales As They Always Tell A Story

For me I if I think of the sternum as the stern of the boat then the tail is the rudder and if the rudder is not functioning correctly the rest of the body will have to compensate. And if the body is not correct the tail will tell the story as the horse always has to counterbalance throughout its body any discrepancies it might be dealing with

We are often told that we have to follow the diagonal for dysfunction so say right hind left front and vice versa but if you stand and look down the back of the horse its more complicated than a simple diagonal as we will often see tail off to one side, lumbar to another, neck to another and then finally the head so for me I always see a zig zag pattern rather than one direct line as the horse counterbalances through the body. So, what came first the tail or the body, well will first look at the anatomy and that may answer your question

Tail Anatomy

It has approximately 18 vertebrae,(coccygeal) but often we will refer it as caudal vertebrae, we say approx. as this may vary and will vary in size as it goes further down the tail, it is part of the spine and has two arteries feeding into it but as we know injuries to tails from leaving bandaging on to long etc can occur as the blood flow is not as efficient. The first three tail bones start where the sacrum ends (often you will see a therapist lift the tail and feel this area as they are feeling where the tail ends and the sacrum begins). Even though the spinal cord ends at the cauda equina nerves, muscles and ligaments will continue and fascia is also an important continuation. The muscle in fact what moves the tail are part of a chain of muscles and why a tail issue can indicate a back or even a further forward issue. If we think whole horse, we can never think of an issue as an isolated issue for instance we often just think sacrum or sacroiliac dysfunction we have to first ask why this particular area has become overloaded

Tail position

We all know the tail will reflect the mood of the horse it is after all a communication tool a swishing tail when working can mean the horse is either finding the work hard or trying to counterbalance. It can tell you to go away or just make a great fly swatter. It can indicate pain or unhappiness maybe swishing to its side during a colic episode, clamping down if it has pain, sticking out rigid so as not to move to much in the hind end, off to one side if there is a soft tissue pull, there are many reasons and to pull just one reason is often hard as a. we probably are seeing this horse long after the initial problem occurred and b. if ligaments are involved healing time is long and often we only focus on the tight side without thinking of strengthening the loose side.

A good tail

What I am looking for when watching a horse is not just the tail but how the horse is moving as a whole, I would like to see a nice swinging tail going in rhythm with the body as this will indicate if the horse has corrected movement throughout the body, remember the old days when learning to ride we would want a slight tail lift and a swing and we could feel the fluid movement throughout the body...And touch its important I touch the dock to see how it is feeling if I hold the tail and it feels rigid then I know there is some work to do further up in the body

Exercise

It's hard to say a one cap fits all because it depends on entirely what I find as like I say often, we come in long after the dysfunction has happened and remember unless through its through direct injury the tail is a reflection of the body so where do we start to help, first we must make sure pain is not present as we can't rehab if the horse is feeling or suspecting pain, so that is the first thing we address either through bodywork or first seeing the vet. We can't perform miracles if the tail has been off to one side for 10 years it's going to take work to get it straight and a little bit straighter is a good start and often it will be a mix of therapy and exercise to help strengthen the area and offload some of the compensation but this will take time for it to be long lasting...remember a wonky tail is usually the end result of a wonky body and it may never go back to where it was before but we always have to think of lessening the repercussions throughout the body

This is already a long post, and it could go longer as there are so many reasons and whys, so I hope I have covered just a small part but a good tip is just once a month take a video or pic of your horses hind end especially if you are trying something new because catching things early is so much easier to deal with