- By Patty Wilber
Sweet Julian came for two weeks to be started (and he was an amazing horsey student! Eager to learn, lots of try and devoured whatever I could teach him.)
Sweet Julian, star student! Just look at that face!
“Devoured” being The operative word.
Not only did he chow down on training, but pretty much everything else he could put his mouth on!
I was warned, but, hey, I kept him in a separate pen! How bad could it be?
One day I forgot to hook up the hot wire.
Chomp. The hot wire is a combination of yellow plastic for visibility and thin wire, to conduct the electrical charge. It wads up really well when masticated, but apparently gets pokey bits as the wire breaks, so wasn’t great for long term satisfaction, or swallowing, thank goodness.
The hose.
Chomp. I was taking these pictures when he spied the hose! Fortunately, I’d had enough foresight to remove all hoses from his pen when he came, so this was just an opportunistic grab!
The hose!
Toot’s fly mask.
Chomp. I buy the super indestructible fly masks, so not much damage, just a lot of slobber (and mud when he dropped it in the dirt and walked on it a little). He took it off Toots every day (some days more than once) until I gave him his own fly mask. Toots also stole his once, and then gave it to him to chew! All of this over the fence.
Lead ropes.
Chomp. Turns out all lead ropes are not equally delectable! I soon figured out which one was least palatable.
Which lead rope provides the most oral satisfaction?
Black! And not just because he is tied with it. I usually tied him (once I figured it out) with the white one, and his chomps per second were significantly reduced. I collected data, ran some statistics and have a graph of that if you like to see it. (Not really.)
The end is preferred. (Stetson, who also likes hoses, agrees.)
Wood.
He did NOT chew any wood. Guess he was busy enough with…
TAILS.
Chomp! Tails, I WAS warned, are a favorite of his. But he was in a SEPARATE pen. I did not suspect LT and Longshot would stand next to the gate, acting as though they were in the beauty salon while he reached through and blissfully did their ‘dos!
Julian (great name for a hair dresser!) did not finish with LT! Did he get tired or did she move? Or maybe she was going for the rat-tail look.
Longshot went for layers!
Thankfully Stetson and Lacey, both of whom have beautiful, thick tails and are being shown his season, were wearing tail socks (although I later learned from his owner that when Julian is determined, tail socks will be removed!)
Lacey in her soccer sock (donated by Wesley, who cleans stalls for me.)
Julian was penned in the area adjacent to my saddling space, and sometimes I’d tie horses in his pen. I quickly learned that Julian is OBSESSED with tails, and it takes him about 30 seconds to locate and attack unguarded hair.
I set up a photo op*. I tied Mojo to the rail in Julian’s pen and turned Julian loose.
We had been riding and Julian was thirsty, so he went right to the water trough and took a good long drink.
See the water dripping and his tongue sticking out?
He’s spotted The Tail!
The Approach!
“so glad u r here, mojo! my name is julian and i am the best in the business. i will provide u with a new amazing and modern look for your tail!”
“we will start at the top…”
“…and work r way down!”
* No tails were harmed in the filming of this event (because I got in there and extracted the tail immediately!) But it was interesting to see that Mojo did not move a foot and seemed quite content to have his tail eaten…oh sorry Julian…I mean coiffed!
**************
Another issue with tails, especially in the summer, is rubbing. LT, in addition to having her ends trimmed, also elected to adopt that behavior!
Rubbed! The hair at the top is now woefully short. Maybe her plan was a mullet?
The two best ways to prevent this are:
1. Conditioner to relieve the dry itchy feeling. Maybe Selsun Blue? (Never tried it. That idea just came to me.) I obviously did not follow my own advice until it was too late. She got Mane n Tail conditioner on it the other day.
2. A summer sheet to cover the tail.
Toots will be our model. She is is shown here, wearing a UV blocking Kool Sheet and a tail sock.
The top of her tail is protected from rubbing, and the bottom from Julian (and anyone else that gets a hairy yen!)
She has this Kool Sheet (which has really held up well –against things like CHEWING!–, as the reviews said it would) to prevent sunburn on her pink skin. She also wears a fly mask for the same reason. Saving the tail was a perk. The sheet also keeps her coat in better condition, and since I am also showing her, that is another nice feature!
That is the end of our tail tale. I hope all your tail tales are long and flowing!
But one last thing: Cometa’s eye is doing really well, although he does have a large divot in his head that will be permanent.
5/21/2013, two days after the injury.
6/26/2013. Just a corner of pink.
Head divot! Glad it was over a sinus and not his brain! He will get another week or two off and then we will start riding him again! YAY!
Funny blog today, Patty! Julian is a cutie but what a troublesome devil!! So happy Cometa’s eye did so well.
Thanks Lori! And if it weren’t for your pirate mask! I will bring it tomorrow and sunday to the show!
What a hoot–but so sad for the tails! (You keep him over there away from Mr. Duncan–!)
Cometa looks *great*! Hurray!
PS I put up all my fly traps and such today. Yay.
I just had to laugh at Julian, after I got over my dismay on the tails. The phot sequence was fun to shoot because his response was SO immediate and focussed when he spied Mojos tail!
I have my fly traps–haven’t put them up yet.
Thanks re Cometa!
I just couldn’t help but think of my Angela as a puppy—she chewed up every piece of bedding in the house, including mine. So I’m still just giggling about your horsy chewer.
Thank goodness Julian wasn’t a house horse!!! i wonder what he would have liked best???
Glad to see the amazing improvement in your horse’s eye!WoW! on the chewer; that kind of damage is usually reserved for goats!!
What brand are the ‘super indestructible’ fly masks? Please share!
TIA for any info!
Hi Margo, I knew goats were good at “eating anything” but I didn’t really translate into eating anything that wasn’t actually food. But makes sense!
Duramesh fly masks! Schneiders has them.
Thanks, Patty!
He is acting like a puppy. Do horses have teething problems, like babies and dogs?
Hi Peggy, Sometimes they do have teething issues, but some horses just seem to be oral and others do not…
If the rubbing is actually itchy skin shampoos will soothe for a little while and kill any fungus.but will get itchy itself.
To soothe itching dry skin mouthwash gives a soothing cleanse. Don’t forget that if an udder is itchy sometimes they’ll rub their tail right off.
Thanks Johnice–I had no idea about the mouth wash–would never have guessed–! I think maybe sometimes some other “netheryay-a” (Big Band Theory reference) also get itchy and result in tail rubbing!.
for fly-bite itchies, we’ve had good success with cleaning with mouthwash, then treating with benadryl cream and/or bag balm. our worst tail-rubber is the (still, determinedly, feral mustang, and there is no way we’re gonna be washing those private lady-bits on her!