How To Attach and Braid a Tail Bag into a Horse Tail

 Tail bags are an excellent way to protect a horse’s tail and help it grow longer and thicker. Although a tail bag does not actually help a horse tail grow longer (although there is some debate over whether the weight of the bag may encourage slight improvement in growth rates) a tail bag can keep the existing tail clean and tangle-free.

  For white and flaxen horse tails, a tail bag can prevent staining and over time will restore stained white tails to near-original color. Tail bags are frequently used on show horses to minimize broken hairs, stains, and tangles. Tail bags are especially useful on horses turned out to pasture- as the tailbag prevents hairs snagged on fences, feeders, and brush. Tailbags also help protect long horse tails by keeping the bottom of the tail from dragging through ice and mud. If used in the summer, you absolutely must attach some sort of switch to the end of the braided tail so the horse can keep flies away.

  The following are step-by-step instructions on my method for attaching three-tube tail bags. For instructons on making your own tail bag, see Instructions for Making a Tail Bag. This method for attaching a tail bag creates a very secure attachment- often these tail bags stay on my pasture-kept horses for weeks without needing retied.If you have trouble keeping the tail bags in place, try placing zip ties around the outside of the tailbag, tightly, to hold it in place.