# Carrying tail high: What is this?



## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I never considered high tail carriage to be a bad thing. But I did notice your girl is a QH, correct? So it's not that common for the breed.

But in a lot of other breeds it is normal and even desirable.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Picture? I'm going to see if I can snoop and find something in your barn or profile.

My horse carries his tail high. He's a Dutch Warmblood/Paint cross. He only does it when he's happy though, when he's not doing so great he clamps it down.










You mean like this?

That doesn't look to have anything wrong with it, she's just letting it hang instead of clamping it down on her hind.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Even in QH's, depending on their breeding, it's not exactly _un_common either. I'm training a filly right now (3 year old) that carries her tail straight up in the air until she's warmed up a bit. Even when she's tired, she doesn't carry it flat, but she's bred to be rather high-strung as well. That's the horse's I see it in most commonly.


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## DressageIsToDance (Jun 10, 2010)

That's kind of what worried me in the first place, trailhorse. It's definitely not a normal QH thing, and she is pure QH through and through - not an Arab in sight in her ped!

I don't have pics of her doing it, although I can try to get some tomorrow.


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## DressageIsToDance (Jun 10, 2010)

Oh no, she carries it higher under saddle. And I did have her tail pulled at one point, and it's still growing out underneath, so I feel like it looks higher than it is to others because of that. Actually, I looked at your horse's pictures, and she carries it much the same.

My trainer seems to think she's grouchy under saddle, but I actually think her grouchiness is not due to anything I'm doing or her having to work, but because she doesn't like riding in the arena with other horses. She doesn't do the grouchy faces when no other horses are out.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

DressageIsToDance said:


> Actually, I looked at your horse's pictures, and she carries it much the same.
> 
> My trainer seems to think she's grouchy under saddle, but I actually think her grouchiness is not due to anything I'm doing or her having to work, but because she doesn't like riding in the arena with other horses. She doesn't do the grouchy faces when no other horses are out.


If she's swishing it and pinning her ears, then yes grouchy. Otherwise.. nope that's just her being her happy self, IME.


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

We need videos!!


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## mselizabeth (Oct 29, 2011)

My quarter horse/thoroughbred/mutt carries his tail a little high. 
Not animated like an arab, but still high. 

Just the way he is. I was told it is a "relaxed position" by our trainer.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

Lacey carries her tail super high all the time (but she is an Arab). Higher when she's pleased/excited but when she's moving, it's up (unless it's raining in which case she clamps it to her patootie, she hates the rain).

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would think it probably just means she's feeling comfortable and relaxed. 

This is pretty average tail height for Lacey (sorry for the giant picture...I tried to make it smaller but it's refusing to obey...) :


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## caseymyhorserocks (Apr 5, 2010)

My friends horse had a QH that carried his tail really high. That being said.. He was a really strange horse. Super spooky..


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

my friends Half Arab carried her tail high whenever she was excited or galloping


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## PaintedFury (Aug 18, 2010)

Does she do it at the beginning of a ride only, the entire time you ride, or at the end of your ride?

The reason I ask is some horses will carry their tails out like that when they are fresh, regardless of breed. I've also known a horse that once he got warmed up would carry his tail out like that. And most horses that I've been around will carry their tails out a little when they are hot, it's to let air circulate, and try to cool themselves. I guess the fact that I've noticed that makes me a little too observant.


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## DressageIsToDance (Jun 10, 2010)

She just does it the entire ride. When she gets frustrated about something I'm asking that she doesn't understand I can tell the difference because she starts wringing it. Otherwise it isn't very active, just there and carried higher.


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## PaintedFury (Aug 18, 2010)

You've eliminated all of the possibilities of pain, so as long as it don't affect her performance, why should it matter? When people ask why she does it, just tell them that she's trying to cool her a$$ down! Sorry, that's the smarta$$ in me.

If your trainer thinks it will be a problem in a class you can do what my friends dad used to do with his horse that done it. Keep in mind that we would show during the summer, so it was warm enough for this. He would take a tube sock, fill it with ice, and place it under the horse's tail. The horse would clamp his tail down on it, and hold it there through the entire WP class.


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## DressageIsToDance (Jun 10, 2010)

I don't think my trainer is concerned with it in regards to looks. I think she was more concerned that it was due to pain. Others, and I won't go into detail, make comments that have a snarky tone that really irks me, so I'm seriously going to use that the next time I get asked.


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## PaintedFury (Aug 18, 2010)

cool beans. At least you'll get a good laugh out of it, and probably irk them too. So you'll get to laugh even harder!


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

My mare, when she is fresh, will flip her tail over her back (QH mare like yours) but throughout the ride she will put it down. However, she still carries it higher than the other horse. She wrings it when I do something she doesn't like but otherwise it's just there. I don't consider it a problem really.


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