While some horse owners resort to hair extensions and fake tails, Summer Breeze, an 11 year old paint mare has earned the distinction of holding the World Record for the longest natural equine tail: it’s 12 feet, 5 inches long. Summer Breeze is owned by Crystal Socha and her brother Casey, owners of Hoof Print Farm in Augusta, Kansas.

Crystal, 26, combs out and shampoos the horse’s tail once every two months, a process that takes her around three hours.

The tail is so long that in between washings it is braided.

Summer Breeze apparently came by her tail without extensive extra efforts by her owners. It simply kept growing. Her mane is also quite long and might also have been world-record setting except for the fact that it’s slightly chewed; she gets it in her mouth when she grazes.

Most horse owners don’t actually want a tail that’s 12 feet long, they just want a full glossy tail that comes down below their horse’s hocks. Since it takes almost seven years for a tail hair to grow from the root to the fetlocks, proper caTo read about the techniques that can help you add inches to your horse’s tail, read: Grooming a Horse’s Tail.

many horse owners complain about their hhrow the brush away! It takes about 7 years from a tail hair to grow from the root to the fetlocks. Brushing will pull out hairs faster than they grow back.
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2

Grooming a horse’s tail by hand
Gently massage the tailbone in a milking fashion. This relaxes your horse and stimulates blood flow to the tail bone, which increases hair growth. Remove any burrs, hay or straw from the tail and spray with leave in conditioner.
Step
3
Starting at the top of the hair, separate each hair ideally or two or three at a time (see photo). Work knots out gently with your fingers. Don’t pull on the hair, but instead just gently detangle and separate. Grooming your horse’s tail in this fashion will take longer than brushing; be patient with your horse.