Ginger used to make tails higher ?

[GeorgeandHumble]

I thought for sure when I opened ythis thread I would be reading about an old wives tale that if you fed a pregnant mare some ginger that her foal would be born with a tail that sat higher on its back. I was surprised! I have never heard of gingering a horse to make its tail stand up. I guess I know now why I see so many pictures of horses with their tails held high yet never see any like that in person. I was just showing my partner pictures of horses with their tails held high and I said to him. "Look at how full of fire they look when they hold their tail like that." Little did I know they probably were on fire. I can't believe anyone would do that, well, yes I can, I used to show dogs and saw people do some pretty strange things to better their chances of winning. Humble will sometimes hold his tail high but that's only because he is feeling his oats, not his ginger.

 

[Minimor]

I can't think of any other breed that allows for gingering.

I'm not sure which ones allow for it--I haven't looked at the rules to know if it's legal for Saddlebreds & Hackneys, or if they just do it in spite of the rules. Morgans have a rule against it, but many show with ginger anyway. Arabians too.

One big problem with enforcing it is how would you do it? I don't know of a scientifically proven test for the substance, so lawsuits would be lost.How do you know for 100% that the horse with the tail up is gingered and not excited and high as a kite? Until you can answer those questions, there can be no enforcement, it would be financial suicide and not responsible for the organizations. Plus, don't forget, a lawsuit can be brought against you as well for any damages of lost revenue, lost opportunities to win, and no proof anything was done wrong.

Sad, but true.

That's it exactly. There isn't any official test for it, which means no way to prove it. That's why so many breeds continue to not enforce the no gingering rule.
And when it comes to Miniatures....if the measuring rule can't be enforced, how on earth does anyone expect the no gingering rule to be enforced?????

Its hard to describe unless you see it but you can almost always tell its ginger as the horse is almost nuts with the burning. A horse that naturally carries their tail high is not frantic and constantly looking at their own rear

No, it isn't always easy or even possible to tell for sure if a horse is or isn't gingered. Many that are gingered are not frantic or constantly looking at their own rear--they are not "almost nuts with the burning". They act quite normal--some don't.....some do react quite negatively to the ginger, but most are really not obvious, other than the elevated tail. In the video I mentioned earlier, where a number of foals were shown gingered--it wasn't at all obvious. With only one exception they all looked like normal, natural foals that had been stalled overnight & then turned out in an unfamiliar paddock to run around--they were flagging their tails & strutting around, ears up. One foal was doing a lot of kicking...and without knowing the foal at all it was still possible to think that this one foal was just an especially feisty fellow who was feeling high spirited and had a tendency for kicking (as some foals do!)....if I were to shut any of my foals in for the night & then turn them out in the morning (without ginger) and perhaps jazzed them up some by crinkling a plastic bag, well, all one of them would be flagging their tails & showing off just like those foals were. Watching that video I couldn't tell....I've seen many show horses that I knew were gingered, but if I didn't know for sure that they were, I wouldn't have been able to judge if they were or weren't with complete accuracy.
At that recent show my friend's horse looked enough like he could be gingered, even though he wasn't, that the judges questioned it.

I for one would never protest a horse that I thought was gingered--because I know all too well that I could be wrong and I don't believe in throwing away a protest fee on something so impossible to determine. If I actually SAW a handler gingering a particular horse then it would be different--then I know for sure--but even then with no way of proving it (because come on, how many people are actually going to take part in the taste test?????

) I still would not bother.

 

[rubyviewminis]

I learn something new everyday. I too thought the original question might pertain to some wives tale. Now I understand why the Saddlebreds and TWH lookes so un-natural to me with their tails held, to me, un-natural. I realize there are/were other barbaric methods used on those poor horses.

 

[kaykay]

I have noticed though, that my horses will only really flag their tails (in hand) when they are moving. When standing still, the tail really starts to come back down. In a gingered horse, it's always up and the horse is pretty cranky!

Exactly. I have never seen a gingered horse that acted comfortable. I can only speak from my own experience. All the ones I have seen are very uncomfortable. Not just excited. Theres a big difference.

I have noticed especially with stallions that Feature will lift his tail as soon as he walks out of his stall. Then if he sees mares its straight up LOL. But once he relaxes he lets it back down.

And almost all my foals flag their tails when they are really moving

I have always said the show life of a horse is relatively a short period. Once the show days are over I want to have a mentally and physically sound horse. So if my horses place lower because I refuse to take off eyelashes, trim hooves to nothing, ginger etc then so be it. I sleep good at night and so do my horses.

 

[georgiegirl]

As a relative newby to miniature horses, although 60+ years in the stock horse industry, I was truly hoping I had found a breed that loved their horses enough not to do all the horrendous things that you see in other breeds.

I think that probably the Tennessee Walker horses are probably the most mistreated, although the cruel practices appear in most breeds. The people who perpetrate these atrocities must lie awake nights trying to dream up these cruel acts.

I guess I dont get what the point is other than taking home a ten cent ribbon and outdoing the neighbors down the street. Whooo Hooo aint that great.

I am certainly glad to read that people on this board do not perform these acts and that they truly love their horses.

Horses are put in pens, corrals, and stalls. They have no choice but to be at the whim of the owners, trainers, agents or caregivers. Whatever these people choose to dole out to them is what they get. No wonder horses crib, stall weave, wind suck, and have ulcers. I would to, wouldnt you?

Rules need to be installed by all associations connected to the miniature horse/shetland industry to put a stop to this nonsense. There is no excuse for inhumanity to any creature!!!