The Tale of a Tail

Thanks to everyone who guessed about the picture I posted yesterday. When my daughter brought the object in the house, it looked like a luffa sponge. I had to get closer to see what it was. You were quite right when you guessed it was a tail.

Wendell is a half chunk. That's draft horse slang for my gelding who is half Hafflinger and half Belgian. He's chunky, so the name kind of fits. We named him Wendell after Wendell Berry the agricultural essayist. His writing is wonderful. The essayist, not the horse.


Weeks ago, Wendell discovered a briar bush. It became his favorite place to scratch his hind quarters. The more he scratched, the more his tail tangled with burrs. His forelock was terribly tangled, but my horsey girl was able to comb it out. The tail was so hopelessly tangled that our resident horse hairdresser had to chop it off. Wendell wasn't hurt. She only cut the hair. It will grow, but it will take a bit of time. I'm just happy to see him swish his tail without hitting himself in the legs with something that resembled a hairy baseball bat.

This is Wendell before he discovered the bush with burrs.

Wendell with a tail full of burrs. The other horse is Molly.

His sporty new hair-do!

I understand you've been discussing my tail. I'd like to quote 
the famous equine, Eeyore. "It's not much of a tail, but I'm
rather attached to it!"