Sometimes the hair of the tail grows too bushy. The best way of thinning it is to comb it often with a dry comb, having small but strong teeth. When the hair is short, stiff, almost standing on end, it may be laid by wetting it, and tying the ends together beyond the stump Sometimes the whole tail is moistened, and surrounded by a hay-rope, which is applied evenly and moderately tight, and kept on all night. It makes the hair lie better during the next day, but seldom longer. Square tails require occasional clipping. The tail is held in a horizontal position by the left hand, while it is squared with scissors. The hair at the centre is rendered shorter than that at the Outside, and the tail, when elevated, resembles the feathered extremity of a pen. Horses of the racing kind have long tails with the points of the hair cut off.

A switch tail is taper at the point, not square. It is of varying length, according to the taste of the rider. It sometimes requires to be shortened without squaring it. The man seizes it within his left hand, cuts off the superfluous length with a knife not very sharp. He does not go slap-dash through it as a pair of scissors would; but, holding the knife across, with the edge inclined to the point of the tail, he draws it up and down as if he were scraping it; the hairs are cut as the knife approaches the hand that holds the tail; in this way he carries the knife all round, and reaches the central hairs as much from one point of the outer circumference as from any other. The hairs are thus left of unequal length, those at the middle being the longest.

The hair of the tail is usually combed and brushed every day, and when not hanging gracefully, it should be wet and combed four or five times a day. White tails, especially when of full length, require often to be washed with soap and water. On many horses the hair is very thin. When the hair is wanted exuberant, it should have little combing; in the studs of equestrian actors, the comb is never, or it is very little used. When applied to separate the hairs, care is taken not to pull them out. The operator seizes the hair near the root with his left hand, while the right uses the comb, which in this way is not permitted to act on the roots. At other times the water-brush, a little moistened, keeps the hair smooth and clean.

Formerly, many years ago, it was the custom to dye the tail and often the mane. Red was a favorite color. Nothing of that kind is done now, and the process need not be described. Both mane and tail used to be preserved in a bag when the horse was not at work.