Veterinary Past

Origin of tail docking in the Belgian draft horse: a fashion introduced in the last decades of the nineteenth century

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Abstract

Tail docking became a current practice in Belgian draft horses during the last decades of the nineteenth century. In this paper, a number of paintings and drawings by famous ‘animaliers’, in this case horse painters, are reproduced which convincingly demonstrate that heavy horses with intact tails were in high esteem until about a century and a half ago. Amputation combined with partial resection of the tail flexor muscles, fashionable in riding and cart horses of the upper class, became popular in the late nineteenth century among leading draft horse breeders and owners. The trickle-down effect of this fashion was the leading cause of change. This coincided with a triumphant period in the history of this horse type. Later on, fashion changed to very short, nearly invisible tails. Resection of the tail flexor muscles became obsolete. Although forbidden by law, amputations are still carried out under medical pretext: as a way to remediate badly healing tail wounds and sores.