Bale string tail

How do you remove burrs and stickers from a bale string tail?

We have a couple of horse mannequins we use to teach Animal Technical Rescue to fire departments, essentially the extrication of large animals from overturned trailers, stuck in ravines or holes, mired in mud, etc.

The mannequins have tails that are made of bale string. The tails have become inundated with burrs and stickers. I have been tasked with cleaning these tails up. Were this a real horse, this would not be a problem; some WD 40 and some combing and we would be good.

The problem with these fake tails is they do not comb like real tails. I also worry about using any chemicals or other products that will destroy the string; these tails will not grow back.

I realize this may be one of the strangest questions posted here, but does anyone have any idea how I might do this without making it a career?
Mannequin

i picked up a burr removal stone from bass pro several years ago, i keep it in my truck,..i works great. here is a link
burr removal stone

Just MY thoughts, unless you have to pull the animal out by the tail, why even have it on a manikin in the first place? Does it really need to be that precise of a training? Hummm.

I would leave them in there.

A reminder of what the trainees might encounter in the real world, just in case they feel the need to grab an animal by the tail!

I like the lifting eyes! Are they allowed to use them?

Your mean and you dont work for my bosss wife who is all about appearance.

I teasing you as thats exactly my feeling. When the put this thing in the stall, she always wants the stall pristine. Like you, I say give them a dose of reality and a healthy dose of bacteria to bolster their immune system. I am certain you have read that livestock producers are healthier than many other professions in part because of their exposure to dirt.

Throw the tails away and replace them with bundles made from heavy 70# monofilament nylon or other commercial thick fiber. Time and repeated failure needs a different solution, not repeated failure. Jim

We actually use WD-40 on live horses to remove cockle burrs

well, you left out that vital part of the information.
Sorry.

I must have built a pretty good immune system as a kid! Dr. visits were few and far between.

We had a small flock of chickens. My job to clean the chicken house, kill the snakes, and pellet gun rat patrol!

No telling what I breathed and touched!

Oh and the Tootsie rolls the cats would leave in my sand box, so they told me!

Lots of puppy kisses!

Looks to me like, if thats baling string, then it's been twisted into a rope. Then ropes braided into the main part of the tail. Then the main part of the tail more than likely, simply goes through a hole in the plastic, and I'm guessing either tied in a knot on the inside or otherwise fastened so it don't pull out.

My advise would be, dis-assemble the mannequin , remove the tail. Make a new tail, install it, and reassemble the mannequin. New tail could be made out of a material of your choice. Wouldn't have to be baling twine, would it??? And that tail in the pics looks pretty extravagant for most real horses. I wouldn't expect to see that bulky of a tail with that much tail hair on an average horse. Maybe on a show horse, of a breed that has exceptional long main and tail hair.

On another thought, just cut off the tail. Shouldn't enable the mannequin from being used in a rescue training exersize.

Might try some WD 40 on a test strand and see what happens. I can't really see that WD 40 or other such mild chemicals would cause baling twine to melt and
desentigrad. Maybe gasoline or rubbing alcohol would.

Are these mannequins used for something else when not in use for
rescue training?? The importance of a burr-less tail would make more sense in a tail petting child's play type setting. Or a display type situation.

If it is baler twine I havent seen a on farm chemical that will destroy it. I think I would soak it in soap water for a few days and take a pressure washer to it.

Jimminey!!
Those must be in Australian dollars!
Have any ship supply stores?
Get some hunks of 1.5 or 2 inch synthetic rope and just replace the mangy old tails with new.
Instead of melting the cut end, let it unravel to suit, zip tie to stop it.

The tail is molded into it and not replaceable.

(quoted from post at 18:48:35 03/10/22) The tail is molded into it and not replaceable.

Click to expand...

Cut the old one off at about 4 inches.
Make a leather sleeve like a wrist band or short piece of thin hose, etc. to make a coupling of sorts. The coupling could look like an ornate band with braided laces or braids, etc.
Easily make it a replaceable tail forever more.

I see. So the mannequin is solid and not hollow? Probably to simulate the actual weight of a live horse during rescue drills.

The tails in the photographs look plenty long. Longer than need be actually. A horses tail (minus the hair) is really not all that long. Some people groom thier horses (cut the hair), so the hair is not much longer than the tail itself. In the photos, about 2/3's of the length of those tails would be nothing but hair on a real horse.

Why not cut the frayed part off, and un-fray some more of it. I doubt the burrs are in the rope part of it to bad, and mainly into the already frayed part. Once you get it done, keep the dang thing out of the burrs.
I'm still not understanding the importance of the tail. What if it got chopped off in the accident. If it wasn't there, would just add to the realness of being rescued from an accident. If it wasn't hurt, it wouldn't be being rescued from an accident to begin with.

I use a curry comb on my real horses tail