Mutilating horses & steers’ tails is cruel, agree Scotland & Illinois judge

(Beth Clifton collage)

McHenry County case brings first known convictions for steer-tailing

GLASGOW,  Scotland;  WOODSTOCK,  Illinois––August 2026 may be noted in some quarters as the month in which both the government of Scotland and circuit judge Justin M. Hansen of McHenry County,  Illinois formally recognized that removing the tails of large quaduped grazing animals from their hindquarters constitutes cruelty.

Whether tail removal is performed surgically,  or even just by shaving hair to better display horses’ asses in Scottish show rings,   or violently,  by yanking skin and hair from bone in felling running steers during the cola event of charreada,  also known as “Mexican rodeo,”  it is unacceptable,  two different authorities have concluded,  in two different nations,  bucking two different entrenched cultural traditions.

Shire horse with shaved tail.
(Elena Edwards photo)

Recommendation & informal precedent

The Scottish government edict has only the force of recommendation,  not of law,  from publication on August 25,  2026 forward,  but the recommendation may prove persuasive.

Animal Concern Scotland secretary Elena Edwards certainly hopes so,  “Having campaigned on this for the past three years,  providing evidence to the Scottish government showing the importance of tails to horses,”  Edwards emailed.

            (See Winning one for the horses––and perhaps a big win for greyhounds too.)

            Guilty pleas to animal cruelty from three Illinois charros,  accepted by circuit judge Justin M. Hansen twenty days earlier by Judge Hansen,  on August 5,  2026,  do not set a legal precedent,  since McHenry County Court is not an appellate court,  but are the first convictions for so-called “steer tailing” known to ANIMALS 24-7.

As such,  the guilty pleas and convictions may prove influential,  if only informally so.

Clydesdale with shaved tail.
(Elena Edwards photo.)

“Equids should not have their tail hair shaved”

Elaborated Elena Edwards,  “On August 25,  2026,  the Scottish government finally published a revised Welfare of Equids:  Guidance,”  including the phrase “Equids should not have their tail hair shaved or have the majority of it removed unless there is a clear veterinary or welfare reason.”

Thus,  77 years after the near unanimous passage of a 1949 bill––originally introduced in 1938––to protect horses from tail docking,  best practice recommendations now recognize that shaving a horse’s tail down to as short and slim a tuft of hair as possible amounts,  for the horse,  to almost the same thing as cutting the tail completely off:  it can no longer be used effectively to protect the horse’s hindquarters from insect attack.

Exulted Edwards,  “Horses across Scotland now have a chance of not having their tails shaved off for purely cosmetic reasons––if responsible horse owners follow the guidance––and that is something to celebrate.

(PETA photo)

Clydesdale & Shire horses

“Many heavy horse owners in the United Kingdom,”  Edwards explained,  “have long clung to the practice of removing the majority of tail hair from Clydesdale and Shire horses in the name of tradition,  with foals as young as six months old being deprived the use of their tails to better show off the hind end at horse shows.”

But Edwards added,  “I’m saddened to say that some of the institutions there to protect these beautiful animals that are an iconic part of Scottish history have been unsupportive,  making clear that they are determined not to have anyone tell them how to present their horses’ tails.”

Edwards mentioned that the 1949 ban on docking and nicking horses’ tails had already established that “removing the tail of a horse is inhumane,”  providing a link to the Hansard record [minutes of the House of Commons] hearing on the Docking & Nicking Bill.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Member of Parliament thought the bill might start a movement

The 10,000-word proceedings opened with a detailed description of the uses and functions of horses’ tails by bill author Sir Dymoke White of Fareham.

Among the many endorsements of the Docking & Nicking Bill that followed,  Thomas Braddock (1887-1976),  a Member of Parliament only from 1945 to 1950,  prophesied that “In supporting this Bill this afternoon we are probably doing more than we think.

“It is possible,”  Braddock suggested,  “that the unanimous opinion of all sides of the House with regard to the treatment of that glorious and beautiful and lifelong friend of man,  the horse,”  might not only “be a foretaste of dealing humanely and decently with creatures of the animal kingdom,”  but also of “a better approach with regard to the treatment by man of his fellow man.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Guilty pleas in Illinois

While Braddock may have been unduly optimistic,  Shaw Local reporter Payton Felix on August 26, 2026 noted the conviction of three steer-tailers for degloving steers even though,  Felix summarized,  “Many northern Illinois county officials say current state laws don’t outlaw steer tailing.”

Despite that contention,  Felix narrated,  “In October 2025,  Freddy Silva,  37,  of Sleepy Hollow,  Alfredo Gallegos,  50,  of Hampshire,  and Alfredo Magallanes,  24,  of Marengo,  were charged with animal cruelty in McHenry County,”  along with a minor,  whose name was not disclosed.

The disposition of the minor’s case has also not been disclosed.

However,  Payton continued,  “Silva,  Gallegos,  and Magallanes pleaded guilty.”

The charges,  Payton explained,  followed an August 2025 steer-tailing competition in Woodstock,  “when police say the men each pulled a cow’s tail so hard they tore the skin off the bone,  causing a degloving injury.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

“I don’t think it was an accident,”  says judge

The primary evidence consisted of drone video collected by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness,  shared promptly with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.

“McHenry County assistant state’s attorneys Cody Weigand and Joe Creager,”  Payton recounted,  “presented four drone videos that showed the men grabbing a steer’s tail,  knocking the animal over and ripping the steer’s tail off.”

The defendants contended that degloving steers’ tails was accidental.

“I don’t think it was an accident,” concluded Judge Hansen.

Charro waves skin and hair torn from steer’s tail as a trophy.
(Showing Animals Respect & Kindness photo)

“People can commit crimes within otherwise lawful events”

“The videos suggest to me that injuries were not the point,  but also not a surprise,”  Hansen continued.

With four steers degloved that one day alone,  “It simply defies common sense,”  Hansen said,  that each time was a surprise.”

Hansen took particular note of video showing a charro twirling the ripped-off remnant of a steer’s tail in his hand “in what I would say is a particularly celebratory manner.”

Beth & Merritt Clifton.

While steer-tailing may not be specifically illegal,  Hansen observed,  “People can commit crimes within otherwise lawful events,” Hansen said.

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