In medieval times, cunning horse dealers would do anything to sell older horses. One of their tricks is called feaguing, where a live eel was placed in the horse’s rectum. This would make the horse look livelier, carrying its tail well.
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Gingering, or gingering the tail is the practice of making a horse carry its tail high, and to a lesser extent to encourage it to move in a lively fashion, by applying an irritant, such as raw ginger, to its anus or vulva. Historically the process, the purpose of which was often to make an older horse behave like one that was younger, or to temporarily liven up a sick or weakened animal, was known as feaguing (from which the modern term figging derives), and involved a piece of ginger, onion, pepper or tobacco. Francis Grose added in his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796) "and formerly, as it is said, a live eel", but that is very unlikely. The modern practice commonly involves a paste product with concentrated gingerol.
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