[HorseRidinCutie4224]

Hey. My first show of the season is on May 22nd. I have to work at the show, (its a 4-H show and you have to work to be able to go to achievement days). Our 4-H club is large though, and we can take turns working and showing. Its going to be my first show with my horse. I have gone to shows before, but it will be the first with my horse.
I want some grooming tips, and color enhancer shampoos that I can use. My horse is a chesnut. What is a good shampoo for his coat? Also, he has 4 socks, but they never seem to be white. Even if I give him a bath, they always have a light yellow color to it. I havent really tried really scrubbing it though, because I usually just give him a bath on warm days to cool him off. What can I use to make his legs whiter? I know that you can use the grooming chalk and baking soda(I think). I have the chalk. Does it work good? Is there anything I can do to make his socks by the whitener shampoos?
I put conditioner stuff on his mane to untangle it, but after it dries up his mane sticks up at the top. His mane isnt short, its about a 1 foot long. Its just at the top. (if this is hard to understand, let me know, and I will try to reword it). Is there anything I can use for that? like hair spray or something?
thanks in anvance! If anyone tips about another grooming area (didnt know how to say it) it would be apreciated!

<small>[ May 03, 2004, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: HorseRidinCutie4224 ]</small>

[hossluva]

umm.. well u could trim the hair on his legs like 2-3 weeks before the show then u get fresh white hair and that fancy blue/purple stuff works good with a scrubbin o and my friend has a palimino paint and she dilutes bleech (i dono if this is alright to do) and scrubbs her horse (the white parts) with bleech u have to get it all out!!!! and then condition the spots but boy does that horse get white!! well good luck o and wair old colthes with da bleech!

[HorseRidinCutie4224]

Anyone else??? thanks! *bump*

[lil nicky]

never heard of the bleach, but if you use ut, make sure to rinse it woth vinigar-water after. Diluted vinigar rinses well

[kimsmorgan]

4-H is great I had a pony that I showed in 4- and we shave her shocks the night before the show till thay where almost pink and then when we got to the show we would but baby powter on them and she looked great
pony

[madvoice]

I find that laundry stain remover soap (in the bar form) works wonders. You do have to crouch down and scrub it in with your hands and apply it a couple of times but socks come up bright white

[Catapultcomformation]

a very experianced horse person that I know that knows all sorts of grooming tricks says that for last minute spots on a white horse or white part you can use 4 o'9! I havent tried it though!

[eb]

My cousin uses surf washing powder on her fleabitten before shows this is suposed to work wonders I havnt seen it so I dont no, she doesnt use it on his face. it also works realy well in his mane and tail but Im not sure if its okay to use or anything but it might help. horse_on

[130amanda]

I can't believe some of this advice. Don't use bleach. It could burn and blister the skin or dry out the coat. What do you think will happen when you put your saddle on blistered skin? What if you are whiting his mane and he shakes. Bleach going into his eyes is a strong possiblity. And 4 O 9, it probably isn't as bad as bleach but you run into all the same issues. Yes, you may spend more for HORSE products but they are formulated for certain task and have the correct ph balance. I would even think twice about using a product for humans on my horse due to the ph balance. I hope you care enough about the well being of your horse to think about what I am saying.

[GiddyUpScoot]

I know that this is a little late for your show, but maybe it'll help you out later.

Personally I would NEVER use bleach on my horse, not only because you run the risk of it blistering the skin, but it doesn't actually turn hair white, more like a yellowish color (think about someone with bleached hair )

My horse is a red chestnut with 3 white stockings and a star, stripe, snip so I've done quite a bit of whitening (not to mention whitening the two piggy pintos at the barn ) Here's what I do:

Legs-
A week or two before the show I clip my horses legs (to just below the knees and just below the hocks, no matter how high the white goes... I also clip his solid front leg to the knee so that it doesn't look weird, unclipped and outta place) I do a close clip too, so you can pretty much see the pink. Make sure you do this a week or two before to give the hair a little time to grow out... nothing worse that a fresh clip job, especially if there are any clipper marks When I wash them before the show I mix Pure Cornstarch Baby Powder with Show Clean Shampoo to make a paste. I use a scrubby mit the has nubs on one side a bristles on the other (I don't know how else to describe it *lol*) I scrub the legs with the bristle side. Then rinse out the shampoo/cornstarch mixture and douse 'em with Show Sheen << LOVE this stuff

Body-
When I bathe him, I wash him first with Orvus shampoo (best stuff on Earth!... behind Show Sheen *LOL*) then I use Rio Vist's Ravishing Red Shampoo... it looks like blood, but since my horse is a very red chestnut (he basically looks like a bay without the black points :P) it brings out the red tones in his coat beautifully. Just make sure it doesn't get on white markings or else you will have a chestnut and pink horse *lol* Then I spray him with Show Sheen and let him dry off.

Face-
I use Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo to wash my horses face. My horse is nice enough to let me spray his with the hose, but we usually use a sponge to get the job done. Just make sure that you get all of the soap out

Tail-
I wash my horse's tail with Infusium 23 Shampoo, then condition it with the Infusium 23 Power-Pac Conditioner. After the conditioner is rinsed out, I use Infusium 23 Leave-In Conditioner and (once again) spray with tial with Show Sheen. Once it is dry I braid it (loosly) and put it up in a tail sock (not vet wrap because that will break the hair) At the show, a few hours before my class, I take the tail down and wet it so that it isn't crimpy for the class. We have found that these are the best products if your horse has a long tail. My horses tail drags 6-7 inches on the ground, so it's not THAT long, but we have a few horses at the barn who have tails that are as long as their body. The Infusium products keep them from drying out and breaking.

Feet-
The morning of the show I lightly sand my horses feet, then scrub them with S.O.S. pads (I have also heard that Excallibur works great for washing feet but I haven't tried it yet) Then I let the feet dry. Once they are dry I spray them with either Krylon or Ultra Hoof Polish Enhancer (which is Krylon with a horse related brand name on it I don't use clear hoof polish because it has a yellow tinge to it, and I don't want yellow feet =P

Well, that's all I can think of at this moment (as if that's not enough *lol*)

Hope I someone =D

~Nikki & Scotty~