Horse turning different color in sun

[myminis]

My horse Vixen who has always been a black has always been in a lot of trees but this year I moved and am in stricly sun. A month ago I put her in the colors class at Nationals because she was this beautiful black, but now with all this hot weather we've been having and no shade trees she's this icky brown color..... I'm going to have to dye her mane and tail for sure that I knew, but what do I do for the rest of her? It's to hot to keep her in the barn all day and she eats pasture during the day and to hot to keep a blanket on her. I'm at a loss at what to do. Any idea's would be helpful. She's on a good grain, her coat is healthy just this YUCKY color.....

 

[Dona]

My horse Vixen who has always been a black has always been in a lot of trees but this year I moved and am in stricly sun. A month ago I put her in the colors class at Nationals because she was this beautiful black, but now with all this hot weather we've been having and no shade trees she's this icky brown color..... I'm going to have to dye her mane and tail for sure that I knew, but what do I do for the rest of her? It's to hot to keep her in the barn all day and she eats pasture during the day and to hot to keep a blanket on her. I'm at a loss at what to do. Any idea's would be helpful. She's on a good grain, her coat is healthy just this YUCKY color.....

I'm afraid your only option is to keep her out of the sun. :-(

 

[Minimor]

Build a sun shelter. If it's too hot to have her in the barn and too hot to have a sheet on her I would have to say it's too hot to have her out in the sun with no place to get into the shade when she wants. My place doesn't have much for trees in the pastures and corrals either, but every one of my horses has access to a run in shed for shelter, whether it's shelter from the sun, wind or bugs. Shade is an absolute must.

Now as far as coat/color, at this late stage I'm not sure there's anything you can do to restore coat color--the damage is done for now. However, by the time Nationals rolls around the horses will be getting their winter coats, so I would think your mare will be regaining her nice black color just because of the new hair coming in.

 

[HGFarm]

Yep the only way to avoid it is to keep her out of the sun. Most folks I know during show season only turn their horses out a couple of hours in the early a.m., late p.m. or only at night. Very little to no sun- it ruins the coat and will bleach many of them out.

 

[Marty]

She is not a true black. True blacks do not fade, only their manes and tails will get reddish streaks. There is nothing you can do about it but it is important that you do provide her with shelter from the elements like Minimor said. She's already sunburnt and needs out of that sun. Happy building and dyeing.

 

[myminis]

Thanks guy's I was afraid of that. They do have acess to the barn. I do leave it open for them and they can go in and out at their will so it's not like they don't have shade, forgot about that. It's just they only go in there to reek havoc mostly.... Go in and out of the stalls, if anything is laying out, dump it over, knock the little table I have over, chew on the old cart I have in there on, just be pain in the butts, just can't go in there and drink they're water I have for them and be cool..... As cool as it can be....

 

Well hopefully, like someone said by Nationals 'maybe' some of her color will come back. IF not she just will be passed over in the colors class.

 

OR it is such a hideous color they will think it's such an unusal color and award her a ribbon cause they have never seen it before, LOL!!!!!!

 

Thanks.....

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I found a sunflower extract spray that claims to work as a sunblock for equine coats and it seems to help keep my silver buckskin's mane and tail from bleaching. He's still a bit washed out, but then again he's out in the sun 24/7 and I'm not religious about using it. It was a noticeable improvement when I first started using it though.

Leia

 

[supaspot]

add BOSS to her feed , dye her mane and tail (that will still sun bleach again) and clip her a few days before the show , it should grow back black , for next year ..there are people products that yo can spray on hair to protect it from the sun

 

[Helicopter]

Thanks guy's I was afraid of that. They do have acess to the barn. I do leave it open for them and they can go in and out at their will so it's not like they don't have shade, forgot about that. It's just they only go in there to reek havoc mostly.... Go in and out of the stalls, if anything is laying out, dump it over, knock the little table I have over, chew on the old cart I have in there on, just be pain in the butts, just can't go in there and drink they're water I have for them and be cool..... As cool as it can be....

 

Well hopefully, like someone said by Nationals 'maybe' some of her color will come back. IF not she just will be passed over in the colors class.

 

OR it is such a hideous color they will think it's such an unusal color and award her a ribbon cause they have never seen it before, LOL!!!!!!

 

Thanks.....

Little devils.

Here you are trying your best to do what's right and how do they repay you??????????????????

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

A product called Black as Night that works wonders, but I would start immediately and also confine her in a stall during the day with a fan on her. Fans promote hair growth.