How to get a white horse CLEAN!!!

[ironbessflint]

Do you braid and roll it up before wrapping or do you just braid it and leave it long?

My method is just like Diane's. I braid it the tail, making the first couple of crosses loose, then braid snugly all the way down. I then pull the end of the braid up and through the braided tail just below the tail bone. In a long and thin tail, I might pull through or fold over a few times. Others just make the one pass. Then I use tape in a couple places to hold it, and vetwrap the whole thing. I like to keep all my tails up over the winter just to prevent the mud and ice balls that collect.

 

[wingnut]

The one horse I'm considering wrapping for the winter has a beautiful, full, long tail. The "core" of the tail is black. Solid, jet black. The black is "surrounded" by the white. It's just one of several things about her that I think will make her show well in our smaller local shows.

I'll start playing around with the braiding. If anyone knows of a youtube video that might show how this particular style of wrapping is done, please let me know. I'm a "visual" learner

 

[Eagle]

I am going to repeat that I think you should be very careful when wrapping tails. I have seen in person what happens when it gets stuck from rubbing.

Just keep your eyes open everyone, we don't want these little munch kins getting hurt

As someone has mentioned the best way is to wash regularly and not let the dirt build up.

This is my riding mare that lives out, I wash her mane and tail every Saturday all year round. Never braided or used anything other than normal shampoo (I have even used Pantene when I run out of hers)

This way the horses doesn't have to suffer from the flies etc

P.S this isn't at my place

 

[mydaddysjag]

Minxiesmom, thats exactly how I do my tails lol. My other show horse is a silver dapple, and my previous show horse was a palomino, so lots of experience in the white hair department. His tail was pretty nasty when I got him, but using the same methods as you mentioned, plus a few more, ive lightened it up quite a bit. I can live with it how it is, but would prefer it whiter.

 

[wildoak]

KEEPING them clean is the big problem lol. White horses are dirt magnets - I've been showing an almost all white gelding this year, and have to keep him under wraps until he walks into the ring.

Jan

 

[WashingtonCowgirl]

Goop hand cleaner. Put it in while the hair is dry, let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Add soap (no water yet) rub it in, then add water, rub some more then rinse. It gets everything SOOOOOOOOOO white. I have a tovero who is 90% white, and this is a miracle worker, better then ANY other whitening shampoo.

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

I used to have a mostly white sorrel paint and I swear by Dawn Dish soap, the blue one that they also use for oil removal for birds? It works wonders

 

[minih]

We have had several white tails over the years and I agree nothing works like Quik Silver, it takes several different washings to get them really white. You won't get it bright white in one day.

I don't wrap my tails up in the winter, they are all turned loose and left alone. I have had a show horse we had wrapped his tail up at a show and the next morning the bottom 6 inches of tail was gone like we had cut it straight across. It had got hung on the fencing there.

 

[RhineStone]

I'm surprised that no one has said "power wash". Not power washer, but the spray nozzle on a hose. We showed a 75% white pinto Arab for years and you had to get the pink skin clean or he had a gray cast to him. We had to use the spray nozzle in a back and forth motion over his whole body and watch the skin release the dirt, like you would spray mud off a concrete sidewalk. It took forever to wash him. We never used anything more than dish soap, a plastic bristle brush (not on his face), and the "power wash" to get him white, and he would blind you on a sunny day.

With a gray horse with black skin, that is going to be a little more difficult to see the dirt release, but it can be done.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Ok so I have to take back my statement with EzAll. Best stuff! Found out I had a broken part on my nozzle and wasn't letting the soap out like it should and boy I had some white horses for Nationals. Very easy to use spray it on, and rinse it off. No scrubbing required.