Anyone Ever Given Their Horse a Baking Soda & Vinegar Bath

[Pally]

[QUOTE=Scribbler;8581603]
I know what you all mean by scunge under winter hair, but interestingly my horse had none this year. I’m not sure if it’s because I upped her flax and protein this past year, or because it has been a mild winter and she has only worn a blanket briefly. Her winter coat was as thick as usual, but has stayed clean and shiny. Usually she shows dandruff when she’s shedding, but not this year. It’s made me realize that alot of what I thought of as “dust” or “dirt” in her coat in the past was actually from her skin, not from her bedding or rolling.[/QUOTE]

You are probably on to something here too. I have noticed that stuff on blanketed and unblanketed horses, so we can’t peg it all on one environmental situation or another. I actually just got my guy a few weeks ago, so as soon as I saw he was pretty dandruffy, I picked up some flax (along with a ration balancer) thinking it may help, can’t hurt.

CFF - now that’s a mixture maybe I could try on the gray horses at work (especially the mares who like to…yellow…their tails).

[Beentheredonethat]

[QUOTE=CFFarm;8580760]
I use it on my flaxen tailed horse. A chemistry professor friend of mine turned me on to this. I make a mixture of shampoo (I spend the extra and get a shampoo formulated for horses because it rinses clean) and baking soda and slather the tail with it. After a few minutes I rinse with vinegar and again with plain water. If the tail is especially dirty I’ll wash it with GOOP (NOT GOJO) laundry additive first.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. I’m trying this tomorrow.

[Scribbler]

[QUOTE=Pally;8581927]
You are probably on to something here too. I have noticed that stuff on blanketed and unblanketed horses, so we can’t peg it all on one environmental situation or another. I actually just got my guy a few weeks ago, so as soon as I saw he was pretty dandruffy, I picked up some flax (along with a ration balancer) thinking it may help, can’t hurt.

CFF - now that’s a mixture maybe I could try on the gray horses at work (especially the mares who like to…yellow…their tails).[/QUOTE]

Well, we had pale spring sunshine yesterday, the kind that shows up every bit of cobweb and dust. And … yeah, maresy had dusty-looking scunge on top of her hips and a bit of dandruff in her mane. Not that bad, and not as bad in previous years, though. It seems like she is shedding winter skin along with her winter hair — I didn’t see scunge until now. For what it’s worth, the scunge felt quite oily, like dandruff on a teenager :). The plus side is that she actually seemed to enjoy being brushed, for once.

[Horse_Lover_1091]

Well I’ve watched a couple of YouTube videos, but they were about washing the tail with vinegar and baking soda. The results seem to be amazing, and they do whiten for sure and clean all the sweat and dirt. It’s a yes from me, it works miracles! I would only do baking soda once in a while, but vinegar u can do all the time! It keeps the flies away too.

[Ghazzu]

@Peggy

I would think that the acetic acid in the vinegar and the bicarbonate in the baking soda would react to make carbon dioxide and water, along with some sodium acetate from the acetic acid. But maybe that cleans stuff.

Yeah, that was my first reaction (pun intended.)

[DinkyDonk]

I would NOT use vinegar and baking soda together; the two together can be used to clean dirty ovens…I tried it on my oven and it caused the interior to develop some rust…just imagine what it could do to equine skin…Vinegar and water should be just fine though. My neighbor used to put vinegar in her draft horse’s water tank, and the flies didn’t bother him much at all, plus he had the softest, shiniest black coat I’ve ever seen.

[Cocorona]

I do this! I have a grey mare who thinks her tail should be brown- baking soda paste and then a vinegar rinse keeps its super clean! I don’t do it with her body though because preserving her natural oils is what keeps her the most clean- few baths, lots of currying

ETA: I wet the tail, make a mix of baking soda and water in a cup till it forms a paste and then slather it on the tail. I then do the white vinegar rinse followed by a water rinse to get it all out. BTW I’ve used vinegar as a fly spray for years and it does indeed work well- dilute with water, smells a bit like BBQ. I also add white vinegar to my horses water trough to keep scum at bay- my horses love the taste and I notice they drink more when its in than when its out

[fizzyfuzzybuzzy]

This is so interesting! I am a no-poo girl as well, but I’ve been using Deva Curl for myself. Since I’m stuck at home, and it doesn’t matter if my hair is a little funky for a bit, maybe it’s time to bite the bullet for myself!

But my guy had completely rubbed out half of his mane under his neck rug. I’ve been struggling with roaching it, since my plan is to put him in his fly sheet that has a full neck as well. I’ve been thinking of a ACV rinse for his mane to help it slide instead of break under his neck rug.

I’ve also thought about mixing baking soda with castile soap for his legs prior to clipping them to really help my clippers slide through…

[Outyougo]

I have a grey (ok white) horse and a white Great Pyrenees (who is a mud mag bent) . I rinse with dilute Apple Cider Vinegar. SOmtimes they are sp[arkling white for a whole day!

[MsM]

Vinegar users! - White or ACV?

[Pally]

Wow zombie thread of my making. As it turns out I never tried it on the horse in question … come to think of it I’m not sure if I ever gave him a bath before I sold him, lol. (His coat did improve immensely with shedding!)

Cool that some people have tried it…I’ll add the video mentioned to my watch list.

It might be a good time for experiments (who cares what anyone looks like right now, horse or human) but alas I have no horse or horse access right now.

For anyone thinking of trying, I will say dilute the baking soda in some water, don’t just dump it on. I tried that once or twice on my hair at the beginning, and that was no bueno. But the diluted BS followed by diluted vinegar is still working for my hair all these years later.

And MsM, either kind of vinegar works from a washing perspective. I use white because it’s cheaper and I actually like the smell a lot better. Same for sponging horses and such, though I think maybe ACV is a little better as fly spray (no data to back that up. I could even be wrong, gasp.)

[TXnGA]

I’ve used baking soda and vinegar to whiten a gray or white horse but for bathing specifically no. and I don’t think it will help get crud out particularly well.

i have used apple cider vinegar for a horse with hives or needed a soothing bath.

as for shampoo, I use head and shoulders or Ivory dish soap.

[Fellbutbackup]

@MsM

Vinegar users! - White or ACV?

White externally. ACV internally.

[NancyM]

Amazing. Basic chemistry class would be helpful.