My grey never looks whiter than when he’s been out in the rain.
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I am new to gray horse ownership after many years of owning only chestnuts and bays, so this thread has been extremely helpful! Any advice on getting a yellow tail whiter? I’ve tried Orvus, which helped a little bit, but it’s still fairly yellow.
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This is where the blue comes in-- Quiksilver or another shampoo meant for grays, purple shampoo meant for people, or laundry blueing can all help.
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Poop angels!! I love that ! Rotflmao
Fanola No-Yellow (best IMO, but can get pricy when buying “horse quantities” so I mostly just use it on the tail), Quiksilver, or in a pinch, Oxyclean detergent does the trick.
Clean the tail thoroughly with any kind of shampoo - and do a few passes if you don’t wash it regularly. Throw in the Fanola and make sure you really work it through and let it set for 15-20 minutes and then rinse it really good. Don’t panic if it’s still purple! Walk into bright sunlight to make sure it actually is purple, and doesn’t just look that way under artificial lighting. If it really is purple, you can just rinse it again with warm water. If it’s still purple after that, then a quick shampoo ought to bring it back to it’s proper color, and just don’t leave it to set quite as long next time.
If you’re not already familiar, the blue/purple shampoos don’t whiten by “cleaning”, but instead by depositing purple/blue (the opposite of yellow/orange on the color wheel) to mask the yellow light waves and color correct it to something more neutral. In other words, it will wear off and look yellow again, and using it more frequently won’t actually make your horse’s tail “whiter” so it’s best to just use normal shampoo/conditioner to clean it from time to time and save the $$$ blue shampoos for show days.
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I have found that washing the tail about 1 time per week, often limiting to the bottom 12 inches or so keeps it decent, then do the whole tail periodically and when I was showing I would do it Tues and Fri before show, only using the bluing on the last wash. I practically never use soap on his body, just the hose on power wash to get out the sand… Qualifying this to say I live in Fla, sand, no clay, and my boy almost never gets poop stains. He pees and poops in very particular spots in his stall. Dont know if its a stallion thing, but it works for me!
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I haven’t owned or ridden greys in years, but quicksilver, or purple shampoos do wonders. Back in the day we used laundry blueing, but with the modern purpose-made products, I would choose those.
Grey and light palominos at my barn (also red clay) wear sleezies between bath and show.
One girl with a grey in my barn has probably every product under the sun and also likes the whitening powder for touch ups.
I suspend my no shampoo rule for tails, shampoo, purple shampoo, then pig oil with flower of sulphur to condition (don’t use pig oil if the tail is exposed to bright sunshine as the tail will burn).
Tail Gator to wrap and protect.:
http://www.tailgator.co.uk/tailbagordering.html
He looks fabulous!! Well done.
Currently I’m actually riding my first not gray horse since I was maybe 13. But this is so inspiring, I’m almost wishing he was gray just so I could attempt to get him this light 
(I’m sure I will be thankful he’s black come show days as it is all bright red clay at our barn)
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Snow goes about 100 steps beyond rain. We had a discussion here a few years back about trying to figure out and package snow’s special magic, but we couldn’t get to the root of the magic of it. Too bad, because I’m sure we could have made our fortunes!
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WOW! So white!!!
Thanks everyone for your recommendations!!! I really appreciate it!
No, he didn’t ask for my help, but I’ve known him for 9 years and he knows he’ll get an opinion/help anyway! He went to a show this past Saturday and I offered to help in several ways. He said he didn’t need it but I pitched in anyway. After he totally screwed something up, he asked for my help, and I was luckily prepared with what I brought to literally save the day for him. We are good friends and know each other’s personalities well!
He’s planning on going to huge finals out-of-state in Sept, and I’m putting together a grooming kit for him to take. I think he’ll be surprised by how clean his competition is at this show and I want to give him grooming skillz that he can use if he wants. Or ignore. I’ll volunteer to wash/groom his horse before he goes. I don’t bathe my horse much (I rinse off sweat) but I groom alot and he absolutely shines. My friend gives me a lot of hell for how much I groom but he also compliments me alot on how good my horse looks who lives outside 24/7 and loves to roll in any available mud!
Thanks, everyone!!!
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I have another one. He’s a younger gelding and still has dark mane and tail. But he’s a pig!
Morning of a horse show…
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I use dawn and find it works much better than anything else for getting stains out. I don’t use it often (no more than 2 shows a month a few months a year) so don’t worry too much of it stripping the coat. I’ll also use dawn the first day of a multi day show then use a scrim sheet and whatever left over/ reject human shampoo I have on hand for the other days to maintain the clean.
My biggest tip is to clip the horse. All of it. Year round. THAT is how you keep a grey clean without all that much effort. Stains brush out of a short, clipped coat while you have to scrub them out of a longer coat. Also I second the Haas Schimmel brush - it really does make a difference. Between clipping and regular hosing (no soap just water) after every ride (so most days) she stayed very clean (she’s no longer being ridden).
I’ll be the one dissenting opinion and say that the Quicksilver, bluing detergent, White N Bright never made any discernible difference vs 1-2 washes with dawn (multiple washes for the tail, not the body) which is WAY cheaper. The other “whitening” products (Orvus, Goop, etc) didn’t make a difference either. I do use a vinegar rinse but don’t think it helps whiten (it seems to help cut out any left over soap residue and adds so much shine). If the tail is particularly bad (my greys have all been mares, this is likely less of or a non issue for boys), I have used human hair bleach to lift the stains. Very, VERY carefully and using a gentler developer then conditioning heavily. It works well if there is staining at the ends of the tail that can’t really be trimmed off and haven’t come out after several washes. I do it the same way others dye tails, lots of threads here on it.
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That would have had me in tears 
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Now THAT is a clean grey! Wow!!
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Ah yes - it’s coming back to me now. This looks much more familiar. 
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Add me to the list of Greenspot users. Stuff is wonderful!
I have been known to use the power wash with a very mild tip
Ouch! My Thoroughbreds strongly object to a stiff brush; I have to use a soft brush after currying. They definitely wouldn’t like a power wash.
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