Favorite spray in detangler for use during cold months?

[reefy]

Yay me, I have a new pony to love (she came a few months ago but we haven’t done much due to life) Andalusian mare with mane and tail that is THICK and long.
It always looks ratty - I have Show Sheen on hand and that just doesn’t cut it.

I have this brush ( Epona Queen’s Brush (smartpakequine.com) that worked great on my dear old horse’s mane but her mane was just short and well kept. Not so great on rapunzel hair.

I’ve never had a horse with so much hair to care for! But I’d like to keep it tidy when I can’t bathe and condition it because it’s cold. Help!

[ake987]

It’s not a spray, but the Cowboy Magic Detangler & Shine (gel) is my Holy Grail product for detangling. It’s the only thing that can deconstruct even the most valiant efforts at creating what I refer to as a “burr bat”.

[luvmyhackney]

I have a QH with thick reining horse mane.

You don’t brush the mane. lol.

You wash, condition, comb through, dry and then braid.

If you must brush, I use Cantù products or Redkin detangler and hand pick or use a Wet Brush paddle.

[LilDunFilly]

Congrats on the new horse belated as that may be! Welcome to the horse hair-care journey.

I use several detanglers/sprays, depending on the time of the year. Pink Stuff is my general daily detangler because it isn’t super heavy and it doesn’t make the body slippery if I get any on her. I spritz the mane/tail along the root of the hair, then rub it in before I start picking shavings out and detangling. I don’t do this every day, especially not in winter, because it would build up (in summer she gets rinsed a lot so not as much of a problem). A bottle of this lasts ages.

I use Knotty Horse for baths. My girl’s hair can get dry so I condition it very well during baths. I’ll use it in place of the Pink Stuff sometimes, but try not to get it on her body because it makes it a bit slick.

Cowboy Magic is my heavy-duty detangler. I pull it out if her hair is VERY tangled. Just put a little along the top of the mane/tail and then work it through. This one is silicone-based (and expensive) so I don’t want to use it too often.

I prefer a wide-toothed comb for combing out hair. It pulls out less (bristled brushes will just pull out hair if it gets tangled). I comb out manes and tails like I do my own hair, starting finger-combing at the ends then bringing the comb through.

I used to also braid my mare’s mane/tail and bagged the tail, but our current barn doesn’t care for that. When braided, I only detangled once every 1-2 weeks when the braids came down for a bath. I spritzed her with the Pink Stuff but otherwise left it alone. Now that she’s unbraided, I just finger-comb out her mane/tail most days to keep it from looking gross. She doesn’t get it too tangled so this works for us.

[trakehners]

I am also a Cowboy Magic detangler disciple. I’ve had people tell me braiders will hate me for using it because it is silicone-based and can be pretty slippery, and my only response is, bold of you to assume that I ever pay anyone else to braid my horse, lol.

When it’s warm I’ll work it through the tail with my hands before I put a brush anywhere near the hair but when it’s cold I usually just put a bit directly on my brush (I use the Oster mane/tail brush) and brush through that way.

I do second the comments about braiding, though. My horse’s tail stays braided through mud season and I’ll let it out once the flies are back. Usually I take it out once a week, brush through it, and then braid it again. I don’t typically need to use detangler every time either, maybe once every few weeks depending on whether he’s decided to try to give himself a giant mud dreadlock or not. His mane is pretty short (Thoroughbred eventer life) so I don’t have to do much to look after it, but back when I leased a QH with a pretty long mane, I would running braid it to keep it neat.

[NaturallyHappy]

My horse tends to stand with his rump near his water bucket, and will occasionally dunk part of his tail in the bucket. I never use detangler stuff on his tail because I’m concerned it could contaminate the water. Anyone have thoughts on that?

[LilDunFilly]

My view is I expect anything I put on a horse can wind up in their mouth (fly spray, shampoo, tack cleaner, medicine, etc.). I don’t expect any of it to be toxic enough to injure/kill them if they get a taste.

Unless the detangler/conditioner is wildly toxic (in which case I don’t think it be on the market), his tail being in the bucket would only “contaminate” it in the same way a muzzle with fly spray. It wouldn’t be considered clean water for a human but horses literally eat off the ground.

[JBCool]

Ditto the Cowboy Magic gel for dreadlocks. I used to groom a friend’s Friesians and that stuff was a life saver. Once you get the dreads out, something like the Pink Stuff is great for maintenance. I recently found that Miracle Groom does well, too.

[Renn_aissance]

Cowboy Magic if you’re not committed to a spray-in, and Eqyss Survivor if you are.

[NaturallyHappy]

@LilDunFilly, I guess I was thinking more in terms of taste…

[LilDunFilly]

I think it would have to be a lot of conditioner/detangler in there for it to leave a strong enough taste that your average horse wouldn’t drink. The taste of just dirt and debris isn’t a a turn off for them; I’ve had to wrestle my horse away from algae-laden water troughs before…

[NaturallyHappy]

Good point! Thx!!!

[oldernewbie]

My horse has a thick coarse mane. This stuff detangles and conditions, smells good, and you can’t beat the price:

Amazon.com : Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Leave-In Conditioning Cream for...

You can find it at Kroger, WalMart, Target, etc.

[Angela_Freda]

Second the pink stuff, Healthy Hair Care

[2tempe]

Depending on your plans for the mare, you could deal with the mane by going rogue. I have a lusitano stallion who came with a huge thick tail (another vote for the cowboy gel here) though his for some reason doesn’t get very tangled. The mane is like a thick pony mane, and it was short when I bought him. If it hadn’t been, I’d have cut it!

The pic doesn’t do the mane justice - 1/3 of it goes to the other side! Thankfully I’m in Fla where cleaning is easy, he gets that mane surprisingly dirty in his daily rolls… I am not a fan of long manes…scrubbing this to keep it sort of white is enough of a challenge!!

[pony_baloney]

My Rapunzelesque pony’s mane hangs past his neck and he lives out 24/7. My favorite detangler is a gel called Manely Long Hair. A little goes a long way, it smells heavenly, and I don’t have to reapply each time I play with his hair.

[2DogsFarm]

Another vote for Cowboy Magic Detangler

And a couple tips:
*I buy brushes from Dollar Tree. The ones with stiff separate bristles in straight rows with rounded tips.
They last nearly forever.
*For brushing a tail, a Pro Groom taught me to twist the tail into a rope, then brush out starting at the bottom & slowly untwisting as you work your way up

Also, though I’m far too lazy to braid a tail, neighbor who showed his mini mare & stud in Halter did & both had tails longer than their bodies. Mare’s trailed out a good 4’ behind her!
He’d leave them braided & vetwrapped over a week (made me cringe) & somehow hair did not break.

[islgrl]

Carr, Day and Martin is the best tail product I have ever used. I seriously could rep for the company I love it so much.

[trubandloki]

I feel like I must be doing something wrong. When I use Cowboy Magic Detangler it does make it easy to brush out the tail that time, but the dirt sticks to it like crazy and it makes it worse to deal with going forward.

[lenapesadie]

We must be doing it wrong together bc I have the same issue but with most all products… I keep meaning to try the Mane ly products but haven’t done so yet