I’m impressed with how clean some people get their horses. I wonder though if being too clean in some way ends up being detrimental to their overall health. I have a friend that is serious about keeping her horse spotless and she’s also always dealing with him having skin issues. Correlation?
Certainly a possible correlation for your friend.
Depending on what products she’s using to keep her horse clean & how often she bathes/uses product.
There are medicated shsmpoos that address skin conditions. Does she use any if these?
DH’s strawberry roan was waaaaaay roaned out.
So much we’d call him The Pink Horse 
But we only bathed him for shows or the infrequent shower off sweat in Summer.
Orvus worked best for removing green/manure stains
Same for my current Herd of bays & the buckskin WB I had.
I admit to doing next-to-no grooming either.
All have soft shiny coats… Even under the mud they love to bread themselves with 
I credit supplementing with BOSS based on a suggestion here.
She bathes her horse every time she rides (6 days a week). He never has a green spot nor mud anywhere. I’m not sure of the washing products but her guy is on anti fungal more often than not and wears a weird blanket all year long.
She’s the only one of our group that grooms for a daily ride like she was going to a show. Her horse looks good!
If I had Piggy March’s resources, facilities, support staff, and schedule, not to mention the expectations of others closely watching my appearance and performance, I could and would keep the Goober looking brilliant.
Alas, he is perennially unblanketed, lives out 24/7, has a support staff of moi, and works in Virginia clay the way other artists work in oils or pastels. (And did I mention my barn has no hot water taps?) So I aim for “neat and workmanlike” rather than sparkling perfection. (Except for February and March. Simply having a leg at each corner earns an A+ for turnout in February and March.)
All that aside, the oils in a horse’s coat go a long way toward repelling stains. Vigorous daily currying can rub out a lot of sins while bringing up some serious shine. (Because you’re really caring for the horse’s skin — the clean, soft hair is merely a bonus.) A Haas Schimmel brush, a cactus cloth or tiger tongue, and some bath-in-a-bottle spray when absolutely necessary, and I can get him looking pretty good. Until he rolls again.
Bath with shampoo or hose off? Neither is great for the skin or feet, but shampoo is worse.
How do/ did I keep my grey clean? (She isn’t so clean currently). Clipping year round so the hair is shorter (and keeps her cooler as she has a thick summer coat), Haas brushes, showers (no soap) any time she gets sweaty in the summer, a grooming spray mix and rag to rub out stains. The few times she gets a soap bath I use Dawn or off brand dish soap and a jelly scrubber. She gets two soap washes (soap rinse soap rinse) with a light oil sponge off at the end. I’ve tried Orvus, ketchup, bluing shampoos, and a bunch of other stuff but the dish soap is the best and also the cheapest. It’s possible to get my grey clean without soap even with poop stains. Not too hard to get clinic clean without soap and not too hard to get show clean with soap.
Over soaping could certainly cause skin issues.
Pics below of just using dish soap, no special whitening products. I had great before and after pics of using the Haas brushes on a poop stained winter coat but can’t find them now.
Beautiful horse and beautiful turnout! I know my friend uses a couple of different shampoos. I’ve never paid attention to them but, one I think is like people use on their white hair because her horse was covered in purple bubbles one day.
I don’t know the brush brand Haas. With two people within a couple of posts stating they work well I think I need to check them out. I’m a fan of a vacuum and towels. A spray bottle of water just for poop or grass stains.
The trick is NOT to wash them unless you are going to a show, in my experience. Let the grease build up a bit–the dirt brushes out much easier and the stains don’t set in quite the same way–pee stains love a nice absorbent dried out coat and skin.
How do you get that tail so white?? Or just dish soap for that as well? Do you wrap?
Welcome to the dark side!
hair dye
Dish soap! I’ve wrapped over the winter in the past but got tired of messing with it (I’m a bit lazy!). It stays cleaner if wrapped but one slightly longer bath will bring it back to white if not. I do keep it banged, and will cut it shorter in the mud season (she’s due for a winter trim now). I have bleached it about twice in the nearly 15 years I’ve had her. IIRC one was after she spent the winter on stall rest after being hospitalized which led to lots of poop/pee build up on her tail (she couldn’t have baths for months due to a surgical hole in her hoof).
My horse would get a yellow tint to the bottom of his tail, even after I gave it a good shampoo. My sister would work her grooming magic on him and he would sparkle. Don’t ask me what she used, but she was so good at getting a horse and tack clean. The only trick of hers I know is using corn starch on white legs.
This is my trick. Minimal bathing, maximal currying. Keep those skin oils distributed and they will keep the hair clean for you.
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