How often do you bathe your horse?

[Serigraph]

After workouts? I always hose my horse off as he sweats like a pig, but I usually don’t bathe him often. I thought bathing will take the oils out of the coat and leave it dull. My horse is fading bad this summer and his coat is looking more dull than I remember last summer. He had a super shiny chestnut coat in the spring and as soon as it got hot and he started sweating a lot it started fading.

How can I get it in better condition aside from keeping him in? He is a pasture horse for the most part.

ETA - He’s in great condition, gets beet pulp and alfalfa pellets and now since we are drying up, good quality hay.

[handfish]

UV protective fly sheet?

[Thomas_1]

I bath mine whenever they’re doing something or going somewhere and they need to look smart and very clean.

It can be every week during the summer and then not for months!

Try getting some oil in his diet. Linseed - you call it flax - is also great for good coats.

[Serigraph]

He’s on smarthoof supplement that has flax. Wonder if he needs more?

I think he’d sweat to death with a fly sheet on. He really sweats a lot!

He does not need any more calories, so I’m not sure oil would work.

Any other supps to help with the coat that work?

We don’t show, so I just want him looking pretty for me

[jenm]

[QUOTE=Serigraph;4966217]
After workouts? I always hose my horse off as he sweats like a pig, but I usually don’t bathe him often. I thought bathing will take the oils out of the coat and leave it dull. My horse is fading bad this summer and his coat is looking more dull than I remember last summer. He had a super shiny chestnut coat in the spring and as soon as it got hot and he started sweating a lot it started fading.

How can I get it in better condition aside from keeping him in? He is a pasture horse for the most part.
.[/QUOTE]

I rinse mine off when she’s sweaty, and only bathe her before a show (at the most twice a month in the summer) since it will take oils out of the coat. I love, love, love Omega Horseshine. It keeps a beautiful shine to my mare’s coat and makes it soft and silky as well.

[Serigraph]

I love, love, love Omega Horseshine. It keeps a beautiful shine to my mare’s coat and makes it soft and silky as well.

This product looks good. I might give it a try.

[system]

Baths include soap. Hosing doesn’t.
If my horse is sweating, she gets hosed as often as necesary.

Soap only gets added befor a show

[Mor4ward]

any chance of bringing him in when the sun is high and leaving him out all night? I know that regimen keeps Friesians black

[saddleup]

I have Paints with tons of white, so my riding horse is bathed twice a week and hosed off in between those days. My old guy, who’s just a pasture ornament now, gets a bath a couple of times a month, but usually just brushed every other day or so. I feed BOSS, so their coats are very shiny.

[deltawave]

Spray them with the hose when I think they will appreciate it. Bathe them before a show or when they’re filthy.

They live outside and do get dull-coated in the summer if I don’t keep after the grooming, it’s only natural. If I want them to shine, I curry curry curry the hell out of them. Shiny comes from good nutrition and elbow grease. I don’t worry about the color/fading–shiny and glossy looks good on ANY color.

[Go_Fish]

Not sure where you live…do you think his sweating is excessive compared to other horses in the same level of work? If so, I’d check his selenium level.

I only hose off when the horse needs it. I usually bathe thoroughly before a show. Don’t bathe much AT the show, either. Usually a hose off and give a Vetrolin rinse.

[xsalute]

I only wash with soap once a year…I have a vaccuum, but I wash tails about twice a month or more if needed

[Petstorejunkie]

[QUOTE=deltawave;4966379]
If I want them to shine, I curry curry curry the hell out of them. Shiny comes from good nutrition and elbow grease. I don’t worry about the color/fading–shiny and glossy looks good on ANY color. ;)[/QUOTE]

Ditto that! Also in the pasture does your horse have shade?

[Simbalism]

With soap a couple of times a year, either when really dirty or going to show or clinic. In the summer, she gets hosed or sponged with water(maybe some Vetrolin added) when she is really sweaty. I have a light weight white fly sheet that she wears. I live in Va and we have had record high temps so far this summer(many days of triple digits). She also is a pasture horse with access to a run in shed. I have not found her to be excessively sweaty under the sheet. I think the white helps reflect some of the heat as well as keeping the flies away.

[jeano]

With soap, almost never. I sponge and scrape the saddle area and neck and chest if they are real sweaty in hot weather (that is to say, roughly half the year where I live–GA) and only do a whole body shampoo maybe once a year, and that only the one that likes to be bathed.

Both horses are dark bay, but one is really sunbleached although still very shiny. The horse that breaks out in welts from any and all insect bites is staying almost black this summer, but only because she is hanging in the shade due to the bugs being extra horrible this year. She looks fabulous from a distance, but up close you can see all the lumps and bumps and places where she’s rubbed her hide near off, poor baby.

[shakeytails]

Generally only before a horse show with soap. The rest of the time it’s a rinse with plain water or a water with a splash of liniment.

I do have a couple of water babies that’ll stand by the water trough and almost demand to be sprayed- including their faces- when it’s hot out.

[mhtokay]

I’ve been using the Ezall for bathing before a show and for some after work out rinses. they at least get hosed off after work. A fly sheet will help with fading. good nutrition is the key. Omega horseshine is good stuff.

[Dressage_Diva333]

Mine get hosed down every day after workouts in the summer… typically 5 days a week. I try and bathe them once a week. Their coats all look fabulous. I use Vetrolin, and their coats stay silky smooth and gleaming.

[Punkie]

Honestly? My horses get bathed an average of 5 times per week during the spring/summer/fall and throughout the winter if we go to Florida. And they are the shiniest bunch I’ve ever met. I use Vetrolin shampoo and I condition their coats but they’re also all on a TON of supplements, oils, and organic high quality feed, so their diets more than make up for the excessive bathing. They always get thoroughly groomed before and after baths too, so that’s a major contributing factor as well.

[jawa]

BOSS seeds or flax seed are great at getting a shine on your horse. I started feeding BOSS this late winter/spring and you can see a bit of shine on my flea bitten grey and my chesnut is a copper penny!! The BOSS and flax seed will add extra calories, but you can adjust the rest of the diet to account for that. It’s the fat in the diet (Omega 3) that helps with shine.