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How often do you wash (with soap) your horse?

No terribly often. Less than once a month under normal circumstances. Way less.

But when I was riding a gray horse, every two weeks or so. After playing with a couple of the spot removers and waterless shampoos I came to the conclusion that a solution of isopropyl alcohol worked as well as anything. Water was sometimes effective, but not always.

Hose off in hot weather, then rinse with a solution of distilled white vinegar and water. I vacuum regularly.

I’m an Orvis fan and have been for well over 60 years. I put a glob in a 5-gallon bucket, fill with warm water and wash with a sponge. Rinse well. I probably bathe with this diluted soap recipe once every two weeks on average, depending on the time of year. My horses literally glisten and their dapples are legendary.

Nothing beats vigorous currying and followed by a good vacuuming. Learned this from halter people back in my Quarter Horse days. Now those folks know how to groom. Track grooms bathe horses every day with a diluted soap solution and those horses’ coats just gleam.

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I rinse with plain water if it’s hot or if he’s sweated up after a ride. I’ll do a full bath before shows. I like Shapley’s Hi-Shine or Cowboy Magic Rosewater shampoo. I’ll use Quicksilver on his white socks and tail.

I generally do one full bath, with orvus, in the spring and then just hose after each ride, sometimes with a brace rinse. I do shampoo his tail and white socks more often but not a lot.

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Once or twice a year perhaps. More if he’s showing or if he gets something sticky and stinky in him.

My horses get hosed off if in warmer weather if they’re sweaty. I give a full on bath with Mane N’ Tail shampoo and conditioner before a show to get all that grime and grit out of the coat. Sometimes I’ll use baby shampoo just to freshen them up, if shows are back to back.

I have a palomino, and bathe her couple of times per year at the most. She gets an itchy tail, so that gets washed twice a week in the warmer months. She gets hosed off if she gets sweaty from a ride.

The nearly white boy gets hosed almost daily - mostly to get the florida sand out of him. Thankfully it would not occur to him to lay in poop. I use what a call the “power wash” setting but rarely soap. My excuse is that it strips the oils but mostly because I’m lazy… :slightly_smiling_face: I do scrub the tail probably weekly or so or it would never stay close to white. Mane gets done maybe every two weeks. This horse is blessed with massive mane and tail, so that’s a project enough for me.

Mini gets a shampoo bath before a show.
So, once a year for Fair & maybe one other show.
After a long drive he might get hosed off, depends on weather & proximity to a hose.

Horse gets hosed off after a sweaty lesson, mostly so I don’t have to brush out saddle marks later.

Pony?
In the 10yrs I’ve had him, I cannot remember when I last bathed him.
Possibly once in all that time :smirk:
The Unwashed:

He Who Sees Soap:

ETA:
Drat! Uploads still broke :expressionless:

I occasionally wash and condition tails. I haven’t washed my horses with soap in . . . well, I can’t remember the last time! I do hose them down after rides to remove sweat and crud.

My grey gets rinsed off after nearly every ride because he sweats like that is his job. Sometimes we skip the ride and go right to the rinse because he is sweaty just coming in from the field. Such is life in Florida.

I have only done a full bath with shampoo twice and that was before shows.

My bathing regime is keeping my mare clean in her backside and udders and she appreciates it. So I’ll hit those spots at least weekly.

Manes and tails are next. When they get dandruffy and gross they need washed otherwise rubbing starts.

Full body bathing is rare unless sweat to a lather. That probably would be good a goal every now and then but doesn’t seem to happen much.

So full body bath once or twice a year?

As needed. I have a brown horse living in a humid climate. He has anhidrosis and his sweat, when he produces it, tends to be very lathery.

My guy has occasional allergic reactions to something in the soil in his field, and when he’s got hives, he feels better with a scrub with some oatmeal shampoo.

I also do a bubble bath prior to a body clip to start with a clean coat, and afterwards to get clipper oil off of him.

I wash between his hind legs on a more regular basis to clean lathered sweat, scrub legs regularly, and wash and condition the tail on a regular basis.

Now, since he’s a lousy sweater and he doesn’t cool himself well, I do a fair number of liniment rinses and alcohol baths for that nice tingly cooling feeling while that evaporates off the body.

To clean the body, well, I’m a pretty good groom.

During the summer months, my guys get hosed off after a ride. I’ll even occasionally hose them off when it’s just particularly hot and humid.

I usually do a full bath sometime late spring (May). I’ll sometimes shampoo before shows, but sometimes I’ll just do tail. Never use conditioner on the body, just the tail. And I like to get a full bath in late fall (October). So my non-show horse gets 2 baths a year and my show horse may get 3-4. I may shampoo and condition their tails 1-2 times more than that depending on how they look.

One is a bay with two white socks. The other is a chocolate with flaxen mane and tail.

I’ll also say, my OTTB (the show horse) seems to do better with the occasional shampoo with his delicate skin.

In the summer my itchy, sweaty horse gets a bath with soap and a vinegar rinse 1x a week. My other one gets it before shows or clinics

I have two (light) gray.

They get hosed off after riding if they are sweaty.

I wash the mane and tail (with shampoo) every day for about a week before a competition, and I will use a “scrubbing mitt” with a little bit of shampoo on the grubby spots (e.g. hocks, knees, withers) the day before a competition. I also wash the tail with a “whitening” shampoo, and condtitioner, the day before a competition.

But I rarely, if ever, give a full body shampoo.

I only full body shampoo before body clipping for the bay and the grey and also before a show for the grey horse. Otherwise they just get a water rinse if they are sweaty after being ridden. I don’t generally need soap to clean girl or boy bits but will use it if they get particularly messy or pee scalding.

Bathing removes oils from your skin and hair also. But most people still bathe daily without major side effects, and are far less stinky. Same for dogs.

I personally only bathe my horses a few times a year (and rinse them far more often). I think bathing daily is overkill, more wasteful than anything (shampoo, time, patience) and could have a drying effect, depending on what kind of shampoo. It’s hard to imagine any horse really needs a daily bath with soap.

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I never bathe with soap, except for medical reasons (which has happened exactly twice in the last ten years). I do shampoo and condition manes and tails very occasionally - like if they’re especially yuck.

My horses are all pretty shiny, and I think that’s because: A) I curry and brush mud - which depletes natural oils - out of their coats as soon as it dries, and B) I make sure there’s a fat component in everybody’s diet.

Both get a bath with soap before clipping, which we do 2-3x a year during the winter. And that is only because I’m trying to keep clipper blades sharper longer.
Other than that, they get rinsed when it’s warm, and I spot clean any white on their legs before shows.
I tackle cannon crud with currying and dawn/ivory once a week.