I feel like I am very diligent with my guy who is black…full neck fly sheet, evening turnout during summer, etc but I’m wondering if you guys have any suggestions that have worked for you in helping your black/dark brown horses not fade or bleach?? We do show rated so these suggestions would all need to be things that would be legal to show on (so no black as night supplement) TIA!!!
Ugh comply *with…love iPhone auto type.
Have you tried adding flax to the horse’s diet? It’s not a supplement for fading per se but it helps tremendously with coats and I would think it couldn’t hurt.
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds are supposed to help.
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Make sure you thoroughly rinse out the sweat from his coat after riding or if he gets hot in turn-out. The salt will bleach out his coat.
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Black sunflower seeds. Also I have heard that paprika can help, not sure of quantity needed though.
I believe something in paprika may test
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Figures. Sheesh.
Yes, paprika tests.
This x10000. I have my black horse on night turnout, with a full neck flysheet and a flymask. I have to be pretty diligent about keeping her flysheet clean(ish) because if it’s too full of sweat it’ll bleach her. Which is why even if she doesn’t sweat too badly, I’ll hose her down anyways because I want to make sure to wash off the dried sweat she might have from the day to ensure less bleaching.
The only spots I haven’t been able to stop from bleaching are the top of her legs that the fly sheet ends at.
I do feed her chamolina oil (Excell EQ) which I think helps.
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I knew someone who used this with good results.
http://www.thedogsupplyco.com/store-products-8012-Wild-Animal-All-Out-Black-Shampoo-Gallon_1097375464.html
in during the day and out at night so he doesn’t see the sun.
BOSS and paprika (even 2tbsp, more than you “should” need to feed) did nothing for my black horse.
The only thing that has made a dent, and it’s a significant dent, is adding copper and zinc to the diet. It doesn’t matter how good the level looks on paper, and that’s assuming you have your forage analyzed and know exactly how much he’s eating. If it’s not enough for that horse, it’s not enough.
And the darker the coat pigment, the more they need to keep it dark.
I use either PolyCopper and PolyZinc from Uckele, or (currently) the equivalent from HorseTech. I mix the 2 in equal parts by volume, and feed a full scoop, so it’s a half scoop of each. It’s just more convenient to scoop once, in 1 container.
It’s really too late now to affect this coat. You need to affect the hair health while it’s being formed, which starts shortly after each Solstice. You can start now though to ensure the coming Winter coat will be healthier, and if you continue, you will be affecting next year’s Summer coat.
I really dislike keeping horses inside just for reasons of a prettier coat. If he’s black, sure, it’s really nice to show off a shiny black horse, but if he’s presenting as a “dark brown” horse, then as long as he’s shiny, it doesn’t really matter.
Definitely keep him out of the sun after work until you can get him well rinsed, as every minute that sweat is exposed to sun is a minute it has to bleach.
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I would bathe him every time he sweats not just hose off. A lot of people think you are stripping the oils, but it helps keep them healthier. I haven’t just hosed off after riding in years and my horse has the nicest coat in the barn. I have a black mare that I keep clothed and bathed and put her out around 8 or so. Also, you can die his tail if it gets red. There is also spray on sunscreen you can try while you ride during the daylight hours.
I worked for a barn that fed the black as knight supplement and it worked so well, but we found out later it will test unfortunately.
Turning out after dark is really the easiest thing to do, definitely go with breathable/SPF fly sheet with neck attachment and fly mask too.
I used Calm Coat religiously and while it doesn’t say it contains an SPF, I think it had some naturally occurring SPF qualities? I would spray down generously and brush through coat, ride, bath and reapply, throw on fly gear. My guy stayed very, very dark!
