What Are Your White Tail Hacks?

[RoyalRain42]

All of us who ride horses with light tails know this struggle. The ever constant fight against poop stained tails! The never ending greens dn brown streaks in our snow white tails!

Stark recently had some stomach issues, the diarrhea was horrible and even with a wrapped tail I have some nasty stains. With it getting cold here I have no hot water to work with, ir indoor area to wash so I have to wash his tail as carefully as I can on sunny warm days.

I have been using Bright and White every time, then conditioned the crap out of his tail. I get the stains a little lighter each time, but not by much. Then braided and back in the bag to try and keep it from getting worse.

I have heard of some people using ketchup? I have not tried it yet. Someone said bleach but I know what that does to my own hair, so no way I would do that to him.

What are the best ways to fight these stains on a white tail? What secrets do you have passed down from generation to generation? Whitening secrets the government does not want us to know about?:lol:

[Scribbler]

For real gross emergencies only blue Dawn dish soap will actually remove poop. For show days one of those purple whitening shampoos allowed to sit and maybe multiple washes will fix a tail that is clean but still stained. Access to hot hose water really helps.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹

[Charliehorse01]

Blue dawn is like the duct tape of washing things. Poop encrusted tail on horse? Blue dawn. Dog got sprayed by a skunk and you haven nothing else? Blue dawn. Baby duck got covered in oil? Blue dawn.

Otherwise yeah, purple shampoo for the stains. Might take a couple washes to be perfect. I usually do a wash with blue dawn, followed by purple shampoo about 2 weeks prior. Keep braided and wrapped if possibly but if not, I at least brush it out daily. Then a wash with purple shampoo a week then day before a show. Otherwise I leave the tail alone and just wash if it looks really gross as needed.

[findeight]

Tail bag?

[EVneo]

As others mentioned above - blue dawn, soak, rinse. Then quic silver, soak, rinse. Condition the bejesus out of it; rinse. Then, spray down with silverado or some other siliconey detangler - I’m convinced this keeps future stains from sticking. Braid and bag that shit.

[jonem004]

Betadine/providone/iodine shampoo will get a protein stain out better than anything. It is super drying though. I would do a section/strand test to see how well it works and to make sure your conditioner is up to moisturizing afterward.

[Kyrabee]

I do braiding or bagging in the fall/winter to keep the worst of the yuck off but in the summer I leave it loose. It usually ends up with plenty of pee and some poop. My mare has a very thick tail. All my shampoo and conditioner at the barn were ancient so I chucked them and started over. So, I just stopped by the store and hit the shampoo aisle and ended up with some Garner Moisture Lock shampoo. I normally wash it a couple times over the summer but don’t obsess over how clean it is and I haven’t been showing so plenty of benign neglect. However, I do give it a good shampoo and condition before I bag it for the winter. Man, that Garner shampoo and conditioner is da bomb. I hav never gotten it that clean and white without lots of the purple shampoo. This stuff smells good and it gentle. Who knew?

Susan

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

I don’t have the tail problem as much, but I am going to get some Blue Dawn to try on the right side belly and haunch. Left side is not so bad, but I am convinced grey mare seeks out her urine spot when she goes to lay down - and obviously prefers sleeping on right side!

#greenisthenewgrey

[Marla_100]

Scribbler’s method works best. Clairol used to make a purple shampoo, can’t remember the name- but it was the best one
I found- Sally’s carried it.

Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/Clairol-Professional-Shimmer-Lights-Shampoo/dp/B000TBVGBM

[oldernewbie]

Orvus. Comes in a giant jar - I am still using the stuff I bought when I got my gray 10 years ago.

There are a multitude of threads about this subject. Here’s one, do a search on “keeping tails white” and you’ll probably find more:
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/f…help-i-can-get

This thread has a discussion on the 2nd page about Goop, which is apparently also good for white tails. Also discusses Fancifull White Minx rinse which is a great temporary solution for white tails that I have used numerous times.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/off-course/293333-favorite-inexpensive-non-horsey-products-for-your-horse

[horsepoor]

My mare with a flaxen tail lives with it braided and bagged most of the year - at the recommendation of her previous owner I use waterproof tail bags from Schneiders as that keeps the pee out. That keeps it pretty clean but I let her have it loose in the buggy months and it does get dirty then - mostly pee stains. I had never heard of using blue dawn, but might try that since I keep it around for cleaning other things in the barn. I have found betadine scrub to work well, but as noted by another poster, that can be drying, so I don’t use it much and always condition well too when I do. In the past, i have found that mix of betadine scrub and orvus powder works really well for white socks so that might also be worth trying. Mostly have found keeping the tail braided and bagged so it stays cleaner in the first place is the best defense.

[cruisecontrol]

I use blue dawn then rinse then I shampoo with quicsilver or something like it and let it sit for a good 10-15 minutes if it’s still not good enough I’ll do it again. If I’m just bathing at home i’ll add avocado oil or olive oil but at shows I spray that sucker down with showsheen right after the shampoo is rinsed out. Blue Dawn is amazing in a pinch I will use Ivory.

[ndirish07]

Goop hand cleaner then use a conditioner. It worked far better than anything else I tried, including Blue Dawn, tide, and any bluing shampoo.

[INoMrEd]

Be careful with the Goop hand cleaner for whitening tails as my grey/white horse had a huge reaction to the chemicals in it. It made his hind legs swollen and painful. It works great but I’ll never use on Vinnie again.

[RoyalRain42]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions!! I had never thought to use Dawn, that will be my next try on my next sunny day!

I do keep his tail braided and bagged, but even with that in his bout with diarrhea still left some nasty stains. Hopefully I can get it back to the white I was maintaining!

There are many suggestions hetr that are getting put In the horse hacks notebook for sure!

[teamfire]

For my gray, I actually like Orvus to remove poop, gunk, etc. I’ve never tried Dawn (but we used Dawn a lot while I worked in Animal Emergency) but I find Ovrus always has a big enough punch I’ve never needed anything else. It lasts forever becsuse you just need a tiny bit.

I then follow with a Whitening shampoo and good conditioner because the Ovrus strips off a lot of oil.

[cripplecreekfrm]

DAC Whitening shampoo is the best that I have found to remove stains. I always wash first to remove the poop and other gunk and then use the DAC and let it stay in for a good 15 min. The good thing about the DAC as opposed to quicksilver is that no matter how long you leave it in it will not stain it purple. Then rinse it out and condition it.

[piedmontfields]

My mare has a white/steel grey tail. Mostly, I just keep up with it and never let it get that dirty. But it can be very useful in a recovery situation to soak it in plain vinegar water, then wash it well a few times. I am also a big believer in keeping the tail well conditioned—I think it makes it harder for stains to set. I only use purple/blue shampoo when it is quite clean–otherwise, I would be trying to create reflections in dirt! lol

[demidq]

I use a bulk type shampoo to get the dirt off then a blue one (whichever is on sale- I am presently using the Aborbine one), finish off with lots of leave in conditioner and a show-sheen type product which really helps stains from soaking in. I like the Cowboy Magic gel stuff. I found the Orvus really drying. During the winter I use a 3 tube tail bag which I braid then double up and secure with electrical tape to keep it out of the mud.

[TheHunterKid90]

Use a palpating sleeve (if you don’t have access to one, a plastic bag they make for composting works too.
Pre rinse your tail and get the worst of it sprayed off. Put the whole tail in the bag and then braid a section of the tail at the top and rubber band it. Weave your bag through the braid and tie it off similar to tying in a fake tail. Now get yourself a big jug of vinegar and pour it right in. Manipulate the tail from the outside until the entire tail is submerged. Leave for about 30 minutes. When you’re done, rinse it well, follow it up with a quick scrub with Dawn Platinum and then a REALLY good conditioner. I rinse and repeat this every few days until I’m where I want to be. The key is to not let the stains sit in the tail for weeks. If I have a dirty tail, it gets at least sprayed off that day.
For maintenance and keeping the tails clean I section the tail into about 5-6 sections depending on the thickness. Then I tie knots in them and secure the knots with vet wrap. This keeps the tail a good 8 inches higher than normal so it for the most part stays out of the way of a mares pee stream and away from the ground and maybe a bout of loose manure.
If it works out, I only take them the knots out once a month, although I might spray the tail off in between and also keep detangler in it like Cowboy Magic. This keeps tails very clean and I never have any breakage. The tails can easily grow a few inches in a month but it doesn’t look like your horse just rolled out of bed in his tail bag and your horse can still use his tail like he normally would, it’s just a bit shorter!!!