Messy Mare

[Garnett]

One of my show horses is a dapple-grey, when she's clean she's so pretty, But she happens to be an escape artiste, with blankets, those nylon hoods for the head and neck. She is soo hard to keep clean , you can't use a curry comb on her 'cause she prances and dances about ( being a throughbred ). I guess the combs grab and pinch her skin. Any grooming tricks, suggestions? I have a show coming up and my horse- vac is broken. Thanks-Chrissy:)

[Wally]

I used to woork for the master of the local hunt. She had two white greys which I had to get immaculate twice a week to hunt. The only tips I can give is to wash them, nothing fancy, just washing up liquid and old fashioned elbow grease. Chalk for shows is good, but you can't use it on a whole horse!

We used to have a skewbald, beautifully marked, more like an American Paint horse than a boring British skewbald! We were attending an endurance ride with him and had bathed him for the event so he looked beautiful. When we got him out of his stable on the morning of the ride, one side was as clean and sparkling as we left it....... the other was GREEN, not just one or two stains, but green from head to foot! This degree of staining wouldn't wash out and short of taking him down to the local hair dressing salon and getting him bleached this is what we were going to have to work with! So green, brown and white is how he accepted is 3rd prize in the Summer Solstice ride (100 miles in day) as the old saying goes... a good horse is NEVER a bad colour! even if green features largely!

[Garnett]

yeah, they look so nice when thier clean, otherwise it's a battle of the green!:rolleyes: I don't know how this mare can do it, I've tried every kind of rug, cooler,turnout sheet ect. And those nylon hoods don't even last a week, and every night it's laying on the ground in a fresh pile of manure! I can ship her to a show nicely clean to find her hocks an tail are totally green. Argggggg.:confused:

[Showjumper]

They've got these tail bags on the market - they're like ordinary tail bandages used for travelling, but cover the whole tail so it doesn't get dirty - check out the sttachment! :D

They're £10 from the Robinson's Catalogue (http://www.robcl.co.uk/frames/rclshp.htm) and scroll down the list until you get to Puff Tail Guard With Sleeve.

Hope this helps!!! :D