winter maintenance, showing and baby oil!

Dannii5691

Dannii5691

Owned by Ponies!
Nov 16, 2009
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Im planning on showing womble at the winter showing venues local to us. Now im trying to keep as much hair on his body as is possible while keeping him out as long as possible still so those of you with cobs how do you maintain the hair through winter.

Today I abused the baby oil in the pound shop. A full bottle on the mane, a full one on the tail and one between the legs.

His mane is plaited over (training it currently) and he wears a lycra hood under his rug to help train and protect it. I gave the oil a good rub into the base of his mane, all the way through and through his forelock. Is more oil better? How much oil. How often? its quite dry and brittle currently.

Whats peoples experience of tail bags? HE has a proper "cob tail" that touches the floor. But same as the mane its rather brittle and dry! I try not to brush either very often. The legs I will keep him in through the week to wash them properly and then start the oil regime too.

Tips? Tricks? Help?
 
use pig oil & sulphur rather than baby oil and I use a tail bag if the conditions are really bag, eg dragging through mud.
 
Was also going to say pig oil and sulphur but patch test because sulphur can nip a bit.
 
i read somewhere that baby oil is pretty much the same as pig oil, and you only need to use the sulfur if the mid fever bacteria is already attacking the skin. That you can use baby/pig oil on its own as a preventitive.

i put baby oil on P's feathers (he doesn't have a huge amount of feather but does get mud fever) on Sunday and no mud has stuck to them at all and no signs of mud fever yet and they feel nice and silky. Last year i kept him in on a Fri and sat night so his legs could dry out and i could apply pig oil and sulfur (i found the gold lable was a good ratio mix for mr sensitive!)

as for tail bags. My friend bags her highlands tail and he wears it all the time. She takes it off when she's riding (tail is in a big long plait) and brushes the tail through, re plaits and bags once a week i think. His tail is so long and thick now! I'm thinking of doing it for P.
 
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I always used tail bags for jess when we were showing in reining as her tail ran along the ground for 6 or 8 inches it was that long (plus she is a pissy nasty mare;)), I found the best ones were nylon ones which just had a velcro tab at the top to loop through the plait (the 3 section ones were just a pain to get on and the fabric got soaked). I used to plait her tail and pop the bag on, I would empty any dirt out of it maybe once a week but only take out the plait and brush perhaps once a month or right before a show when bathing, I always rode in it without issue.
 
If it's a hair thing and mud thing and you like clean like jessey I can see them been high maintenance to someone :) now Neala has embraced mud she certainly would take some cleaning and grooming to keep clean all the time,thankfully I love hair and the mud look. I also don't mind picking branches,leaves,gauze bush and the like out of her mane and tail on a daily basis,although if she came in one day like flipo did with all the burrs in her mane I may cry! I still have utter respect for FM getting those all out!
 
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I've been pig oiling Chloe's feathers (well, what bits she has left as we have to trim them cos of mf) and its done wonders. She hasn't got horrid clumpy knotty nasty mud bits and its so easy to use.
 
Be aware that over oiling can result in hair loss. I don't use sulphur just pig oil/baby oil and my guys feathers all fell out. So I would apply once or twice weekly tops.

You would be better with a leave in conditioner for the mane and tail to start with then adding the oil.

If his tail is White weekly washes with a whitening shampoo will help.
 
Pig oil and sulphur for legs, but I don't like it on the mane, I don't think it penetrates the hair shaft so is relatively pointless and messy.
I'm on the quest for something to help make my horse's hair less brittle. I've tried coconut oil in the past which is supposed to be very good, but been watching a few youtube vids of folk with show horses and very long manes. They seem to plait the hair very tightly, and then cable tie it up into a more manageable length, but before that, they wash them and condition intensively. I'm going to try using conditioner on my boy's hair at some point - I bought some coconut stuff from tescos - just cheap crap. See if it helps a bit, as last time I washed him and used conditioner, it produced a less frizzy version of the blonde one.
 
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I started using megatek to help Kev grow his raked tail back. Never mind that it says it helps hair growth (debatable!), it smells freakin amazing and is a good conditioner. In fact I might slather Kev in it tonight!

Expensive mind....
 
I find the hair becomes brittle with oil, unless you wash it and just towel dry it, then apply the oil, it then keeps the moisture in the hair.

I would much rather use a hair conditioner as well rather than oil - Aussie tends to be good although expensive
 
Megatek is great and smells gorgeous. Ziggy is folic ally challenged but he definitely kept his mane and tail better when I Megateked him.
 
It smells like piña colada! I slathered Kev's tail with it the other night and plaited it up. Planning to it once a week....party to stop his tail getting covered in 'haylage tummy' poo and partly so it comes out of winter looking thick & healthy.

He has a thick enough mane, so I'm not so worried about that!

I might dilute it down though, it is very thick....I think it should probably be washed out.
 
Hmm very interesting about the magitek stuff. I pulled his mane and evened it all up a while ago and im currently training it over. Im going to get a full hood for him and use his faceless for in his box as he loves to scrape himself through the mud and trying to maintain clean and stuff is a nightmare though the hood does seem to be protecting it from his full neck rug which was the initial cause of him loosing it 2 years ago!

His feathers he has a bit of bog burn not not to much though id like to keep them the way they are, not loose much more!

Interesting that too much oil can damage instead of help.

Hes looking in quite good nick atm like
 
When I read how much oil you put on my first thought was I hope the sun doesn't come out.
It can burn.

I don't put anything on the mane, I plait when ridden usually and it slides out otherwise.
I might put a tail spray thingy on the tail and I haven't touched the feathers since last year with pig oil.
Too much creates a problem as with too much brushing.

How often are you showing? I would bring in and just wash those parts the night before.

I think it also depends on your Neddy, this photo is pre bringing in, that's how filthy she comes in. I usually flick a brush over her when I do hunt the spec. We have mud as you can see on the feathers. Obviously if she were grey she would look beige. The tail is my winter length, it grows down more Springtime. I don't show and the one class I am doing may or may not mark me down for it. I don't cover it, plait it or anything and its thick.
 

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I would just leave the mane alone and just wash it and brush it through on the morning of the show. I have used baby oil on Bens tail in the past and I found it made it more brittle and easier to break off. I think that overbrushing is the main cause of hair loss, so if you don't touch it very often you will keep as much hair on as possible.
 
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