Anyone else's Horse Lacking Shine?

3Beasties

3Beasties

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Does anyone else's horse not have a Shiny coat over the winter?

In the summer my TB's coat is pretty shiny and healthy looking but during Winter he doesn't seem to have much of a shine to his coat despite being well fed and well rugged. He has been wormed and is well in himself so I am not worried as such but was just wondering if he was alone in the 'I will not shine' Campaign :cool: When I was watching Olympia before Xmas I was amazed at how shiny the majority of horses were!!

Next time the sun is shining I think I will turn him out for an hour or so naked to see if a bit of air and sun helps bring on the shine :D
 
So long as all the obvious things are taken care off; adequately rugged, fed, groomed etc, then try hot ragging :)

I use a bottle cap of dettol, 3 vinegar and a kettle of hot water, as hot as you can stand to put you hands in anyway! I use an old flanel, throughly rung out and wipe over, it will bring out scruff & grease in the coat...I'm one of those that can gloat at always having a shiny horse!!
 
my lad is very shiny :D but that doesn't help lol, he has become more shiny since i started feeding him veteran vitality which has linseed and omega oils in it.
 
I do struggle with his weight over winter but he gets ad-lib hay (going to change to haylage soon) and his feed has quite a high oil content to it so I don't think adding more will help unfortunately.

Will give him a vinegar bath tomorrow and see if that helps!
 
I also try to make sure I buy rugs which are 'satiny' material inside as I think this helps polish their coats.
 
3Beasties said:
I do struggle with his weight over winter but he gets ad-lib hay (going to change to haylage soon) and his feed has quite a high oil content to it so I don't think adding more will help unfortunately.

Will give him a vinegar bath tomorrow and see if that helps!
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cider vinegar in the feed will help too not just on the coat. Baths do work but its a short term fix, the hair needs to grow healthily for it to stay shiny. When you say you struggle with weight, do you mean he has too much on or is too light? We cut down feed of racehorses over the freeze as we couldnt work them as usual and you can really see the lack of oils in their coats. It doesnt take long on their normal feeds to come back right. If he is too light i would defo give oil in the feed a go - works wonders and can get it really cheap in the supermarkets
 
Another vote for cider vinegar! Put mine on it at the beginning of December and took him home for the holidays, now he is back at uni with me and everyone has commented on how shiney and well he is looking!!
 
CuppaTea - He is under weight :(

Cider Vinegar sounds like it's well worth a try, how much do you give them each day?
 
3Beasties said:
CuppaTea - He is under weight :(

Cider Vinegar sounds like it's well worth a try, how much do you give them each day?
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racehorses get a mug a day, so somewhere up to that? It does speed up metabolism (Great for humans to help with diets too) so if he is underweight, keep an eye on it to start with. it could well have the desired effect in the end and get him eating even more! Ive seen finicky eaters trough down food when you give them CV. Oil would really help with weight and shine though! Sorry to keep banging on about it! Haylage is also better for weight gain than hay. Good luck with rest of the winter!!
 
Thanks CT, I am going to try and change him over to haylage in the next week or so as I think he will eat more of it then he will hay (he will only eat a medium sized hay net when in at night which I am sure is the main problem!).

He is currently being fed Alfa A oil, coolstance copra (high oil content), speedie beet, and a small handful of competition mix twice a day. Do you think adding veg Oil will still be OK? I don't want to overdo the oil.
 
My horse never has a shiney coat unfortunatly he is very fit and healthy but I think its because of his colouring :( but I do love his colour
 
Linseed oil = shiny coat! It's also a good digestive aid. I didn't know about cider vinegar though, I thought that was used more often to help support joint function? Still if it works then why not!
 
I bought mine the NAF jug of cider vinegar and it says 150ml per day for a horse. Mine gets a glug, when I remember I will steal a more accurate measuring device from my mother!! If he is not hyper on his food ATM then I would experiment with oils, and take photos so you can compare what he looks like weekly - always an interesting exercise!!
 
Nope! My mare is affectionately called my shiny black horse. She has a fabulous coat. She is fed on safe and sound chaff with high fibre cubes added. Kossolian blood salts in a very small dose as they are like rocket fuel and haylage. However the secret to her beauty may have something to do with mud packs lol
 
3Beasties said:
Thanks CT, I am going to try and change him over to haylage in the next week or so as I think he will eat more of it then he will hay (he will only eat a medium sized hay net when in at night which I am sure is the main problem!).

He is currently being fed Alfa A oil, coolstance copra (high oil content), speedie beet, and a small handful of competition mix twice a day. Do you think adding veg Oil will still be OK? I don't want to overdo the oil.
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How much coolstance are you feeding? If your not feeding the correct amount I would be adding a vit/min supplement.Why a small handfull off comp mix?
 
3Beasties said:
Thanks CT, I am going to try and change him over to haylage in the next week or so as I think he will eat more of it then he will hay (he will only eat a medium sized hay net when in at night which I am sure is the main problem!).

He is currently being fed Alfa A oil, coolstance copra (high oil content), speedie beet, and a small handful of competition mix twice a day. Do you think adding veg Oil will still be OK? I don't want to overdo the oil.
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have you tried blue chip or similar? really good stuff, redmills do a growcare pellet (pretty much same difference to blue chip) is a bit cheaper, really good for keeping weight on if you are worried about the oil.

DH1 said:
I feed my mare a seaweed supplement and she has an amazingly shiny coat, I am frequently asked if I actually polish her :D
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yeah, ditto this too, seaweed is a great de-tox and boost for them, really cheap too
 
Tom gets like this, but if left he goes scurfy and itchy. The things we do are as follows...
1) add cider vinegar to his feed (just about 50ml per day)
2) hot cloth with either dettol or vetrolin in a bucket of hot water
3) turn him out in the snow for half an hour naked to roll and scrub himself
4) work him hard and get plenty of sweat through his coat and then hot cloth.

4) if none of those work then a full bath with head and shoulders sensitive as soon as it's warm enough sorts him out!
 
Just thought I'd show you my reasonably shiny clipped horse :)

IMG_0176.jpg
 
Ellie seems to be more shiny now than she's ever been in winter before, which is weird! She's between clips too, so it's surprising that she's got a gleam on her coat even though she's a bit cat hairy. As far as feeding is concerned, she is on ok-quality hay, and two feeds of Dengie Hi Fi and a scoop of Spillers conditioning cubes, with no supplements.

As my ride this morning would show, she is also feel incredibly well in herself...:eek::rolleyes::D
 
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