Anything to help with sun bleaching a black coat?

[Ivjo19]

Hi
This might be a stab in the dark but wondered if anyone new of anything that can prevent my black horses coat bleaching in the sun, would prefer not to put any sort of rug on her, but wondered if anyone new of any products that act like a guard or something I guess. Or something that can darken coat that has already been bleached. This might be a really stupid question but I just want my pony to be looking smart and black again!
Thanks

 

[Casey76]

Sun bleaching can be indicative of Fe:Cu:Zn imbalance - usually too much iron and not enough copper.

 

[Ivjo19]

Are there any supplement or changes I should make in her diet?

 

[Midlifecrisis]

In during the day and turn out at night.

 

[cundlegreen]

Lack of copper. I have several black horses, and, apparently, blacks and liver chestnuts need more copper. I have also found tumeric and coconut combo has improved my black mare's coat colour and shine. I buy from valley view feeds who are very good on price.

 

[Ivjo19]

Thank you very much for your help! Thinking about it now, I've been a bit stupid as I've forgotten that an organic fly spray that my mum produces is actually a bit acidic, as fly's don't like acidic environments, and she wears that most days so there's not a lot I can do about it! I'm not super keen on messing around with her diet like putting extra things like copper in as I do feel that horses do self select and will look for and eat less or more of certain things that they need. And we are very lucky that our fields are full of lots of diverse plants. But if copper has worked for you and your horse, that's great!

 

[Casey76]

Thank you very much for your help! Thinking about it now, I've been a bit stupid as I've forgotten that an organic fly spray that my mum produces is actually a bit acidic, as fly's don't like acidic environments, and she wears that most days so there's not a lot I can do about it! I'm not super keen on messing around with her diet like putting extra things like copper in as I do feel that horses do self select and will look for and eat less or more of certain things that they need. And we are very lucky that our fields are full of lots of diverse plants. But if copper has worked for you and your horse, that's great!

Horses will eat whatever they find tasty.

 

[AmyMay]

In during the day and turn out at night.

This or a fly sheet.

 

[ester]

IME horses are fairly rubbish at self selecting they eat all sorts of rubbish .

It is worth mentioning that some do seem to seasonally fade/there are many shades of black as there are other colours regardless so it sometimes isn't a bleaching affect.

 

[Equi]

The only thing i ever found to work was a uv fly rug, and my black was so black he looked blue!

 

[CMcC]

Are there any supplement or changes I should make in her diet?

I am a bit confused. You ask about supplement and when someone suggest adding copper you say you are not keen on adding things to diet.

Also I do believe horses will self select herbs etc they need but not sure they will self select to correct coat colour as a horse probably doesn't give a bu**er what colour it's coat is!

 

[Surbie]

Mine is so sunbleached that in bits he is starting to look bay. I am not forage analysing a field he will be on for the next 3-4 weeks before a yard move so am opting for one of the balancers ester has suggested on other threads - they all have copper in but no iron or manganese, and no extra gubbins.

(sorry for jumping in, but thanks ester for the tips!)

 

[Ivjo19]

I am a bit confused. You ask about supplement and when someone suggest adding copper you say you are not keen on adding things to diet.

Also I do believe horses will self select herbs etc they need but not sure they will self select to correct coat colour as a horse probably doesn't give a bu**er what colour it's coat is!

It's just that I know you do have to be a bit careful with copper, but I probably should have specificied that, so I can see how it's a bit confusing! Also when people are saying she might have a lack of copper, I thought I probably don't need to add anything as if she does have a lack she'll probably self select for other needs other than coat colour. Also her coat is super shiny and healthy. Thank you for everyone's suggestions, I think I'm going to try a bit of my gallop black colour enhancing shampoo as it has a slight cooler blue tint so will hopefully help the look of it but won't completely get rid of it

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Mine is normally sun bleached by now, v brown in places.
However, has been on box rest for 4 weeks so far, and is still a hard coal black..... no additives in diet at all

 

[ester]

congratulations on your thorough experiment TFF , sweat is also a biggie (which unless being a real tit in the box/the coat of a yak you will also be avoiding ).

The thing about self selection, for minerals, is they can't really do that if there aren't any plants around them that are high in copper.

glad it's working out Surbie, I do sometimes feel like a bit of a stuck record sometimes with the options but they do seem to be the best still- my own has been known to eat soil regardless of analysis , I concluded he just likes the taste as it would be very spot dependent.

 

[Surbie]

Might be too soon to say if it's working - I've only just pressed 'pay' on the balancer. By 'eck they are pricey!!

Ivjo90 - you could always look for the veg that is naturally high in copper (summer squash, chard, spinach, asparagus, greens, etc and weed out any that aren't suitable for horses like the brassicas) and see if your horse will select any of them. Mine likes chard (yuk) and green beans, both are high in copper but I have no clue which of the weeds/grasses/bits of hedging in the field are copper-rich.

 

[ester]

Frank loves a brassica , he also eats onions with gusto, you can see why I am sceptical about self selection . Especially as he doesn't eat just anything with gusto, he is actually quite a fussy pita to feed.
To a certain extent I think most weeds/grasses etc will probably follow the soil profile minerals wise.

 

[kathantoinette]

Mark Todd UV Fly sheet did the job for mine

 

[buzyizzy]

Sun bleaching can be indicative of Fe:Cu:Zn imbalance - usually too much iron and not enough copper.

Yup, add Zinc and Copper and the "bleaching" will diseappear. I buy mine from Progressive Earth on Ebay.

 

[AFB]

Can anybody point me in the direction of the supplements for this? My horse has always sun bleached and I never realised it was an issue - currently just on ML & grass chaff with added salt, would rather not add a balancer at this stage but happy to supplement.

 

[ceva]

Hi cundlegreen,
I have just seen a tub of turmeric in my local feed supplier shop, quite reasonable to at £6.25 as my dark horse sunbleached last year so I'm going to give it a try, did you mix with oil in feed or just give as directed, thought I would start with a small teaspoon and go from there, will see how this summer goes, doesn't seem to suffer with the flies so don't feel the need to rug, don't want to stand in either as horse stiffens up if in a lot, it also says it helps with arthritis so that will be an added benefit.
Thanks for advice