Caring for a Cremello

[Moggz]

In october I rescued a 9 year old Cremello Shetland x welsh mare, 10hh. She was drastically underweight, fear aggressive, never had her feet or teeth done, never vaccinated and with a foal at foot. Foal is now weaned and rehomed. Crystal is now a friendly affectionate girl, has nice neat feet and tidy teeth. She is at a healthy weight and the vets have a soft spot for her.

My concern now is making sure I keep her happy and healthy. I've noticed in bright light she squints a lot, lots more than my other more mundane coloured horses. her eyelashes are rather short so give little protection to her beautiful pale blue eyes. Do I need to be concerned about her eyes? Could they benefit from some protection from the sun and wind?

My other concern is her nose, obviously I've not yet seen her in summer coat so I have no idea what covering of fur her nose has during the summer, but as my 3 other horses all have pink/white noses and all get a touch of sunburn in the summer, do I need to be prepared for her to be prone to it?

I'm well aware that I'm coming across as a nervous Momma, but I'd rather worry over nothing than to end up with an unhappy girl. So I'd be grateful for advice from someone more experienced with Crems.

My last question - How the Heck do I get her clean? Considering the sparse and pathetic care she appears to have recieved before, I think we can safely assume she has never been washed. She has a layer of grime covering her skin, more so than my other horses, her tail is badly stained and generally she looks like a scruffy filthbag! Whats the best shampoo to use to get her nice and sparkly?

Thanks

 

[Meowy Catkin]

You should get a fly mask with nose and ear cover, as she has pink skin, she will burn in bright sun. The Cashel ones are really good. I would also get her a fly rug that protects from UV.

There's a poster on here that has a perlino (has two copies of cream like a creamello does) and she finds that her horse gets bitten a lot by flying insects, so that's another good reason for the fly rug.

RE cleaning her, I would get a proper horse shampoo and on a sunny warm day (with warm water) give her a slow, gentle bath. It would be worth getting a shampoo that doesn't need to be rinsed out to start with, incase she is worried by the bath. You could then carefully sponge her down and use a sweat scraper to get most of the water off.

 

[MyLuckyStar]

In october I rescued a 9 year old Cremello Shetland x welsh mare, 10hh. She was drastically underweight, fear aggressive, never had her feet or teeth done, never vaccinated and with a foal at foot. Foal is now weaned and rehomed. Crystal is now a friendly affectionate girl, has nice neat feet and tidy teeth. She is at a healthy weight and the vets have a soft spot for her.

My concern now is making sure I keep her happy and healthy. I've noticed in bright light she squints a lot, lots more than my other more mundane coloured horses. her eyelashes are rather short so give little protection to her beautiful pale blue eyes. Do I need to be concerned about her eyes? Could they benefit from some protection from the sun and wind?

My other concern is her nose, obviously I've not yet seen her in summer coat so I have no idea what covering of fur her nose has during the summer, but as my 3 other horses all have pink/white noses and all get a touch of sunburn in the summer, do I need to be prepared for her to be prone to it?

I'm well aware that I'm coming across as a nervous Momma, but I'd rather worry over nothing than to end up with an unhappy girl. So I'd be grateful for advice from someone more experienced with Crems.

My last question - How the Heck do I get her clean? Considering the sparse and pathetic care she appears to have recieved before, I think we can safely assume she has never been washed. She has a layer of grime covering her skin, more so than my other horses, her tail is badly stained and generally she looks like a scruffy filthbag! Whats the best shampoo to use to get her nice and sparkly?

Thanks

I have a cremello welsh cross. I do put a fly mask on her in the Summer and she also has sun cream (factor 50) applied to her nose when she's out in the sun. I try and get her a fly mask with the nose part to if I can.

With regards to cleaning I use cheap washing up liquid (the blue one) and its fantastic, it doesn't affect her skin but obviously you'd be best to do a patch test first. The other thing you could use would be the blue shampoo specifically for horses which is more expensive, I use this as a last wash as the washing up liquid does exactly the same job

My Mare

 

[galaxy]

A client of mine has just bought a cremello. The vet has advised that she wear a UV fly mask in any bright sunlight (even a bright winters day). Make sure it is a UV one. She uses an Equilibrium mask.

 

[Moggz]

My Mare

Oh My! So thats what Crys should look like lol! I "think" shes a bit paler than your girl though - hard to tell really.

So UV fly mask and suit, sunblock and No-Rinse shampoo will be the way forward

I'm not sure how I put a picture up on here but shall have a go in a moment

 

[Moggz]

Crystal a month after she arrived

 

[PrettyLittleLiar]

Crystal a month after she arrived

aw she's gorgeous! I have a cremello connemaraX

i have a full face mask for her that protects her from UV rays, but when she has suncream on her hair falls out so I have to have an long long fly mask on whenever she is out in the summer, the only good thing about this bad weather is that she hasn't had to wear it haha. I think its great you rescued her
this is her mask

for keeping her clean, all i do is loads of elbow grease haha, the occasional bath with fairy liquid and tea tree for her mane and tail, really helps mine and makes her feel gorgeous!

 

[popularfurball]

I use head and shoulders itchy scalp for shifting skin scurf with warm water - my pony is not a crem but has the equivalent of excema all over her so gets very scaly and she can't tolerate a lot of shampoos etc.

She also burns easily too as she often has no hair - we use the cashel nose net stitched onto a snuggy hood head. For rugs we use a cotton summer sheet combo - they provide complete Uv protection (like us wearing clothes) as she burns through Normal fly rugs. They also last longer as they don't rip as easily.

 

[Moggz]

Thanks furball! My warmblood has what can only be classed as dandruff! but only on her crest - so shall give the H&S a shot when i bath her!

 

[texas]

I have one and had another perlino (darker points than a cremello). I use cheap baby shampoo and she comes up a treat. It's nice to see the white socks again, although as she only has three the fourth leg always looks dirtier after a bath! Neither have had any problems with sunburn or their eyes though, so I guess that depends on the pony. Well done for rescuing her and sorting her out