Feathers

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SandraD1*

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My horse is a trad cob, he has a lovely long mane and tail, and full feathers. I'm wanting to show him in hand and wondering what I do to get his feathers white! They are mucky coloured and bog burnt at the moment. He has had a bath but I didn't wash the feathers, I was worried about them being wet! I brush them through and pig oil, but that doesn't clean them.
His tail also gets really bad! The top is nice and white but the underside is constantly dirty!
 
Ummm - top tip 😀 feather is always referred to as ‘feather’ unless you’re talking about birdies 🐦‍⬛ Fairy liquid works just as well as more expensive horse shampoo, if you’ve a lot of feather take a look at some of the Clydesdale pages they have useful tips for cleaning / drying usually involving sawdust though. Good luck.
 
gallopingby said:
Ummm - top tip 😀 feather is always referred to as ‘feather’ unless you’re talking about birdies 🐦‍⬛ Fairy liquid works just as well as more expensive horse shampoo, if you’ve a lot of feather take a look at some of the Clydesdale pages they have useful tips for cleaning / drying usually involving sawdust though. Good luck.
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Thank you, saved me from fog-horning it lol ;)
 
Hello. . You can get whitening shampoo from tack & farm supplies shops. Don't do it often, just when there's a show & make sure you get them as dry as you can. I think some people use cornflour too.
Some tips here

Hairy Cobs...keeping those feathers clean!

OMG I have had my hairy traditional barely a week and I am trying to figure out how to deal with the feathers! He has feathers from above the knee to the floor! You cant see his hooves. They are supposed to be white but look yellow. Please someone give me some tips as to how to keep him...
forums.horseandhound.co.uk forums.horseandhound.co.uk
(By the way, don't worry about what to call them, "feather" is more conventional but the BHS website uses "feathers" so you're in good company!)
 
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I just use washing up liquid on my boy. Pig oil was the devil - it seems to attract dirt on him and I gave it away in the end! Make sure the feet are well picked out and place the entire foot into a bucket or tyre-rubber feed trug. Once in, use either your fingers or even better Hands On grooming mitts to scrub the feather an work in the shampoo. After bathing (it never looks completely clean when wet) I massage through Cowboy magic serum, which helps repel dirt as well as untangle. Never used whitening chalk or shampoo, but my boy seems to be teflon coated!
 
The best thing to use on the bottom of the tail is washing capsules, such as Persil. There's no chance of it causing a reaction if you don't use near the dock and rinse well. I used them on my boy's feathers too, but obviously that would be an individual decision as it could cause irritation. I never found any whitening shampoo that worked.
 
I have a little jar of blue powder, I think it's from Supreme Products, but the old fashioned dolly blue tablets (if you can find them) added to a final rinse does help take the yellow tinge out
 
You need to chalk them to get them properly white.

I wash in blue shampoo, then use blue rinse (from supreme products) and then once dry finish with chalk. Or you can paint on a chalk paste leave and then brush off if really bad.
 
Yep, chalk as a finisher brushed well through feather (s!!😂🤣) not long before class. Been used on drafts and cobs for years. Check at last minute that not too much is on surface, so that the judge doesn’t get white hands when checking legs ( though they are used to this!).
 
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