Flea-bitten grey grooming tips?

[Lucyann89]

Hey everyone I am new to the H&H forum, so it's nice to meet you all!

My question is really about grooming my gelding for shows. I used to own a chestnut mare who always looked stunning at shows as she was a bright chestnut and her coat is naturally very shiny ( I compete fairly regularly at BSJA shows ). I have recently sold her and now own a flea-bitten grey gelding, who has a grey mane and tail.

I also jump him BSJA but he's a slim 15.2hh thoroughbred so looks scrawny compared to the general 17hh muscley warmbloods! The fact that he is also a flea-bitten grey makes him look a bit 'dirty' compared to clean grey horses because he has a lot of brown freckles, even though I use whitening shampoos, chalk etc!

What else can I do/use to make him look at his best? And what colour of tack and nummnah should I use to make him appear whiter?

Thank you!

 

[kerilli]

i had a flea-bitten grey whose coat never really shone. i think as long as they're shampooed as clean as possible, and you use an immaculately white numnah (and i'd always go for brown tack over black, but maybe that's just me) then that's the best you can do... especially as you're sjing not showing. i'd use glossy brunette shampoo and be satisfied that he's perfectly clean.
using an old stocking or half a pair of tights on the whole tail with a bandage at the top, kept me from murdering my grey mare, who managed to poo and wee down her tail about 20 times a day at shows...
good luck... hope he jumps brilliantly and just shows those big muscly warmbloods!

 

[Tierra]

Hi

Welcome to the club

Ive had nothing but chestnuts before my latest acquisition.. also fleabitten

Firstly, be careful on some of the things you'll read about whitening grey horses. They have sensitive skin and i stupidly followed advise on here to try diluted washing up liquid once, which caused a massive odema

I use the Oster whitening shampoo.. its purple, very thick so lasts ages and smells of vanilla Firstly, try not to let stains settle too much, removing stable stains daily is much much easier than trying to remove massive in-grained marks.

When it comes to bathing, i use warm water, a rubber curry comb and a sponge and as much elbow grease as is necessary. Theres a few stain removers out there that work quite well also. Tails is one area you can be a bit harsher in terms of the products.. i often soak the end of Jack's in hot water with washing powder in it (Dreft.. if you can find it, is amazingly good at whitening tails.. but again, i wouldnt use this on skin).

Depending on the colouring, you can then chalk up the lower leg area to make them appear brighter.

Tack wise.. black all the way imo and i try to avoid white numnahs and bandages and they'll make your horse appear dirty purely because of his colouring. Black looks stunning on greys and you can use this in competition also.

In winter, it might be worth investing in some of the tail bag type products available on the market. They basically enable you to put the horses tail inside a bag type thing for turnout... it helps save them going yellow. Decent rugs are a must have on greys also.. i only use full neck turnouts in winter and getting good quality stable rugs that dont allow the wet to soak through is also a must (sometimes buying two turnouts and using one indoors works better for this).

Bandage or wrap legs on days before shows...

Snuggy rugs are amazing at keeping them clean pre-shows also (http://www.snuggyhoods.co.uk/jams.html) as they have a tummy wrap part that helps to keep tummies sparkling white.

In regards to removing stable stains on a daily basis... try hot water, a cap full of savlon and a small amount of WHITE vinegar.

Good luck with your grey

They're hard to keep clean but if you suceed, you'll always be noticed

ETS - really focus on getting the mane, tail and forlock clean if they're white.. it will stand out much much more on this colour horse and you can get them to the point where they almost seem to glow a silvery colour. Make sure nostrils are kept clean if he's pink there (so often see this not done and it makes a lot of difference), also make sure the area round the eyes is cleaned and the black round the edges will contrast well (assuming his / her face is clean of course!)

 

[catembi]

Thank you Tierra - lots of tips for me to try. After I lost Catembi, I swore that my next horse was going to be a sensible colour & was looking forward to chucking out my shampoos & white plaiting thread etc. But I like ISHs & they often come in grey, so I've ended up with another one.

 

[Lucyann89]

Thanks everyone for your help. I searched on google a bit and as far as nummnahs/tack goes then it's personal opinion whether yo use black or brown tack, but Navy Blue, Purple and Red nummnahs work best, with immaculate White if your horse is clean or Black if using black tack goes really nicely too.

 

[CastleMouse]

My lad is a 16.1hh Danish Warmblood, he's a fleabitten grey with a few dapples. A good coat begins with good nutrition. Choose a feed that's high in oil to help aid with condition and help the coat shine. Adding a cup of vegetable/sunflower oil into each feed might help as well. I find that cheap baby shampoo (test it out on a small area firstly, just in case your horse is allergic) is much better than some of the expensive whitener shampoos that are available. I also use baby shampoo on his mane and tail, it really makes him white even when he's very grubby! I also groom my lad thoroughly twice a day, morning and evening (probably not a good thing to do if your horse is out unrugged a lot though). I usually give a bath and wash his mane and tail well 2 days before a show. The day before the show I clean his tail again, and wash his legs. I apply chalk powder (you can get it in a tub from most tack shops) to his wet legs, bandage him up for the night, and brush the chalk off the morning of the show. For those last minute stains, I use Hydrophane Stain Remover which is the best stain remover I have ever used. Black or brown tack goes well, white numnahs/saddlecloths doesn't go too well with any greys apart from steel greys IMO. My everyday saddlecloths/numnahs for him are red, navy, and black, colours you can't go wrong with! His dressage saddle squares are all black as well, although I have a few white ones but I doubt I'll ever be using them!

Not a great photo, but it took hours of elbow grease to get him that clean!

 

[Lucyann89]

Oh wow he is so clean!! Thank you so much, I'm going to print out your reply and use it next time.