Give me your tried and tested methods on whitening feathers!

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Tayto

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I am sure there is multiple threads on this so apologies if I am repeating this question!

My mare's back feathers are REALLY yellow and stained. Even after washing, with fairy liquid and purple shampoo they are still stained at the back and she gets them dirty again within a matter of hours! Here are some before and after pics.

BEFORE PIC
picture.php


AFTER PIC (took me HOURS to get them like this and they were still yellow at the bottom :()
picture.php


I have our first "proper" show at the end of July (the one in the pics was a fun day at my yard) and I would like to get this yellow staining out of the back feathers.

On the day of the show we will be leaving the yard at 7am so I will not have time to wash them in the morning and cannot stable her overnight. Does anyone have any advice on washing her legs and bandaging them the night before? Bearing in mind that she will be in the field overnight?

Also, does anyone recommend any products other than fairy liquid, purple shampoo and elbow grease?

I have recently bought pig oil and sulphur but her legs were already dirty when I applied it - is it better to apply this on clean legs? I dont want to overwash her legs hence why I applied onto her already dirty legs. I was going to apply this once a week?

Thanks in advance for your tips :D
 
CHALK! Life saver for us. Wash legs and leave to dry, dampen a sponge and put in chalk, paste it on, bandage and travel to show. at the show remove the bandages and rub the feathers/brush it out and voila!
 
Soft soap is supposed to work nicely. I confess I use chalk, apply when wet and form a paste and then brush out when dry. Wear gloves though as it really dries out your hands! I don't use it for manes and tails as it makes them dry and brittle.
 
How the heavy horse people get their legs white is

Scrub the white with pig oil and leave for about an hour. Wash this off with hot soapy water and rinse well. Get some wood flour. Stand your horse on an open sack and rub the wood flour into the heathers then brush out. If you do this on a sack it can be reused again.

I do know that in heavy horse classes chalk was not allowed but, this might have changed.
 
Treseme deep cleansing shampoo. Usually on offer somwhere. Works a treat on traddy cob feathers. Grannys soap flakes (tesco) dissolve in hot water first, they work well and rinse easily. Use pig oil or baby oil on back feathers to deter stains. Use warm water to wash legs with whatever you use as this lifts more dirt out. If you use woodflour to dry make sure it is white woodflour as some can be a bit yellowish and discolour the hair. Our cob and shire live out before shows so we wash legs the day before and wash quickly before we leave if dirty and put on thermatex type leg wraps to travel. If you need to clean on arrival use a stain remover spray rather than trying to rinse soap out. Towel dry as much as possible. Just remember that the hair always looks cleaner when it dried.
 
I used my mums dog shampoos for my cob, and they worked amazing (smelled good too-bubblegum)! I scrubbed my cobs feathers at night, bandaged depending on if he was in a messy mood and then chalked the next morning, left his feathers sparkling for days, and in a really good condition:)
For general cleaning I used fairy liquid though it did leave his feathers in quite a state, clean but messy:confused:
 
I use warm water and soap flakes for first wash then Absorbine show white for second. I put a glug of oil in the final rinse. I then use wood flour with some show white powder mixed in or use the paste and leave over night.
 
Washing up liquid and time :) jeeezzz horse daughter competed had the biggest feathers id seen and took a lot of washing but by heck they came up beautiful :)
 
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