How can i stop my black horse going brown?!!!

trefnantblackknight

trefnantblackknight

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Hi i have a black Welsh Section D who always gets sunbleached in the summer he has a rug on all the time but not while im riding him and thats when he gets bleached and i was wondering if any one had any tips to turn my boy black again for a big show thats coming up next month?

Thanks
 
Washing any sweat off after riding helps.
Also you can buy darkening shampoos. We have used a henna shampoo before from Boots, which was quite good!
 
GingerCat said:
It could be he's a dilute black (what colour where his parents/grandparents?). :confused:
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As above he must carry a red gene as if he were double black he wouldn't bleach. Obviously this is of no help, but other than only riding when it is dark I don't think you will be able to stop the coat being bleached.
 
I have a brown fell pony in the summer - he wears a fly rug all the time too. I think you can get UV resistant rugs? Maybe that would help?

We're just working brown as the summer season must have colour - black is so last season!! :D
 
My Hanoverian gelding is a 'sunkissed ginger!'. He does though with the variations in his coat colour look gorgeous in the summer so not worried about him not being jet black. If a judge is swayed by his colour not being perfect they are not much of a judge are they? Surely it is the way of going/training that is important? Have a friend who turns her horse out all summer in a sheet even in hot weather to try a keep his coat black! Like I said to someone the other day 'I would not compromise my horses welfare for the whims of a showing judge'. That also goes for having them too fat but that is another story...........................
 
if he has the right minerals he will not bleach, seaweed meal will help prevent bleaching, but you cannot just feed huge quantities of it. I cannot remember what qty I used to feed, but it was teaspoons or tablespoons not handfuls each day. Will check though.
 
I have to agree with burge... although I remember helping out on a shetland stud years ago. They had their ponies out 24/7 and they were lovely, happy, healthy ponies, although brown rather than black. But there were many stories of other breeders who kept theirs stabled or rugged all the time, some of them even using neck covers in summer. Very sad IMO but that is what the show judges demanded. The stud I worked for reckoned their sunkissed ponies got marked down for not being jet black, but they weren't prepared to treat them like hothouse flowers.

Actually just realised you can see my little oldie, right hand pony in my signature. She was from the stud and she was only black in winter!
 
This has happened to my black gelding much to my dismay :(
He's got a black face and neck and a chocolate brown body! He also has a few highlights in his forelock!

He was a stunning jet black at the beginning of the summer. Now he is bleached brown on his body, especially on the areas he sweats from being ridden. I haven't bothered with a fly rug or anything though, he ripped it! And now he's gone so browny on his body that I've given up worrying or trying :(
 
All his breeding apart from his great great great dam which is a grey :/ i use darkening shampoos on him and they work a bit. I was thinking of putting some boot poslish on his dyed bits for the show and just avoid touching him with my cream jods haha.
 
Exactly the same as my boy apart from the fact he has no mane to speak of as he itched it all off in the space of five mintues when my back was turned little bugger haha. Luckly its grown back 3 inches its just his shoulders that are really orange he looks so odd!!

Charla said:
This has happened to my black gelding much to my dismay :(
He's got a black face and neck and a chocolate brown body! He also has a few highlights in his forelock!

He was a stunning jet black at the beginning of the summer. Now he is bleached brown on his body, especially on the areas he sweats from being ridden. I haven't bothered with a fly rug or anything though, he ripped it! And now he's gone so browny on his body that I've given up worrying or trying :(
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Thankyou i will try that for next year, give him like a teaspoon in his dinner throughout the winter and through the summer hopefully it will work :) il have a look into what else i could feed him to help
:D

jeeve said:
if he has the right minerals he will not bleach, seaweed meal will help prevent bleaching, but you cannot just feed huge quantities of it. I cannot remember what qty I used to feed, but it was teaspoons or tablespoons not handfuls each day. Will check though.
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There are two genetic types for black in horse coat colour, jet black which does not fade and solid black which does. I am not sure feeding anything will help if he is the latter.

The one thing coat fade can be a symptom of is copper deficiency. I had a black andalucian/ID cross who faded each summer - the number of vets who thought they should test his copper level, it was always normal!!
 
trefnantblackknight said:
Thats brilliant thanks iwill definately encorperate seeweed in his diet thanks again :D
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I believe the colour change came after stopping the seaweed, brewers yeast etc. diet and switching to minerals balanced from results of forage analysis. :D Sorry to confuse you. I suspect copper may be involved in the improved colour of the horse in the link but it's only a total guess. Minerals need to be properly balanced as far as possible for proper absorbtion of each one. Too much of one can inhibit use in the body of another...

Too much iron in grass and even water is very common I believe for example.
 
I've just started to feed Paprika to my horses - it's supposed to improve colour density - not sure how much to feed so feeding them a level dessertspoon daily.

Magnesium, copper, zinc all are supposed to help + keeping him totally covered in the sun.
 
This thread has made me grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr , let the god damn horses be horses! how would you like to wear a fly rug in this hot weather if its not needed, bad enough having to put it on for flies. Not normally a grump on this forum, but this irritated me, poor show horsies X
 
Our boy, the black in my sig, looks black in some lights but definately has red in his coat. It doesn't seem to matter if he is rugged, in by day, shampoo's with colour enhancing stuff etc, he still looks black with a red tinge, just shinier!
 
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