How to get tail and feathers white?

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Mongoose11

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I have tried the warm water....fairy liquid...purple rinse routine and it makes the middle of the tail nice and white cause that bit is white anyway BUT the wee stained outside of the tail and the back of her feathers stay yellow! They become a lighter shade of yellow but definitely NOT white.

Should I do a thorough wash daily for a while and see what that does? I am thinking they might be permanently stained. She wees and poos while having her bum shoved right up against the wall so she always gets it on herself.

Very convenient for mucking out as it is like emptying a litter tray but not good for keeping her clean.

Is her tail permanently stained and in that case I should hack bits off and let it regrow? (while trying to stay on top of keeping it white?).
 
In the past I have used a bucket of warm water with a couple of persil tablets dissolved in it. After washing with normal shampoo first I soaked he tail in the persil for about 5 minutes and then gave it a really good rinse. Be sure not to get any on the dock though and maybe do a test patch on the tail first.
 
Ok, I am a pro at this after owning a grey and a perlino horse. First make sure that you have a really high quality white/grey shampoo, the liquid is usually blue in colour. I personally reccomend Gallop of Supreme Products! Make sure that you throughly massage the shampoo all throughout the tail and leave it for a few minutes. Then rinse, after that if by some miracle there are any stains left then use Cowboy Magic Greenspot Remover; spray it onto any stained areas of the tail, rub in throughly, then rinse. This will remove any stains, I also like to rub in some chalk power and leave it in the damp tail to dry to make it extra white! Obviously repeat the exact same procedure for the feathers too, after applying TONS of chalk power I would then bandage the legs and leave them overnight! And viola! I hope this helped! :D
 
Several washes with Cowboy Magic 'Shine in yellow out' has always done the trick for my boy's white/silver tail! Warm water, massage until lather goes from blue to white, leave for a few mins, rinse and repeat. My old instructor always uses Daz on her grey though! I also often find hot clothing with a bit of dettol can sometimes help lift stains... only really works with poo stains though :cool: xx
 
LollyDolly said:
Ok, I am a pro at this after owning a grey and a perlino horse. First make sure that you have a really high quality white/grey shampoo, the liquid is usually blue in colour. I personally reccomend Gallop of Supreme Products! Make sure that you throughly massage the shampoo all throughout the tail and leave it for a few minutes. Then rinse, after that if by some miracle there are any stains left then use Cowboy Magic Greenspot Remover; spray it onto any stained areas of the tail, rub in throughly, then rinse. This will remove any stains, I also like to rub in some chalk power and leave it in the damp tail to dry to make it extra white! Obviously repeat the exact same procedure for the feathers too, after applying TONS of chalk power I would then bandage the legs and leave them overnight! And viola! I hope this helped! :D
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Thanks - I do use the purple/blue rinse stuff. I have just invested in the cowboy magic green spot and used it on her bum cheeks this morning before her lesson it worked a treat! Didn't think to use it on her tail though! Off to give her a tail wash before bedtime so I will give it a go!
 
I find 'Blue Shampoo' works the best and also whitening toothpaste works wonders but make sure you do a patch test to ensure no irritation occurs :)
 
3Beasties said:
In the past I have used a bucket of warm water with a couple of persil tablets dissolved in it. After washing with normal shampoo first I soaked he tail in the persil for about 5 minutes and then gave it a really good rinse. Be sure not to get any on the dock though and maybe do a test patch on the tail first.
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Thanks 3B, I have wondered whether to go down the vanish/net whitener route but I am so afraid that she will have some sort of ridiculous allergic reaction to it! Might give the persil a go as I imagine it will be more gentle. Will give the cowboy magic a try and then this.

Ta!
 
VioletStripe said:
Several washes with Cowboy Magic 'Shine in yellow out' has always done the trick for my boy's white/silver tail! Warm water, massage until lather goes from blue to white, leave for a few mins, rinse and repeat. My old instructor always uses Daz on her grey though! I also often find hot clothing with a bit of dettol can sometimes help lift stains... only really works with poo stains though :cool: xx
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I knew I needed something else in my armoury - hadn't heard of 'shine in, yellow out!'
 
Billie1007 said:
I knew I needed something else in my armoury - hadn't heard of 'shine in, yellow out!'
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Haha! It really is fab. Mine's a dapple grey with dark legs and mane, so not hugely bad, but the tail is predominantly white/silver, and on the paler places like around his face it's like he purposefully stains himself there :eek: That shampoo really is fab, I found getting the tail very wet beforehand, THEN massaging it in, not just dunking it in the soapy water and massaging. Maybe this is partly because he doesn't stand still for me to do this :rolleyes: Best of luck - some days I'm tempted to trade him in for a bay - or dye him ;) xx
 
I may be wrong but I think that mares wee does stain the white hair and won't wash out. My mare has a permanent yellowy-orange tinge to the end of her tail (she seems to p1ss into the wind on purpose, so her tail blows back under her stream of pee!)
I use blue fairy washing up liquid first, then Wahl Showman Diamond White shampoo, wash it at least twice with hot water (avoiding her tail bone) and finish with a capful of lavendar body rinse stuff in the water. It still has a yellow tinge after all that scrubbing! Its handy that I bang cut her tail, so I can chop the ends off regularly.
For feathers (my youngster had full feather last year) I used the Wahl diamond white shampoo too. He had a full bath the night before, then in the morning washed his mane, tail and feathers again with warm water. Then I rubbed chalk into them when they're still wet and leave it to dry on, and when I arrived at the show I brushed it out to fluff the feathers up. Then shook baby powder onto them and brushed it through.
Can you guess why I hogged him and clipped his feathers off??? Lol! It was such a faff, but looked lovely when I'd finished. Of course it only latsed about 5 minutes, as I could guarantee he'd do a whopping great green poo all down his back legs!
 
Wash horses leg's and feathers, then apply white chalk to their feathers and tail. In the morning brush it off, and you'll have perfect white feathers. Not so sure about the tail. I found using Gallop chestnut shampoo on my overo worked really well on her grey, made it really shine up!
 
Thank you everyone for those suggestions, lots of new stuff to try.

Tonight I:

sprayed on a load of cowboy magic green spot - scrubbed the tail with the tail (IYKWIM) and made it frothy. Then I dampened the tail and washed it with Diamond White shampoo, continued scrubbing, rinsed, did fairly liquid, rinsed.

The white bits in the middle of her thick tail are now mega white, the yellow outer is now just a bit less yellow. I decided to smother with more cowboy, plait it and we'll see how it is tomorrow.

I really do think the yellow is permanent :( over the next couple of weeks I am going to experiment with the cowboy yellow gone stuff, chalk and if all else fails then I might try some persil/net whitener.

x
 
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