My tails just wont shine!

katiieking

katiieking

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For some reason, no matter how many times I wash my horse's tails (or bodies!) they just never come shiny! :mad:

They are clean yes, but just don't have that shiny wow factor!

Any tips on what you use to get your's all shiny?

I have a coloured, a bay & a grey with a brown tail, a black tail & a white tail!
So any hints or tricks is appreciated!
 
A shiney horse comes from the inside. Try giving them supplemental oils and minerals or reassess their feeds :)
 
Wash less, groom more and feed linseed?

We have a bay and a grey, neither have been bathed or had coat shine near them for months on end, and both shimmer. A good old fashioned groom each day (get that natural bristle dandy brush, body brush and a nice metal curry comb working!), and healthy diet has them both glistening.

Baths, with whatever fancy overpriced horse shampoo, seem to raise the coat and little and make them fluffy rather than shiny. I'm not mega keen on coat sprays as they are silicone based, which can cause dry and brittle hair over time. Trying to avoid over rugging helps too.

For tails, one of ours does love to wee in the end, which seems to dry it so after washing and rinsing I wipe a little veg oil through to try and protect it a bit. I wipe some through before showing too as it brings out a lovely glisten, really makes our bay girls tail black as black too!
 
If you want shine for a show then Supreme Products Sparkle spray is a big favourite in showing circles, it doesnt contain glitter or anything its just a shine spray but a very good one

I use it on my show chickens!
 
Feed oil in one form or another - I feed ERS Pellets and micronised linseed - and brush, brush, brush . . . no substitute really :).

P
 
I also feed micronised linseed, spend hours grooming and rarely bath. Pig oil (without the sulphur) is one of my favourites and is used a lot in the welsh and heavy horse world. Also like cowboy magic super show shine.
 
you can over wash for sure, but ours get washed almost weekly and have that lovely hard flat glistening shine, so i would say its more HOW you wash and what you do after.

we have just started using tresemme shampoo/conditioner in 1 on bodies and that works really well as not too harsh.for shows mix it 50/50 with wahl dark horse shampoo or quic colour for added glimmer.
For dark manes and tails just tea tree oil shampoo and a tiny bit of the wahl/quic.
for white manes and tails purple or blue washing up liquid, cuts right through the grease and gets it clean right down to the skin.

wash with warm water, rinse with cold (on tails) to close the hair cuticle. You can only do that on bodies in summer obviously!!!!!

then canter coats shine body, mane, tail.

then rug up! think so many people leave them standing or turn them back out and thats when they go dull, cold, stary. get a thin fleece or cotton sheet on and bandage or wrap legs, so they dry off warm.

when dry, polish with a sheepskin mitt.
 
Another vote for micronised linseed. Neither of my two have had a bath the whole time I've had them and get minimal grooming and are both very glossy. Before linseed they were very dull
 
I never bath my horses & they don't get properly groomed either but I do feed linseed & they absolutley gleem.
I was riding my bay recently & looked behind me, I notced that her tail was so shiny it looked like it had glitter on it.
I buy my linseed raw & cook it myself.
 
katiieking said:
For some reason, no matter how many times I wash my horse's tails (or bodies!) they just never come shiny! :mad:

They are clean yes, but just don't have that shiny wow factor!

Any tips on what you use to get your's all shiny?

I have a coloured, a bay & a grey with a brown tail, a black tail & a white tail!
So any hints or tricks is appreciated!
Click to expand...

try one of these
http://www.wikihow.com/Have-Soft-Shiny-Hair-Inexpensively


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...e-new-generation-elixirs-just-turn-head-.html
 
Last edited:
turkana said:
I never bath my horses & they don't get properly groomed either but I do feed linseed & they absolutley gleem.
I was riding my bay recently & looked behind me, I notced that her tail was so shiny it looked like it had glitter on it.
I buy my linseed raw & cook it myself.
Click to expand...

you don't need to cook linseed, it is a myth. http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/flax-seed.html

they feed straight seeds in the US.
 
I'm not a fan of constant washing, it strips the natural oils out of the coat and to be honest its a horse, are they really designed to be washed all the time? :rolleyes:

Micronised linseed and good old fashioned grooming to stimulate the hair to naturally produce oils. My horse is super shiny but I do use a bit of mane and tail spray for his tail to detangle it but rarely brush it as I find it damages the hair folicles!
 
Thank you everyone :D

Definately think I'll be changing their feed routines a wee bit to add in oil, most likely linseed!
 
Don't use the show shine sprays as they are all silicone based which will look shiny for a day but as it dries the hairs out it attracts dirt so the tail will look dull the next day hence having to spray it everyday, which it then builds up and makes the hair very brittle. Also washing the oils out won't help at all. These sprays are the same basically as pantene shampoo etc as they contain silicone too hence they have such a bad reputation to make your hair fall out as it builds up and drys the hair - I used that stuff once and my hair was really shiny the first day then it got progressively duller and I noticed it was falling out in clumps - i nearly went to the doctors as I was that worried, but I changed shampoo to a more organic type and it stopped, I googled it and was rather shocked!!
I use baby oil for feathers when it's muddy as that dries them out, tails I rarely do anything with as they are fine on their own, for dry skin I stick it in a spray bottle but use sparingly and brush through the coat and it will take a few days to shine up as it wears out, also an oil and vinegar mix works well - apply then wash out 3 days later and the coat is lovely! Mine have really shiny coats when I put them on their summer grass as it's on peat which is powder fine, so they roll like crazy in that and their coats are beautiful, although if you stroke them you come away black!!!:D
 
The only time I had to constantly wash was my greys tail but that was the only way to stop it turning yellow.

but yes, grooming, micronised linseed and you will have one uber shiny pony. I groom daily but not that long, I do use the canter products on his tail though to help me untangle it!
 
In regards to the micronised linseed? Do you need to feed a lot? Just bought 2x900gm bags of amazon so should have it in the next couple of days!

Daily fed once or twice? Any suggestions?
 
katiieking said:
In regards to the micronised linseed? Do you need to feed a lot? Just bought 2x900gm bags of amazon so should have it in the next couple of days!

Daily fed once or twice? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I buy mine from Farm and Pet Place online http://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/pr...eed/conditioning/micronized-linseed-20kg.html
It is the Charnwood Milling linseed, but bizarrely is cheaper to buy from Farm & Pet than it is direct from Charnwood!

My show cob gets 1 mug twice a day (for shine and condition) and my retired cob gets 1/4 mug twice a day (for shine and joints).

Also it is great stuff for all these other reasons!:

*It has the best balance of Omega Oils for horses out of all the oils available.
*It has very low Starch levels <3.70% and doesn't contain nasty sugars.
*The above makes it suitable to feed to all horse's including Laminitics.
*It's non heating whilst still providing slow release energy.
*It's very good for hoof health, coat shine and overall well being due to it being an excellent source of protein.
*Builds condition safely and allows good muscle development alongside good work.
*It being a straight fed feed means that I can increase or reduce the level I feed according to work load and weight.
*It's much more economic to feed than compound mixes and is much better for them as it doesn't contain the additives, preservatives or added sugars.
*It's easy too - straight from the bag into the bowl, no messing about soaking it first.
*It's palatable and seems to disguise other supplements well.
 
I was feeding 400g a day to my under weight TB but he is looking great in just under two months and feeling very fresh so I've dropped it down to 200g a day split between two feeds. LOVE Micronised linseed :D
 
Clava said:
you don't need to cook linseed, it is a myth. http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/flax-seed.html

they feed straight seeds in the US.
Click to expand...

I've always boiled it out of habit really, as a child I was told that it was poisonous, although I now know that it isn't, I stuck with old habits - a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it I suppose.

But that article is interesting, it seems that I'm loosing some of the benefits by boiling it.

If I feed the seeds whole & uncooked do I feed the same amount?

Thanks for the information, time to change my ways I think!
 
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