Why are some horses white bits easier to clean than others?

[zoeshiloh]

Ben has two white socks, and no matter what he does (if they are covered in mud/grass stains/stable stains) they come up dazzling white with just a bit of shampoo! Wonky also has two white socks, and yesterday when I was preparing him ready for his new owners, I spent hours trying to scrub the stains out of them - I used everything from blue-bag to fairy liquid, whitening shampoo, supreme stain remover - I must have had more products than a beautician! They still looked yellow when I came to load him up! They weren't even as dirty as Ben's had been!

 

[abbycare]

no expert but maybe they have different colour skin underneath. my friend used to use vanish on her coloured!

 

[zoeshiloh]

Hmm I wondered this - Wonky had very white skin and short hair, Ben is a chestnut, his skin doesn't look as fair, but the hair is longer. I have tried Vanish but that didn't seem to work either.

 

[ThePony]

I wonder if they are different stains? If I need to get stable and grass stains off my mare's body then she comes up lovely and sparkly with normal shampoo. If it is general grime on her legs (confusingly orangey at the mo!), or yucky stains on her tail then there is nothing on this earth that even gets them clean looking let alone with nice bright white!

 

[JoJo_]

I wonder if it is to do with skin colour too. Tia's white areas come out nice and bright after a bath cuz of her pink skin but greys on the yard just dont shine as bright. But the downside is she is more prone to sunburn than greys.