Your 'swear by' grooming products and potions

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Lydiamae

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What are your 'swear by' products for grooming, bathing, show prep, on the day touch ups?

Mainly looking for amazing shampoo's for grey horses, the best dazzling coat shine for show days, stain removers and anything else you LOVE and have in your grooming bag/lorry/show basket.

I am really struggling to find anything that I use that makes me go WOW!

Thanks
 
I wouldn't go overboard with lotions and potions. It gets expensive and doesn't do anything more than a bit of elbow grease and bog standard cheap human products can't do.

The products I would spend money on are
Supreme products little jar of blue powder - used as a rinse on grey tails
Gold label chalk paste, great for white socks
NAF do an equine version of baby oil which is superb too, gives a really soft finish without the oily residue. They also do something called razzle dazzle that used sparingly on the quarter marks is good.
 
I love the Naf blue shampoo, gets our greys sparkly clean.

My other favourite is Kevin bacon hoof dressing. Ive also just discovered some plaiting spray from Naf, which has made a big difference to my plaits
 
Things I will never allow myself to run out of are -

Wahl Diamond White Shampoo, and also Dirty Beastie for those who aren't grey.

Reckitt's Blue. These are old fashioned blocks of blue powder, individually wrapped, designed for whitening linen. Dissolve a block in a bucket of hot water and you can sponge off ANY stain, and use as a rinse to make your greys dazzle so much they make your eyes hurt. I used to work for a man who had EIGHT grey hunters, and have had two greys myself - this stuff is a life saver.

Canter Mane and Tail conditioner. Nothing else makes a tail feel as lovely.

My pink pliers for pulling tails.

Kevin Bacon hoof moisturiser.

And finally, Quick Plait. Amazing stuff, and less messy than the egg whites we used to use when I was small.
 
I don't have that much either. In my box is Dermoline Insecticidal shampoo, Dermoline Sweet Itch Lotion, NAF DEET fly spray, Heel to Hoof cream, Canter Coat Shine, Effol green hoof ointment and a block of chalk. If I'm going to a show I just use the same things. If I wasn't constantly keeping on top of sweet itch, mud fever and thrush I wouldn't even have those things. In the past my show kit consisted of citronella shampoo, baby oil for detangling the tail, ordinary hoof oil, chalk block and plaiting bands for the mane. Things like regularly washing the rugs and having a big enough bed, preferably shavings, and keeping it really clean, had more impact on preventing stable stains than anything else.
 
Step 1) wash with blue fairy liquid as many times as needed
Step 2) Supreme products blue rinse (a little goes a long way, be careful you don't end up with a smurf horse!)
Step 3) Supreme product Sparkle spay (again, a little goes a long way)

= one sparkly bright white horse!
 
Thanks all! I will look into all of your great suggestions!

MasterBenedict said:
Step 1) wash with blue fairy liquid as many times as needed
Step 2) Supreme products blue rinse (a little goes a long way, be careful you don't end up with a smurf horse!)
Step 3) Supreme product Sparkle spay (again, a little goes a long way)

= one sparkly bright white horse!
Click to expand...

I have definitely done that before and turned the cob blue *doh* Not a good look!
 
Fairy Platinum.
Provoke Touch of Silver
The argon oil intensive treatment that's a quid form the poundshop or the bargain bin aisle in Tesco's - great for detangling and adding a metallic shine to manes and tails, and also as a highlighter on the face.
Cowboy Magic detangler & shine is good for putting on a wet tail before plaiting up overnight.

I have the Supreme product blue rinse, but I need to use it a bit more to get the hang of it I think as it wasn't as I thought it be!!
 
NAF stain remover is great for small hard to get out stains. it also doesn't need washing out with a hose so is good for over night shows when you only have a damp sponge.
 
Cannot recommend Camrosa ointment enough! Stops midges biting and him rubbing out the top of his tail. Amazing magic stuff, hair grew back super fast and no more itching. Apparently has a whole host of other uses too.
"Sensitive" human anti-dandruff shampoo for weekly mane and tail wash to avoid itchiness, scurf and rubbing.
A mixture of iodine and tea tree oil used occasionally if hooves getting a bit thrushy.
Effol green hoof ointment (going to get Kevin Bacon once this runs out).
Fly repellent ointment and sponge (precious little darling won't tolerate sprays!).
Showsheen polisher detangler (applied to the inside of his rug, to prevent it rubbing his mane out...).

In winter, a powder mud barrier, think it's Lincoln and antibacterial/antifungal leg wash - to keep mud fever at bay.

I've got a plaiting spray but it's not that great, wouldn't waste money on it again.
 
I'd try to avoid using washing up liquid on your horse to wash them as it's balanced at around 8-9. With a horse's skin being neutral at 7, the application of washing up liquid could be x10-x100 more alkaline than your horses skin. It can strip the horse's skin of naturally beneficial oils and the horse could end up with dry/scurfy skin after prolonged use.

As somebody with eczema, I always have to use gloves when washing up as I know how drying it is to my own skin so I wouldn't personally use it. Horse shampoos contain a lot of naturally added moisturisers too and are balanced to your horse's skin :).

I also LOVE Kevin Bacon's hoof dressing to keep tootsies in good condition, Canter Mane & Tail is AMAZING and I groom daily to keep my ponies natural oils stimulated under her coat, so she looks naturally glossy!
 
Laika said:
I'd try to avoid using washing up liquid on your horse to wash them as it's balanced at around 8-9. With a horse's skin being neutral at 7, the application of washing up liquid could be x10-x100 more alkaline than your horses skin. It can strip the horse's skin of naturally beneficial oils and the horse could end up with dry/scurfy skin after prolonged use.

As somebody with eczema, I always have to use gloves when washing up as I know how drying it is to my own skin so I wouldn't personally use it. Horse shampoos contain a lot of naturally added moisturisers too and are balanced to your horse's skin :).

I also LOVE Kevin Bacon's hoof dressing to keep tootsies in good condition, Canter Mane & Tail is AMAZING and I groom daily to keep my ponies natural oils stimulated under her coat, so she looks naturally glossy!
Click to expand...

Thats nice......
been using it for 40 years on my horses......
none have died ( well not until they were 31,27,32,35+)
no skin problems
no eczema on horses or me
excellent shiny coats
happy horses (well as happy as any bathed horse can be)

each to their own,
 
Wash with whatever human shampoo I can nick from the dog's stash in the house using one of those glove sponge thingys with the rope bits (this gets thrown in the washing machine every time). Socks and blaze washed with green fairy liquid. Spray all over, especially legs, with Absorbine show sheen and tail detangled. Lynn Russel quick plait or cheap hair gel for plaiting while he dries and were good to boot up and go :)
 
Sukistokes2 said:
Thats nice......
been using it for 40 years on my horses......
none have died ( well not until they were 31,27,32,35+)
no skin problems
no eczema on horses or me
excellent shiny
happy horses (well as happy as any bathed horse can be)

each to their own,
Click to expand...


I didn't exactly insinuate that your horses did have bad skin - just stated that it can happen and I prefer to avoid it if I can. Lets not get too personal, just my personal opinion :)
 
Another Canter Mane and Tail fan! Also, I really like Red Horse Sole Cleanse for keeping soles nice and healthy, very impressed with its thrush killing abilities.
 
Since I bought myself a brown horse.....




................nuffink but a dandy brush :D
 
Elbow grease.

I buy the cheap blue/purple shampoos for grey horses and really just work it deep into his hair with my fingers once I've put it on by sponge. Rinse and repeat if necessary. He seems to prefer me washing him like this too rather than by sponge.

He shines very easily doing that, and its not often a grey horse shines. But if the sun is on him you cant look directly at him or you're blinded.
 
The other thing I liked to do with my old horse (grey) was hot towel with an essential oil of your liking (that is safe on skin obvs) and hot towel all over - pref after a good ol' scrubbing!
 
I just recently discovered Ringcraft Sno-White shampoo, and I now will not wash with the anything else. Blue or purple products tend to turn my grey blue, but this simply whitens and cleans, and isn't overly expensive.
Other than that, I'm a big fan of hot towelling. A good body brush never fails either :)
 
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cowboy magic detangler and shine. nothing else is a patch on it for wirey thick native tails

potions sudocreme+sulphur powder but you do end up with a yellow spotty pony and it's a PITA to get off again.
 
jojo5 said:
Ester - are you using the sudocrem and sulphur on feather mites? How successful is it?
Click to expand...

Essentially no, Frank has always been prone to random scabbiness- I think what happens is something disrupts the skin like a heat bump/fly bite/anything else and he very easily and quickly gets a slight bacterial infection- it essentially looks like mud fever yellow sebum crustiness but can be anywhere on his body.
However I also don't routinely pig oil and sulphur which may have helped the mites situation but he never got them (and hasnt got them on his return) in somerset, only on years 2 and 3 in wilts!
May 2015/2016 the scabbiness I refer to would get out of control, so that I was essentially chasing it round his legs even checking morning and evening. Both times within 24 hours of a dectomax shot all scabs were gone - this is a bit unusual so it is possible that something other than mites was eating him too. After the shots I dosed for the rest of the summer with deosect and that kept on top of it.
 
Thanks Ester. Have spent what seems like a lifetime ( but is only 20 years) trying to get on top of mites with a variety of potions and lotions both sensible and weird. Dectomax is good but it does eventually seem to be less effective. Have used Sudocrem and sulphur separately, but just wondered if you were doing something magic by combining them.
 
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