I've been meaning to do something like this for a long time, and I'm sure a lot of these y'all already know, BUT when I found out about them I had never heard of them being used that way, and it saves money in the long run rather than than buying specialty equine products:
Ivory Dish Soap - great shampoo, even for my white pony. Just use it like you would any other shampoo, and get the original kind.
Desitin cream - I first found out about this stuff when Greta had some dry, flaky skin on her nose. Resident vet tech told me about this stuff, and it worked. It also works to help heal wounds and prevent scarring. Apparently it can also work on areas affected by rain rot or scratches after the crusts have been gently removed, washed with a providine-iodine scrub, and thoroughly dried. It's active ingredient is zinc oxide, so it can be used for all kinds of things, not just diaper rashes!
Listerine - a great mild antiseptic. It can also be used to prevent tail rubbing, with or without equal parts baby oil. Use the original amber-colored kind.
Petroleum jelly - rub it into thick chestnuts for 4 to 5 days, and they will peel right off and be show-ready.
Baling twine - is amazing. I'm sure we all know of its many uses, but did you know it also works well as a sweat-scraper? It works especially well for that in places like down the leg.
Got any interesting stuff? I would kind of like to find a much cheaper liniment alternative to Absorbine's liniment and Show Sheen, as $20 a bottle can get a bit expensive haha.
Hey I use all this stuff too! Desitin and Listerine just today actually ;) I SWEAR by Ivory soap - when I worked in CT, our arena had TravelRight footing, the black kind. It's a synthetic footing made up of felt/rubber/sand with a wax coating... which made it AMAZING, and completely horribly sticky and impossible to get off. Regular shampoo does NOT cut through wax! Ivory soap was the only thing that did the trick to get socks back from being a dingy, waxy grey to sparkling white again. I still use it on socks!
ReplyDeleteHahahah I used Dawn liquid once when Cash had a horrible case of rain rot he got one week while I was on vacation. I drowned him in Shapleys, which is great on rain rot but OMG sooo oily. Dawn was the only thing that got all the oily goo off!
ReplyDeleteOne trick I use is a dryer sheet when grooming in the winter. Rub it all over their bodies and tails, and then you don't have to worry about zapping your poor horse with static electricity with each brush swipe.
My new trimmer also told me to mix 1/2 triple antibiotic ointment with 1/2 Athlete's Foot creme, then spoon it into a 60 cc syringe (minus the needle). You can apply it to thrushy areas on the feet, or those deep cracks they get sometimes in the frog. Seems to work great so far!
And for making a white horse, er, WHITE, I use a few drops of blueing in a half-bucket of water. Sponge on generously after bathing, wait 5 minutes, then rinse off. Volia, brilliantly white horse!
Plain old rubbing alcohol works as well as a liniment and rinsing after a bath with vinegar in the rinse water makes a shine better than Show Sheen and not slippery. One of the cheap leave in hair conditioners that creates shine works for the tail - you need something slippery for tangles after the vinegar.
ReplyDeleteNever thought of baling twine for scraping sweat!!
ReplyDeleteSweet!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have seen that dryer sheets do a good job of repelling insects! I have yet to try tying one around the halter, but it supposedly works. I know it works for repelling insects on me! Granted, Greta is a white horse and bugs almost have no interest in her as compared to the darker horses, so I might try it on poor Choco?
Orvus, which was originally meant for upholstery, is amazing horsey shampoo. It's like $15 for a tub that'll last you two years. A tiny bit does the whole horse. It's not itchy, doesn't dry skin, doesn't burn eyes, and makes their coats super silky. I've never seen anything make a white marking whiter or a gray horse sparkly-er, including whitening shampoo.
ReplyDeleteWow! I've never heard of that one.
ReplyDeleteWhat if I used Orvus on a non-white horse? I have a red dun who has three white socks. If I bathed him with orvus would it make his red dun coat more sleek looking? He has long barbwire scars that are old, dating to before I got him, and they are long and bumpy with no hair. Is there any way I can grow the hair back on them?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you can grow hair back on old scars. That would be interesting to find out!
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