How To Keep A Grey Horse Clean Whilst Turned Out

How To Keep A Grey Horse Clean Whilst Turned Out

Here is how to keep a grey horse clean whilst turned out. In the warmer weather, rugs are peeled off, and the challenge to keep a grey horse clean whilst turned out officially begins!

With a grey horse, you inevitably spend plenty of time bathing and scrubbing them until they’re bright white, only to watch your hard work ruined in a matter of seconds with turnout. Although grooming boasts so many benefits, how can we keep a grey horse clean during their time in the field?

Bathing

For a grey horse, there is no escaping bath time. Refreshing on warmer days, it is the perfect opportunity to scrub your horse’s coat for a blank canvas.

We recommend upgrading your regular horse shampoo by using a purple shampoo. The purple colouring in purple shampoo works to neutralise orange and yellow tones and revive the coat’s cool, white tones. Not only removing stains, but purple shampoo also makes the whole coat look healthier and glossier!

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Where possible, use warm water to tackle stains as this helps to remove grease and material which can harbour the stain.

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Rugging

As the weather gets warmer, we all love to whip our horse’s rugs off for them to roll freely in the field. However, when owning a grey horse, risking hours of scrubbing for a quick roll is a hard ask. That’s why many grey horse owners opt to rug nearly all year round.

Rugging all year round is completely fine, as long as your rugging method is appropriate.

Ensure you’re rugging is dictated by the weather. Therefore, on very hot days opting for a fine mesh rug, with UV protection is ideal for grey horses – tending to have fair skin which can burn easily. Meanwhile on cooler days, a rug with no fill or a lightweight rug will help to keep stains at bay.

Make sure you are regularly washing the rugs you are using too. As horses produce more grease with a rug on, making sure the rug layer closest to their skin is clean whilst ensure their coat and skin remains healthy and shiny. Harbouring grease, using dirty rugs can quickly make your horse’s coat dull, scurfy, and off-colour.

Stain Prevention

Getting into a regular grooming routine can see marked improvement in coat shine, skin health, as well as stain prevention. Removing grease means dirt is less likely to build up, whilst creating a shiny, slippy coat means debris is less likely to stick and stain.

Using a shine spray is also great for keeping stains at bay. Making an even better case for a shiny coat, scurf and dirt should slip away. Meanwhile, addition of skin and coat supplements in your horse’s diet will help with a natural shine.

Hot clothing the skin is also a great way to lift unwanted grease and remove sweat after riding.

However, if a stain doesn’t embed into the coat and doesn’t want to budge, having a stain remover on-hand is a quick and simple way to reduce long-term discolouration. Use as soon as a stain appears for the best results.