Mother Nature Sucks! And Cleaning White Horses in the Winter

  Hello guys!

      So in case you didn't know, I'm from Canada. And since it's winter, it is super snowy. Now snow is not bad at all when you are galloping through it, or building snow ponies with your friends. And snow days are also a great perk of snowy weather. So today it was a snow day, and also my last lesson day before my first show of the season. It's all good though, we were still going to go up to the barn. Up until we figured out that we couldn't get the car out of the driveway. It hasn't stopped snowing since last night! As you guys can see from the picture, it is pretty bad. Mother nature is not in my favour of placing at this show!

  Anyways, so now that I've ranted about the (horrible) weather, I'll write a real blog post. I ride a beautiful primarily white appaloosa. He looked gorgeous in the show ring and is very noticeable, you can't take your eye off him! He also likes to sleep in his pee. Yes, he has a permanent yellow stain on his right hip that never goes away. It's so nasty, and has marinated into him all summer. And since we still can't bath due to the crummy weather, you have to get a bit creative in finding ways to make him look okay. I really don't want to be strutting around the arena with Mr Sleepsinhisownpee. Don't believe me when I say it's bad? Here's some proof-

 This picture shows that lovely yellow-orange pee stain in all it's glory. Did I mention this picture was taken during a clinic?
    I'm sure lots of other people riding appys, greys, bays with socks, or any other horse colors prone to being totally nasty looking have the same struggle as me. So I'm gonna share all the tips I've learned from riding and showing and grooming an Appaloosa. The first tip is hot toweling. Get a nice clean towel, fill a bucket with super hot water, and scrub away. Be sure the water isn't too hot for the horse to handle, test it on yourself first. The trick to doing this is dipping the towel in the water and scrubbing until the towel becomes dirty. Once it's dirty, dip a clean section in and continue scrubbing. Be sure the towel and the water are always clean or else you are juts scrubbing dirt on dirt.
   The next trick is using Ivory dish soap. Since it is too cold to wash the whole horse, just spot clean using ivory dish soap. This stuff works really well, and is generally cheaper than horse whitening shampoo. Just wet the area of trouble, apply the soap, scrub, leave it for five minutes, rinse, and voila! A slightly less dirty horse! This tip works really well for dirty white socks, but be sure not to use too much product and don't scrub too hard on sensitive skin.
   Another tip is just using the commercial horse whitening shampoos. Theses often come in colors like purple or green. I'm always scared it's gonna die Appy's socks purple, and I don't think the judges would be too impressed. It never does though, so don't worry. This tip is pretty straightforward, just follow the directions on the bottle and hope for the best. One brand of whitening shampoo I found particularly helpful is cowboy magic greenspot remover. Also there is this natural one that smells like lemons that is great, but I can remember the name. :P
    After you've done washed the stains off, showsheen the living daylights out of that area! That way no dirt (or pee) can touch all your hard work. Put a light sheet on if possible. Honestly, when it comes to keeping white horses white, you can never have too much showsheen. When you pet your horse, your hand should slide right off and be covered in showsheen, that's how I know I put enough on (I'm just kidding.... sort of).

 Here's a picture of the after effects of my whitening and brightening routine for nasty pee covered horses. It's still a little bit yellow, but Lord knows I tried. Hopefully this blog will help some other people with disgusting but adorable horses. And remember, it's just a show. Unless you are showing at Spruce meadows or something fancy, a little bit of yellow won't be the end of the world. If you go up to the barn the morning of the show and you're horse looks like he rolled in the muck pile, breath. Don't sweat it. Stay calm, cool , and collected. Don't let a little stain ruin your game. So until next time guys, keep scrubbing!

Annie