How often do you bathe your horse?

[nlk]

While I realize those that show every week have VERY clean horse, how often do the rest of you bathe yours? When you go to a show, once a week? etc.

I hose my horse off after every ride once the ground water is warm enough. I also give him a bath in the beginning of the summer. After that it's whenever we're at a show or when I am bored (or he's particularly dirty:))

[klmck63]

I'm pretty much the same. Hose off after each ride once the weather is nice enough, bath a couple days before we leave for the show (I show once or twice a month usually. As much as our very limited circuit can provide!) and then extra baths when I come to the barn and find my horses replaced with stinky dusty mud monsters or if I have a lot of extra time on my hands. :winkgrin:

[superpony123]

My pony is pinto. but mostly white, with a few splotches of chestnut here and there.

see this? blinding white.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v315/132/89/589955224/n589955224_1717082_246.jpg
^this is the result of my average show bath. as in it took me hours to get him this white.

that being said, he is an absolute pig all year round. in the summer, i give him a bath as often as need be--which could end up being every other day when it's hot enough and he rolls enough. let me tell you, it's not rolling outside that gets him gross, he wears a fly sheet. it's the fact that no matter how many times i pick out his stall when i'm there, he manages to cover himself in his own sh** :lol: and he finds this very satisfying. maybe he just loooooooves baths? hah. yeah, right. little pig. :D

as for shows, it depends on the season. in the winter i go once a month or every other month. in the summer i might go 2x a month. 3 occasionally. but not every week. i go to mostly A and AA shows in the spring/summer, but to be honest i don't like stabling at shows that much, so i really only go to a few AA shows (2 - 4) because it costs way too much to stable him, and it's hard to keep him clean, and much harder to give him a good bath when i don't have a real wash stall at a show. it is a real effort to give him a show bath. this can take wellllll over an hour or two to get him truly white. and i groom him religiously everyday for at least an hour.

[hj0519]

Hose off after each ride. Bathe day before a show. And pretty much every day of the show....though now that I have a black horse instead of a gray one, I probably won't be spending as much time at the wash racks :)

[IsolaBella09]

I give my horse a full bathe about once a week or the day before a show. I will hose him off when he is sweaty, but I don't like throwing tons of products on his skin as it will strip the natural oils away from his coat. I focus more on grooming with my curry comb to get my horse's coat shiny. ;)

[Go Fish]

I hose off if the horse is very sweaty. Bathe day before we leave for a show. I try really hard to apply elbow grease...curry more often than bathe, or even rinse off, if I can. My horses have the best coats in the barn.

I don't bathe at the shows, either. I start off with a clean horse and can usually just sponge off with a vetrolin bath or hose off, if necessary.

[Linny]

I prefer a sponge bath with just water and a loofah mitt and sponge after each warm weather ride. The mitt gets off dirt and sweat and it keeps him clean without shampoo.
If he gets really filthy in turnout, he might get an extra shampoo.
Shampoo baths are for showing.

[sweetpea]

I have done this for a few years now and it really helps the tack and the bugs.
The part i like is after I ride I can use a towel to wipe off seat areas and so forth.
What I found is he is way more comfortable in the summer with rinsing off prior to my ride.
He doesn't get as hot and like I said it is a plus witht the bugs and easier on the pads.

I shampoo maybe once or twice every two weeks. His tail and mane way more often.
The attachment I use looks like a cross between a scraper and a sprinlkler and it really pulls the dirt out if you use it correctly.
By the way mine is a gray.

[make x it x so]

I'm with the "elbow grease" crowd. I rarely bathe my horse with shampoo. I hose him off whenever he gets really sweaty so his skin doesn't get irritated, but I rock the curry mitt (best invention ever!) before just about every ride, so a rinse is usually all he needs to look sparkly clean. Granted, I own a bay with absolutely no white except on his face, so keeping socks white has never been an issue.
If I am going to shampoo, it's usually right before a show or something when my horse is a mudball. Lately I've been trying to do it two days before the show so that his natural oils have time to come back, but honestly there isn't that much of a difference.

My horse's coat is in great condition and it's always so soft- I've gotten several comments about it from barn mates.
Oh, and I never use show sheen or other spray-shines because I don't see the need and they make him too slippery. (okay...maybe ONCE in a while if he's just not shiny enough. But I haven't had to actually buy any in several years because I use so little)

[Paint Hunter/Jumper]

My pony is pinto. but mostly white, with a few splotches of chestnut here and there.

see this? blinding white.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v315/132/89/589955224/n589955224_1717082_246.jpg
^this is the result of my average show bath. as in it took me hours to get him this white.

that being said, he is an absolute pig all year round. in the summer, i give him a bath as often as need be--which could end up being every other day when it's hot enough and he rolls enough. let me tell you, it's not rolling outside that gets him gross, he wears a fly sheet. it's the fact that no matter how many times i pick out his stall when i'm there, he manages to cover himself in his own sh** :lol: and he finds this very satisfying. maybe he just loooooooves baths? hah. yeah, right. little pig. :D

as for shows, it depends on the season. in the winter i go once a month or every other month. in the summer i might go 2x a month. 3 occasionally. but not every week. i go to mostly A and AA shows in the spring/summer, but to be honest i don't like stabling at shows that much, so i really only go to a few AA shows (2 - 4) because it costs way too much to stable him, and it's hard to keep him clean, and much harder to give him a good bath when i don't have a real wash stall at a show. it is a real effort to give him a show bath. this can take wellllll over an hour or two to get him truly white. and i groom him religiously everyday for at least an hour.

My horse is the same, except black instead of chestnut. He is always "yellow" unless we are at a show. I hose him off and give him baths with regular shampoo, but the whitening shampoo is too expensive to use on a daily basis. :no: And my show baths take long, too, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours! :lol:

[UNCeventer]

So, I work at a show barn and while I have only been there 2 weeks, I am surprised at how often they bathe their horses. One girl told me that you have to bathe them almost everyday because they are SHOW horses. If for whatever reason (god forbid) they arent bathed, we have to wash their legs in hopes to avoid "summer crud".

My question is- does all this bathing etc (yes we towel dry legs before putting them in their stalls) contribute to the crud? I think so. Also, some of the horses who do have crud use the same brushes, boots, etc as the others- wont this possibly spead it? I have worked in many other stables (racing, eventing, h/j) and we always bathed if they were nasty or if they had a show, but not everyday... or even everyother day.

Thoughts?

[dghunter]

My horse now gets bathed every day per vet's orders until we can figure out wth he's allergic to and until his welts/sores go away. :sigh: Usually it's whenever I feel the need. He's a grey so maybe once every week or so. He usually gets hosed down a lot in the summer so he gets less baths then. But he can find the only mud puddle in a 1000 acre pasture and then comes back entirely brown on one side. Always the side you can't see when you come into the barn. "Oh, Kore you look so clean today" then he turns around :lol:

[Seven-up]

I bathe randomly. I have a grey horse, so she's almost always dirty (even though she doesn't like to get too dirty--I never knew grey horses like that existed!) But sometimes I shampoo, and sometimes I just let her be piggy and wallow. I do hose her off a lot though. Always after a ride and sometimes before. So it depends, but as much as 2x a week or as little as once a month or less.

And I definitely bathe before and during a show. This one hasn't made it to a show yet, but my process with all my horses is pretty much the same. I wash and groom my bay horses as much as the grey ones.

[spmoonie]

I only bathe mine before shows (every 2 months). I really dont understand why people bathe their horses so much! They are horses- they enjoy rolling in the mud. Let them be. I have also observed that as long as they have a good diet that supports lots of oil in their coats, they generally stay pretty darn clean. Oh, and this is coming from the owner of this guy: http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm158/sarahmoonie/Moonie068.jpg

[Pirateer]

I hose as needed.
I prefer to bath 1x week, and always before a show.
Current horse is grey :)

[RugBug]

About 8-10 times a year. That would be before shows and before body clipping.

Legs and tail get washed more than that.

I hose off when it's warm enough and horse is sweaty...but I only do this because I'm lazy. If I wasn't lazy, I would let the sweat dry and then curry it off.

I figure the less time with their feet wet, the better. :yes:

BTW, this is my horse who, at the time of this picture, hadn't had a bath for over six months (legs and tail were washed for show).

This is him (http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/slorugbug/horse%20stuff/IMG_0004.jpg) when he hadn't had a bath for something like 10 months (Actually, I'm having a hard time remembering his last bath. It's been about a year and a half at least. :lol:)

[Hunter Mom]

Both girls are rinsed off after every ride where they sweat. We have an indoor wash rack with warm water, so not an issue in the winter. I have also been known to rinse off when they're very muddy. A true bath with soap happens about once a month before a show during the summer. My mare is black, so easy to keep clean. DD's pony is brown & white paint, so needs more elbow grease.

[jewll27]

rinsed with every ride and fully body bath once a week. I wash his legs as needed and tend to wash them at least once a week with netrogena dandruff shampoo. I cant help it! I love when he shines :D

[fordtraktor]

Rinse after rides. They probably get a "real" bath once every other week to get the fly spray residue off.

Those of you who rely only on elbow grease, what kind of fly spray do you use? The only ones I find effective tend to build up a greasy film over time.

[Hunter Mom]

Rinse after rides. They probably get a "real" bath once every other week to get the fly spray residue off.

Those of you who rely only on elbow grease, what kind of fly spray do you use? The only ones I find effective tend to build up a greasy film over time.

I like the Endure. It seems to work as well as anything, and doesn't get greasy.

[brummelhorsefarm]

I hose off my horse after every ride (4-5x week) year round because we have a water heater. We have limited turnout so he stays fairly clean but after he goes outside I will bathe him. Of course he is bathed before shows and such.

The sale horses follow the same schedule except they are just knocked off before we ride them after they have been outside, not bathed.

[spmoonie]

Rinse after rides. They probably get a "real" bath once every other week to get the fly spray residue off.

Those of you who rely only on elbow grease, what kind of fly spray do you use? The only ones I find effective tend to build up a greasy film over time.

I use a homemade vinegar/citronella oil mixture. It works decently. I dont like using store bought sprays because of all the harsh chemicals

[kellyb]

I have to hose every day after riding, he sweats a LOT.

I only bathe before shows, so no more than 2-3x a month max. I'm afraid of stripping too much natural oil from his coat.

[make x it x so]

I've been using Absorbine UltraShield (I think that's what it's called), and it works pretty well even if you only apply a small amount. I haven't noticed a greasy residue- the amount I use seems to just give my horse a nice natural shine.
I don't apply it very often...pretty much just once a day (sometimes less) and then an extra spritz if it's really buggy or I hosed him off or something.

[Tiffani B]

Never a full body bath with shampoo. I'll sponge him with a warm water/liniment mix if he sweats to a foam (between hind legs, girth area, neck, head) or if it's unpleasantly hot/muggy out. He gets his tail and white legs washed with shampoo (and conditioner on the tail) only before showing.

Show Sheen only on the white ankle and the tail (it's about 9' long so without something to help slick it up, it's nearly impossible to get the tangles out).

I am always complimented by how shiny he is. He has a great diet and I spend a lot of time currying/brushing him before and after we work, plus toweling if he's sweaty.

We show monthly, sometimes 2x a month.

[fordtraktor]

I must just have naturally greasy horses! I use Endure and Ultrashield and they end up nasty after a couple of weeks. I apply pretty liberally though -- would rather have them comfortable than dust-free.

[RugBug]

I must just have naturally greasy horses! I use Endure and Ultrashield and they end up nasty after a couple of weeks. I apply pretty liberally though -- would rather have them comfortable than dust-free.

I use Endure and have no problems. I wouldn't say my horse is dust-free, but he isn't greasy (other than having a nice, shiny coat).

[nlk]

I like the Endure. It seems to work as well as anything, and doesn't get greasy.

I love Endure!! I have to use it so much less (really I do compared to something like Bronco!)

[make x it x so]

I must just have naturally greasy horses! I use Endure and Ultrashield and they end up nasty after a couple of weeks. I apply pretty liberally though -- would rather have them comfortable than dust-free.

My horse also goes out in fly booties, a mask, and a fly sheet most of the time, so it definitely decreases my need for fly spray. As an added bonus, the sheet tends to keep him from getting as dirty unless it's really muddy.