# Getting That "Perfect" Show Look



## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

_Hi,_

_So you see those stunning show horses?_ _How do the owners get that amazing shine and if you'd run a brush through the horses coat not one peice of dirt would come out. My horse gets around 3 hours of brushing a day, rugged at night and bathed. Cooled down correctly after rides. Basically I try to keep him as cleen and neat as possible. He looks great, but he still doesn't look as good as he could. I've been meaning to add egg into his diet to give his coat that extra shine. _

_So my question after all of that is - What are some ideas for getting that "perfect" look? Things like eggs to add to their diets, grooming ideas, ect._


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## anrz (Dec 21, 2008)

Well, every time i groom, I wipe Thumper down with a cloth. Not wet or anything, but it gets the dust particles off. He also gets a really long grooming session . Here's a picture of him after using a rag:








Also, for tails and manes, I don't comb it every day- I untangle it with my fingers and sometimes use Cowboy Magic Detangler if it's extremely tangled. His tail is a work in progress! You can also use Show Sheen/Laser Sheen, etc. to make them even shinier . That's what a lot of people around me do. Also, if they have any white socks, there are special whitening shampoos and sprays to get those even whiter; you can also use baby powder or something like that... can't remember exactly- someone correct me if I have it wrong! Some white powder- I know that . It also has a lot to do with nutrition. A horse who isn't getting what he needs food wise, etc., isn't going to have that shiny coat and healthy look. Also, NEVER FORGET THE FACE!!!!!! lol that's a pet peeve of mine . Make sure you take a brush (I use one of the ones made specially for their faces and a face curry comb) and clean it all up . You can also take a wet cloth and wipe off any little runny, messy bits . If you're going for the all-out show look you can clip their fetlocks, ears, muzzle, and any other whiskers. I leave Thumper's fuzzy ears because he isn't accepting of the clippers (even pocket clippers) near his ears yet. It's a work in progress . Hopefully I can work with him over the winter to get him over that issue .


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## fourtwentyam (Dec 5, 2009)

Show sheen!!! ;D


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## PaintingMissy (Nov 9, 2009)

Your horse is probably never going to look at home as good as he does at a show. I believe it is good for a horse to get some dirt and only get show clean for well shows. You sound like your doing everything right and you might just have to live with your horse being dirty at home. Which is perfectly fine. Horses enjoy being dirty. Also I wouldnt add egg to my horses diet personally. It is a meat in a way and horses are herbvoirves. I dont really know anything about it but that is my two sense about that. Instead of adding egg you could look into getting flax seed. That helps improve the coat a great deal and is good for their joint too, im pretty sure. I know it works for a coat because my trainer uses it all the time. We use ground flax seed and just add it to their grain. They also make flax seed treats which could be another option. Then only problem with flax seed it that it is a little expensive but what isnt these days. Any ways hope this helps.


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## PaintingMissy (Nov 9, 2009)

Anrz you are right about the baby powder. You can also use corn starch on their legs too! I personally use baby powder mostly because it smells nice and it was what was lying around my house. Putting powder on their legs takes practice so I recommend doing it at home first before doing it at the show and when your at the show spending the time to do it right.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

DON'T OVER GROOM! Over-grooming will strip all the good oils out of the coat - And the oils are what help it stay shiny. Some horses are just shiny - some just aren't. Good nutrition is the MOST important factor in coat health. Your horse should always have a salt block/mineral block and fresh water avaiable, and not be deficient in anything. Also make sure teeth are all good, and worm regularly. You can add oils, sunflower seeds, egg, supplements like bio-bloom, or meals like Copra to their diet to assist in maintaining a good coat. Oils are the ket ingredient.

Apart from that? Rugging is important - Also don't over-bathe, again it strips natural oils from the coat.

I'm blessed with a naturally shiny horse - My show horse isn't rugged in summer and is a giant dust ball, I just give him a bath the night before a show, chuck a cotton on him and he is show-ready. Here he is after a quick brush straight from the paddock before my ride.


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## Attitude05 (Nov 11, 2009)

buy a black horse, shine made easy


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## Amir (Nov 18, 2009)

Have to agree with adding Copra. It's fantastic. I met someone at a show that fed like 1kg of Copra a day and you could just about see your reflection in his pally's coat!
At show's after a bath the day before and a good grooming, I grab a micro-fibre cloth and give him a quick wipe down just before I get on. It picks up loose dirt and hair that brushing wouldn't get out.
Keep some good brushes aside for showing only and clean them after each use with water.
Show sheen works well, just don't put it where the saddle goes or it will slip!
Make sure he's got a balanced diet too. That will boost his natural shine. There are some websites you can look at and you put in what your horse is getting and then it tells you what he's lacking and what he's getting too much of. Try that out or talk to a vet or nutritionist.


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## Amir (Nov 18, 2009)

Attitude05 said:


> buy a black horse, shine made easy


it's keeping them black that's the hard part!! I found with my old black horse the shampoos and rugging just failed


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

I agree with the wiping down with a rag, and not adding egg. I gave my girls corn oil, just a tiny bit, and it really did make a difference.

Show horses, it seems, are only ever NOT rugged when they are in the show ring. From my limited experience, they are bathed, dried, braided, blanketed, bagged, sleezied, and what have you immediately. There simply isn't time for them to get dirty, lol.


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I'm not kidding, anything shiny and glittery attracts people! glitter, shiny horses, satin(does that shine?lol), etc.


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## Tasia (Aug 17, 2009)

My horse doesnt shine in the winter because of all the fuzz even with a blanket. BUT in the summer he is shiny I give a bath every week and I wash his tail every 2-3 weeks. I also used 1/2 a cup of canola oil its cheap, easy and it works. Other than that just use clean brushes and make sure your tack is clean its alot easier to keep clean and shiney tack than a shiney horse.
Tasia


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## Attitude05 (Nov 11, 2009)

i still say buy a black horse...


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## Amir (Nov 18, 2009)

Jute rugs are good for shiny horses! My friends old appy had one and he always looked nice


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

^^ Chinga, his in the sun so his quite shinny. What do you think?


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## Attitude05 (Nov 11, 2009)

dye him black


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## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

his coat looks long. He looks good though. The best ways to keep a horse clean is wash them then stable them untill you show (usually just an overnight thing) of course you may have to school more to get rid of the extra energy.


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

That was just after winter, even though he was rugged his coat still grew. Its a heap shorter now, but basically the same.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

> Show horses, it seems, are only ever NOT rugged when they are in the show ring. From my limited experience, they are bathed, dried, braided, blanketed, bagged, sleezied, and what have you immediately. There simply isn't time for them to get dirty, lol.


Not all! My boy gets to be a dirty old horse whenhe's at home - It's only the night before when he has to put p with all the primping :]


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## XivoShowjumper (Oct 16, 2009)

uhh.... being similar climate-- can i suggest a rugging scheme

winter-
Jute through the day
satin lined synthetic at night

summer-
cotton/flysheet thru the day (prevent bleaching)
and a jute at night

STABLING!


feed them bread! like 1 or 2 loaves a day with a feed- the yeast makes them luminous

ie. Stallion i ride at A-levels is fed on so much bread- and he remains really dirty etc between shows











Arabs are naturally oily and shiny horses so they're much easier
my mare was just pulled out of the paddock for this event










also- there is a spray- that will shine anything- and i mean anything- just don't put it where the saddle goes- its about $35 a can


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## JavaLover (Nov 7, 2009)

That's my boy in the summer, without any grooming or things added to his feed.


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## Taihoa (Nov 11, 2009)

Nutrition is THE most important. Horses shine from the inside out. Feeding a GOOD mineral supplement and having bloods done regularly to ensure that all mineral levels are adequate is the best advice I can give. Rice based feed products also help as the oils in the feed help the horse hold condition and adds shine to the coat. Regular worming, shoeing etc is also important.
Rugging MUST be done with consistency. The horse can't be too hot or too cold otherwise you are wasting your time. My boy just wears a cotton through summer, but I'm at the paddock 4 times a day so change rugs accordingly.
I only groom an hour a day- I spend most of my time currying - getting the circulation going. And I only wash my horse once a month through the show season. He is a grey/white pinto so very difficult to keep clean, but plenty of elbow grease means he always looks amazing. I have been told my numerous judges that you need sunglasses to look at my horse (it does actually hurt your eyes to look directly at him!) and he was THE only pinto that glowed at HB Show. The others were white, but he outclassed them by a long shot. I also don't use any grooming/spray/coat enhancing products like show sheen etc

At HB Show ...








Taken in winter this year ...








As a 3 year old - just pulled from the paddock...


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## orin (Jul 22, 2009)

add oil to his feed.

you can use show shine but it tends to make the coat very slippery. on a clipped horse alot of show people put pig oil on their coats. it makes them gleam


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Attitude05 said:


> buy a black horse, shine made easy


So no true. I owned a black horse and I found it was the most difficult color of horse to keep clean. every time he had the slightest amount of dust in his coat, you could see it from miles away.

Keep in mind to, that a lot of the horses you see in the show ring, are clipped which makes it a lot easier to keep clean and look shiny. Also, like people, a horse coat has a lot to do with what they eat. All the horses I have had in the last years who have been pastured, always had the most incredible coats. Always clean, always shiny and gorgeous. 

It all has to do with what they eat more so than what you put superficially on their coat.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

Unfortunately, it is not just as easy as having a shiny horse to get the show ring look.
The devil is in the details. For horses with my trainer they are all clipped, have evenly pulled manes, a trimmed bridle path, trimmed and banged tail and are blanketed.
To keep them shiny, they are fed individually balanced diets with good quality hay and access to water 24/7. Stay away from starchy, sugary feeds and feed high quality, high fat feeds like rice bran, beet pulp and soy bean hull pellets to maintain condition.
At the shows, the horses are all re clipped and trimmed/pulled, they are bathed, rinsed very well and the rinsed with about a tbsp of baby oil in a few gallons of water. Their socks are washed with blueing and rinsed very well. The tails are washed, conditioned and then have detangler applied. Their faces are also cleaned and their manes are braided. Before they go into the ring the horses are vigorously curried, then rubbed down with a damp rag (either w/ water or miracle groom) and finally they are brushed. Baby oil is applied to their faces and baby powder to their socks. Then we polish their hooves and go through their tails and apply a sheen product. Although show sheen is good, Ultra is better.

All in all I figure that one horse takes about 90 minutes day of to groom, and about 2-3 hours in prep-groom time before a show.
At home, of course we don't do this every day but keeping the horses well trimmed and clipped makes a huge difference.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Corn Syrup and Rice Bran will ad a nice sheen to their coat and it helps with the shedding in the spring. 
Vetrolin works great (better than Show Sheen, I say) for tangles in mane's and tail's and keep it that way for a few days, with a nice healthy gloss and silky feel.

But, it's best just to spend hours before the show and leave them until them. lol


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

Roasted soybeans!

I give both of my horses a cup of soybeans a day, and it does wonders for their coats. They're tasty, too. My picky eater cleans his dish every time. Their coats are still bright and shiny even though they're getting fuzzy. It also helps to run a cloth or soft brush over them after grooming to really smooth and polish the coat.


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## HalterHorsePaints (Oct 17, 2009)

to keep my horse shiny i keep her in until 2pm and turn her out for 2 hours and i keep a sheet or blanket good feed no supplements and daily grooming and shes show ready everyday


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I just brush alot 

This is Flicka in her WINTER underwear...still super shiney! I brush alot with a soft brush; not so much with hard brushes. And I brush in small strokes, so that I bring all the dusties to the surface and OUT of her coat  

I am also putting a sheet on my horse for the first time EVER during the winter; it is keeping her cleaner; plus, she hates the wind here in Arizona, so that is also part of the reason why I put a sheet on her. 







And as far as feed, she gets free choice (pretty much) hay, Alfalfa pellets, and a vitamin\mineral supplement. Wormed regularly, of course, as well.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

i add a little canola oil to my horses feed, it helps them with digesting their food (he had problems with colic) and makes their coat SUPER SHINY!


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Good nutrition and elbow grease are the only way to get a natural show ready coat.

Regular grooming (not bathing, grooming with a curry and brush) will get the natural oils to make you lovely shiny coat!

Nothing that is a short cut works as well as regular grooming.


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## ScharmLily (Nov 23, 2009)

Alwaysbehind said:


> Good nutrition and elbow grease are the only way to get a natural show ready coat.
> 
> Regular grooming (not bathing, grooming with a curry and brush) will get the natural oils to make you lovely shiny coat!
> 
> Nothing that is a short cut works as well as regular grooming.


Agreed completely. You need sunglasses to look at my gelding in the summer. When we boarded him he was always the shiniest horse in the paddock and I never used any products other than good old brushing and lots of it. People never believed me either . He LOVES brushing so it doubles as good bonding time and keeps him looking great! My mare is a little harder to get a shine on, but with lots of currying, she's finally getting there .


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## jody111 (May 14, 2008)

I groom regually - but not excessively, shes rugged most of the time but usually has it off during the heat of the day except in Mid summer when the flies annoy her. Shes fed a balanced diet etc

Im lucky though as shes naturally shiny

this is her just taken out of the paddock brushed and tacked up for a lesson









definitely think some horses are more naturally shiny than others


Oh and one other thing - clean you brushes regually - you cant get a shiny horse out of dirty brushes


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## dvlqh (Apr 27, 2009)

We show halter horses and as these guys are the prima donas of the quarter horse world we always want them to shine. My grooming routine is blankets or sheets depending on the degrees. We vacuum every day along with using a rubber curry, hard brush, soft brush, and a rag. We hardly ever wash our horses as this really takes the natural oils out. The most important thing though is feed. These horses get the best hay I can find. The best oats available, free mineral , and a couple of supplements for joints and coats. These horses shine like a new penny without any spray on them. We do clip once weekly (ears, fetlocks and such) just to keep everyone looking pretty. We also do a lot of extra work before these horses enter the ring. They need to look like they are entering a beauty pageant. They get their fake tails in then get sprayed with biosilk. They then get their manes banded so that you can run a ruler down their necks. We also use highlighter on their face, ears and certain muscles.


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

XivoShowjumper said:


> uhh.... being similar climate-- can i suggest a rugging scheme
> 
> winter-
> Jute through the day
> ...


How much would you say a Jute rug costs around here.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Whoa, Pepi costs 35$ where you're at??? Holy heifer! It costs like 8.50 here, and sometimes less, if you catch it on sale at an Expo!!!

Me personally, wouldn't feed all that bread...I would think there would be much easier chance of a horse colicking or getting bound\bloated up, because it 'sticks' together so much when it gets wet.


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## kiwigirl (Sep 30, 2009)

Sorry if you have seen these pics already. This is Phoenix in her paddock, she hasn't been groomed for about four days, no rug and no supplement food at all. I think some horses are naturally shiney and to be honest I have never seen a horse shine like her.


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

Bread sounds like a no no to me. All of that sugar, empty calories, and air? Not to mention that it is so dry, sounds like gas, bloat, colic and laminitis waiting to happen.

Why not just supplement dry yeast into the feed you already feed, that sounds much healthier, they even have yeast tablets for finicky horses.

Why would you feed a horse bread when you can simply up the quality of the forage you are feeding, allow ample grazing on good grass, and keep the horse in optimum health instead? Sounds like a more winning combination than bread anytime.


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## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

question:



















answer:
great quality hay
grand coat by grand meadows
1 tablespoon of ground flax seed in grain daily
1 small splash of corn oil in grain daily
coat= intense currying sessions (the kind that work up a sweat) in a circular motion, all over the body, daily, followed by very thorough brushing with a medium bristled brush, then wipedown with a dry rag, then spray with:








(only in areas that a saddle isn't going. but this is only for shows. by the end of all of this brushing, trust me, that horse is already as shiny as you could want him to be at home.)
then at the end, thorough brushing with a long, soft-bristled finishing brush, all brushing done in short, vigorous flicking motions
face= very gently curried in areas that won't bother him (forehead, cheeks..) then brush over with a small face brush and wipe down..apply same shining stuff with a cloth.
mane+tail= kept braided at all times except for short supervised times (during grooming) daily, tail bagged when there is any mud on the ground at all.
brushed daily with showsheen (though in more recent days I have cut showsheen out entirely as *it is damaging to the hair*.) and cowboy magic. now I would say to use absorbine's santa fe. amazing stuff.
same shine product shown above for shows.

the horse shown above was never blanketed or clipped. he only wears a flysheet in the summer.


nowadays with my newer horse I have been much lazier, but he is still this shiny: (shown here standing in the shade, still looking shiny)


















he gets the same hay and gets rice bran, probios, and biotin. I will be adding the ground flax seed to his diet, as it works well for keeping a beautiful coat. it also helps with weight, so be careful if you have an easy keeper. same with the corn oil.
I follow the same grooming regime as described above, but less often.
daily I at least do the part with the medium bristled brush.
his mane and tail are brushed daily and sprayed with santa fe, occasionally applying eqyss's survivor. his mane is kept short and not braided. his tail is kept braided and let out at least twice a week, and is bagged when it is muddy.
he is blanketed most of the time in the winter because he doesn't grow much of a coat, and in the summer he is kept in a flysheet.

I think that's about it..
I'm really into grooming and shiny horses if you can't tell


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## Supermane (Sep 23, 2007)

Herbie gets:

Cocosoya during the winter
Black as Knight year-round
Sleazy over his head during the winter
blanket during the winter/ full fly sheet in the summer
leave-in conditioner for mane and tail
regular tail and mane shampoo and conditioning
grooming everyday
Before shows baby oil around the snout

When I bath I use Shapley's EquiTone Color Enhancing shampoo - for black horses


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Looks like Pheonixs is lucky enough to have an all grass paddock, though...with those that have mud, or even the sand that I have here, you do have to work a bit for the shine (brushing), even if the horse is 'naturally' shiney under all the dust!


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Brought a jute rug today! Although his not getting it till Christmas.


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## JustLeaveIt2Mya (Jun 6, 2009)

my horse, i have a sheet on her. feeding corn oil in there grain helps too. heres her shine


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## kiwigirl (Sep 30, 2009)

mom2pride said:


> Looks like Pheonixs is lucky enough to have an all grass paddock, though...with those that have mud, or even the sand that I have here, you do have to work a bit for the shine (brushing), even if the horse is 'naturally' shiney under all the dust!


You are absolutely right m2p, I certainly have an advantage. Also where I live we are on very good volcanic soil which makes for very good quality grass. I still think she is naturally shiny though, maybe it is the polish on her halo and the sun shining out of her bottom LOL!


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