# To Dye, or not to dye - Show tail grooming



## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

Bump, anyone???


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## AngelEquestrian (Jul 15, 2010)

As far as I know, a lot of people on here do it for shows.
But please never use a permenant dye, use a "vegan" conditioning dye. It has no ammonia or peroxide in it so is less likely to harm your horse should it get dye on the skin.
I reccomend alternative stores (Like Hot Topic if you're in the US) and picking up some Manic Panic or Crazy Color (Directions hair dye is good too).

Good luck


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## SaddlebredGrl (Oct 8, 2009)

They actually make shampoo that is like a dye for horses. I bought some for my horse because he was all fadded and looked weird from being in the pasture. Shapley's makes it for all differnt colors. It worked great for him, but my friend bought some black shampoo from another company and it didn't work on her horse. I told her to buy some shapley's for next show season to see if it worked better. Cause i got some red on my hands and it didnt' come off for days, while the black shampoo washed off after i washed my hands a couple times. I use all shapley's products i think they work pretty good.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

SaddlebredGrl said:


> They actually make shampoo that is like a dye for horses. I bought some for my horse because he was all fadded and looked weird from being in the pasture. Shapley's makes it for all differnt colors. It worked great for him, but my friend bought some black shampoo from another company and it didn't work on her horse. I told her to buy some shapley's for next show season to see if it worked better. Cause i got some red on my hands and it didnt' come off for days, while the black shampoo washed off after i washed my hands a couple times. I use all shapley's products i think they work pretty good.


Yes, unfortunately I have exhausted all the "shampoo for colors" options. Shapelys, quicblack, etc. My friend says she uses Kool ade... grape mixed with a blue flavor, just put the powder in hair conditioner and leave in and it should stain in a color that counteracts the orange. It worked an iddy biddy bit, sigh.

His tail is still the color of a basketball


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## nrhareiner (Jan 11, 2009)

Most of the time as long as you keep the horses original color you will be fine. Associations like the color registries have rules about certain type deals. Like Pallys you can not die a tail or use anything to make it appear wither then it is.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

nrhareiner said:


> Most of the time as long as you keep the horses original color you will be fine. Associations like the color registries have rules about certain type deals. Like Pallys you can not die a tail or use anything to make it appear wither then it is.


ah I see. Cinny is a registered Paint, although a stock Paint. So far I haven't found anything about this in the APHA rulebook, just that you can't MAKE your horse have spots or add extra spotting.


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## nrhareiner (Jan 11, 2009)

I think as long as you do not change the color like taking my red dun stallion and dieing his tail black. That would not be legal however if I where to take my Dun mare and die her tail black it would be fine. As her tail is black by genetics and Tes is not.


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## Velvetgrace (Aug 17, 2008)

I died my buckskin's mane and tail with a non-permenant black color dye. I used Lorrell (sp?) cream dye and it had no ammonia or other harmful stuff in it. You can see pictures at: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-grooming/before-after-what-do-you-think-63769/


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

Cheval International, the makers of Black as Knight, makes a henna dye for horses. You can find it on their website.

Shampoos

Look for the Black Horse Henna. It's not cheap, and I don't know how well it works, but I remembered seeing it.


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## JackofDiamonds (Aug 31, 2010)

Ah theres nothing worse than a sun bleached tail.Yes dyeing is legal. We do it when we need to, we also dye the falsies to match the colour  Its hard to do tails because they swish it and get it all up there legs and well, then its a disaster zone  Fist and most importantly *Vasaline* magic stuff  slap it on all over his legs and body where he can mangae to get dye. Its also handy to have someone at the ready with glad rap so you once your done, you can rap it up. We just use human dye and follow the directions leave it on a bit longer as horse hair is thick. Hope i helped, and just for info horse dye can do just as much damage or even more than human dye.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

Thanx guys,

I ended up dying it with a mild dye and only the ends where it was orange. Then I ran my fingers through some of the top areas to sort of streak and blend it, but never actually touching the skin or tail itself, only the hair. I put a braid in it and left him to stand. He's all black so I wasn't really worried about him swatting with it, but he didn't, he just stood sweetly in the wash rack as I decided to do other "beauty" treatments on him...hooves, sheath clean, etc while we waited for the dye, and it helped to keep him from getting bored. 

The dye worked great, even my trainer couldn't quite tell at first ha ha. She just said, "what did you do, he looks different but I don't know why." ha ha. I said it must just be that his winter fuzzies are growing in and she agreed


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## nrhareiner (Jan 11, 2009)

Pictures we want before and after pictures. You know you can not do something with out pictures. Oh did I say we want pictures??? LOL


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## JackofDiamonds (Aug 31, 2010)

Oh thats great!! yess pictures would be nice... I think you boy might need to have a few words with our ponies to tell them to STAND STILL!!  Thats good he is black, does he have white markings? When we die knees thats hard also


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

Sorry, I didn't take before pictures, but I can get some after pictures and I will scour my pc for some before pics that show it orange.

And yes, he's all black except for a star, a barely visible broken strip and a snip. He looked absolutely gorgeous for the clinic yesterday but he was a brat and wouldn't let me mount ha ha.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

Okay, here we go. I found a picture that kind of shows his tail. I actually took it of the wire scar on his hind but it shows the color of his tail really well.










The video clip is from yesterday's clinic and shows a really good after. Nice and BLACK again


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I probably would not dye my horse's tail, as that would be much harder on it, than conditioning, and making sure he gets enough vit/min content; remember dark horses need much more copper than most lighter colored horses, so make sure he gets enough through supplementing; that alone can make a HUGE difference in how 'true' your horse's color stays


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Well, guess that's what I get for not reading through the whole thread...Lol...You dyed him, and it actually looks really good. But just remember the nutritional aspect...it could help alot later on.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

Yes, he actually has been getting NuImage since I bought him but I just switched to Black as Knight. He also gets a multivitamin and a few other things in SmartPaks and I condition his tail with a leave in with UV, bag it etc regularly. A lot of the damage is from before I bought him and it will take a while for it to change out with the supplements.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

I ahve been umming and ahing about theexact same thing! You've given me courage to try it out :]

I'm gonna do it this afternoon!


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## nrhareiner (Jan 11, 2009)

Or do what I do. Just keep the tail up so it does not get dirty or a lot of sun. That way it will not fad out.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Have you been trimming the ends, to prevent further 'split' or damage to the ends? I usually trim the ends up every couple of months, and that can make a big difference in the overall health of the tail as well. Sometimes getting rid of the burnt ends is all it takes...Will have to dredge up some of my pics of my last horse Pride...he had an amazing tail after a bit of trimming and TLC (supplements, conditioning, braiding, etc).


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I wish my current mare would get a long luxurious tail (it's really thick), but after a year of lots of lovin, her tail is about the same length...Lol! Atleast it's thick, which I like


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

Yes, I have been trimming a bit off each month, and like I said I bag it to keep it clean. He's the only horse in the whole stable with his tail kept up and all the kids are constantly asking "what happened to his tail, why is it bandaged?" lol. Even though it's a "show" stable, they just don't seem to get the concept of tail care. They keep them out at all times, brush them 2-3 times a day, etc etc....all the poor ponies have long tails that look like they are maybe only 4 strands of hair, all stained funky colors (they are greys)...it's sad.


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