# Is there a waterless shampoo for horses?



## Courtney (May 20, 2011)

To put it bluntly, Vanna needs a bath. Her mane feels greasy (she was in with the weanlings at her last home and they spent some time licking and chewing on her) and no amount of brushing seems to make her less dusty. Since I brought her home on Friday, I've spent close to 10 hours just brushing her and rubbing at her with rags to remove as much dust as possible. I've resigned myself to the fact that she just won't be clean until I can bathe her. I can always tell where I pat her, because her coat develops dusty hand prints. Her coat doesn't shine, because she's so dusty.

Unfortunately, it's getting rather chilly and she's got a bit of a cold already. I don't want to give her a bath and risk a chill, so I started wondering about waterless shampoo. I know they have waterless shampoo for dogs (my dogs always smell like blueberry muffins because of it), but do they make one for horses? I'm assuming the dog variety would be okay for horses, but maybe there's a better option.

What are my options? She's already growing a winter coat and I'm not sure if I can do anything (aside from an all-out bath) to remove the excess dust. Any wild and crazy suggestions? Is there a certain rag that might work best to attract dirt? My boyfriend suggested a Swiffer and was completely serious. I'm beginning to consider it... :lol:


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

IMO, waterless shampoos really don't do much. I suggest a spray bottle, water, and a brush. Spritz, brush, spritz, brush. It'll knock out some of the dirt. 

But honestly, if you can rinse her off, and then towel her dry really well, and keep her out of a breeze.


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## Courtney (May 20, 2011)

Thanks! I don't know how many nice days we have left here; it seems every day is windy. I might try the spray bottle method first to see if that makes a difference and if not, I might have to wait until next month to pop her into the wash stall. She's not allowed in the barn for a month, until her quarantine period is up. At that point, I might be able to quickly hose her down, towel her off and keep her in the barn for a few hours until she dries completely. That might be the best option to get her clean before winter, while giving her cold a chance to clear up.

If the weather turns really miserable, I might just have to suck it up and let her be dusty until it gets nicer out again. In July. haha.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

There's Miracle Groom, but I don't know if that's the sort of thing you're looking for...


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

When I was infantry in Germany, in the winter we would "bath" with baby powder. Put in on liberally, rub it in wipe it off, takes alot of the dirt with it.


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## ScharmLily (Nov 23, 2009)

I love Miracle Groom for keeping my horses clean. They have sand in the paddocks (was stonedust which was even worse!) that they just love to roll in- makes them very dusty. However, I've found that the miracle groom only really works if you have kept on top of cleaning them regularly. It removes a lot of that embedded fine dust that is nearly impossible to brush out, but if they are really shaggy and dirty it doesn't truly cut it. I just got a little, white companion pony who is just so dirty! I think I would have to use an entire bottle of the stuff and about 3 towels to really get her clean.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

I wiped mine with the (slightly wet) paper towel before the last show (and washed her legs up to the knee with the shampoo). The night was quite cold, so I didn't want to risk. She was all shiny next day.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

This is a bit of a segeway, but it was so windy HERE this weekend, yet we still had some flies. I mixed up some mane-n-tail with a lot of water and cleaned all their legs with it. It took away the horsey smell that was attracking flies, but it didn't blow away in the wind, which is what would have happened had we sprayed Repel-X, instead. Just and FYI.
ALSO, I hate leaving any saddle marks on their coats, so I mix same and scrub it on after a workout where there are saddle marks, with a rubber curry, brush smooth with a dandy brush, and make sure the horse(s) aren't in a draft. I even do this in the winter, but I use it in their stalls. I can always throw a sheet on until dry.


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## Courtney (May 20, 2011)

Joe4d said:


> When I was infantry in Germany, in the winter we would "bath" with baby powder. Put in on liberally, rub it in wipe it off, takes alot of the dirt with it.


Even on a dark horse? I've heard of people using cornstarch on hair to sop up grease, but it has this tendency to show up quite noticeably on darker hair. I might have to give this a try!



kitten_Val said:


> I wiped mine with the (slightly wet) paper towel before the last show (and washed her legs up to the knee with the shampoo). The night was quite cold, so I didn't want to risk. She was all shiny next day.


I'm also going to give this a try. It's slightly warmer today (a balmy +16*C in October, whoo!), so I don't feel AS bad about wetting her down a bit.

I took a white towel to her yesterday and started rubbing. It didn't get all of the dust out, but it helped. My poor towel though... it's a lovely mixture of black horse hair and gray dust. 

Thanks, everyone! These are all great suggestions and I appreciate your input.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Never heard the baby powder thing. That's worth a try. I can curry my dark bay all day and dirt will keep coming up to the surface. I used Miracle Groom at our show yesterday and it worked well enough. Nobody screamed "look at that filthy horse" or anything.


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## SarahAnn (Oct 22, 2011)

I use a dry shampoo that is also good for dry skin... I will have to look at the actual brand name when I am in the barn tomorrow morning and get back to you. I just sprinkle some on and brush it out with a couple of different types of brushes until I think it looks good. I have a Tibiano Paint and she ALWAYS gets dirty... I dont think she knows she's white. SO I use the dry shampoo quite a bit...


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

your waterless shampoos are basically just good for spot washing, getting stains out.Good brushing & using these products can really tidy them up when bathing isn't an option.I like Cowboy Magic works great on my white Paints!!


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## Clementine (Sep 24, 2009)

Buy a horse vacuum. BEST. INVENTION. EVER. Saves hours of futile grooming, and makes for a pretty good substitute for a bath when it's too cold, or otherwise not possible to bathe them. If you're at a boarding barn, you could probably get people to chip in for it. 

Her "cold" concerns me a lot more than her dustiness though. Do you know what she actually has?


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## Courtney (May 20, 2011)

Before I brought her home, all the horses at the barn where she was got a cold. The weather changed very quickly and most of the horses got sick. I guess it was a shock to their system to go from +10-20*C to nearly freezing overnight. They were put on antibiotics and she had a bit of a runny nose when I picked her up. No cough, nothing else... just a bit of a drippy nose and the odd sniffle-snort noise. She's all better now.


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## MNCOWGIRL (Oct 24, 2011)

Cowboy magic!! Has waterless detangler, shampoo, conditioner and coat shine!!


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## MNCOWGIRL (Oct 24, 2011)

Also its safe for humans to use as well, thats the other plus


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## mysticdragon72 (Nov 1, 2010)

I know this thread is a couple of days old but if it's just dust you're wanting to get rid of and don't want to wet her down (I can understand that as I really want to bathe my paint filly!) you can use a tack cloth. The ones they use after sanding wood down? They're great for getting the dust off!! Just rub lightly in the direction the hair grows and that should take care of all the dust sitting on top of her coat. Mind you this is after you're done grooming. 

ttfn
MD


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