how do you get your tails really white?

[alwaysGOLD]

Hello!

My grey mare has a disgusting black white tail, i was wondering how all you fellow grey owners get your tails whiter than white?

Normally i soaked end of tail in hot water, give it a about 3 shampoos and rinse throughs, soak again in the blue rinse, and rinse it again. She wears a tail plait in winter too :)

Thank you for sharing in advance! And sorry if this topic has been done before

To get the filth off I use one of those pink tubs of Vanish powder - but only on the hair, not on the dock. It does a pretty good job and leaves the tail more brushable. I've tried some whitening horse shampoos but they haven't been better than the Vanish. I generally use medicated horse shampoo on the dock as he gets a bit itchy there, but that part of his tail doesn't get dirty really.

The tail never gets quite white though, there's always a yellowy bit somewhere!

Oh, and I don't know how you wash your horse's tail, but I like to use a bucket rather than a hose. You can use warm water, and give the tail a good dunking.

When I see people washing tails with a hose, the water just runs over the top of the tail and leaves it dirty.

I use a hose and a bucket. Dunking the whole tail in a bucket does make sure it is all properly wet and soapy but dhorse's tail is so thick that I'd be filling buckets with rinsing water forever! I give it a couple of dunks in clean water to get most of the shampoo off but finish with the hose. Luckily we have really good water pressure so the water gets right in rather than running off.

Sheath cleaner or fairy liquid. But have great degreasing qualities. I'm not going to mention any of the other naughty things we have tried on the yellow ends of Molly's over the years. She's a piddle monster!

Tresemme deep cleaning shampoo, then Touch of Silver weekly treatment. But I'd done his heels with muddy buddy scrub the other day and then dunked his tail in the bucket to get the mud off, and it was amazingly clean after with no work.

But dpony is a field kept gelding, and doesn't get poo or wee in his tail, so its just pure mud which is easier

I was told at Windsor one year that I had the cleanest grey horse the judge had ever seen! It takes a lot of hard work to get a grey tail really clean. Here's my method:

1. Wash with shampoo. Head and Shoulders, Tresemme Deep Cleansing, Fairy Liquid, SuperPoo and Wahl Dirty Beastie are all good. I prefer the last two. Make sure you really scrub deep down into the hairs on the dock.
2. Rinse.
3. Dunk tail in bucket with boiling water containing Vanish Oxy. Hair only, don't get on dock! Hold bucket up for as long as you can (or as long as you can be bothered, if you are superstrong!)
4. Rinse.
5. Lather up with Quicsilver. This stuff is the real shiz! It'll give everything it touches a lovely silveryblue sheen, including your hands! Rub it in really well, and then leave it on for about 10 minutes. You can go and wash the legs or head or something while you are waiting.
6. Rinse.
7. Condition with Boots Own cheap conditioner. Leave on for a while, and go and rinse the shampoo you put on the legs/body/head in step 4 while you wait.
8. You guessed it, rinse.
9. This step is the magic bit. Get a bucket and mix up a cup of white vinegar with about 5 cups of hot water. Use this to rinse the tail. It will take out any residual soap and grease, and leave the tail lovely and soft and shiny.
10. This step is optional - use a little bit of Supreme Blue Rinse in a bucket with hot water to dunk the tail. The blue in the rinse combats any yellowy-ness in the tail. You don't need to rinse after either of steps 7 or 8.
11. Spray with tail detangler and comb through. Voila - one lovely tail!

This method worked on a complete mud monster. It took me ages to work out, and though it seems time consuming and laborious, it works on the filthiest of tails and is the best option I have come across other than using a tailbag (which I really don't like.)

Thank you everyone :) shall be trying out all methods suggested! Thanks again (im so glad its just her tail thats white at the moment, i am not looking forward to when she starts to lighten she has a lovely dark coat :( )