If you have a grey hippo that lives out, how do you manage if you want to compete in the winter?

[Stormyequine]

As the title says really. I have a grey, and am just starting to get out and about to small competitions. However he loves a good roll, lives out and is a good doer so only needs a rug when the weather is really bad.

Thinking ahead to the winter I am wondering whether I just need to accept he won't be able to look smart again until the weather dries up. I can rug him when it's cold, but even then he will manage to get mud up under the rug. I don't want to keep bathing him and strip all the oil out of his coat, but after mud is brushed off he is generally a fetching shade of beige. What do people do to get round this?

I have the same problem and haven't found a true solution. I'm on clay which really doesn't help. I spot clean through the winter so I can ride and have a proper groom only if I have to. A rug doesn't help as my girl sweats for England even under a simple rain sheet and, as you say the mud still goes all up her legs and over her tummy. In previous winters I have been tempted to move an hour north of my current locatíon where the soil appears to be a lovely peachy pink colour (possibly clay chalk mix) rather than brown. Unfortunately houses are much more expensive there, so I may have to resort to a giant bottle of black hair dye...

My dd’s old boy is a grey - he is now a field hippo but when he was a competition hippo we just had to resign ourselves to ridiculously early starts on competition days.
We would generally put a light sheet on him overnight which kept the worst of the poo stains off his body, we did a LOT of brushing (the Haas brushes gave him a lovely shine) and spot cleaning and chalk powder did wonders.

Black hair dye is sounding very tempting! Or maybe I'd better invest in .some decent brushes and some chalk pronto.

My grey always had a full rug with neck cover and belly cover and I always chose a rug with a longer bum/tail cover 😂

He was literally white though so I went for as much cover as possible

Mine is pretty much white too. Definitely giving serious consideration to dying him mud coloured right now!

I have our little grey pony in a Snuggy Rugs turnout under rug and hood throughout the winter, I change the weight of rug on top according on the weather. It even covers her tummy. She also has a tail bag once the mud starts and the flies go.
This keeps her looking clean enough for pony club and little comps during the winter.
She is already sporting a very low chaser clip as she was struggling on long rides in the current heat as her coat is already thick.

snuggyhoods.com/collections/winter-hoods/products/winter-under-rug

I managed to get my set in the sale. One of my turnout hoods is 12 years old and still in great condition.

Is there no way you could stable him the night before a competition?

I think I might have to get one of those hoods! I can stable him the night before, but he will still be covered in mud, and it still leaves the issue of how to get him looking presentable without a bath. He still has brown stains once it is all brushed off, with added poo stains from being in.

There is simply no way you can keep a grey horse who likes to roll clean without a rug and/or washing. I’ve had more than your average number of greys over the years, and found that each of them have slightly different ‘best ways’ to manage them. My preferred way, which works for most of them, is full clip, big rug, hot horse shower. I got my first hot horse show last year, nearly 40 years after getting my first grey, and it’s a revelation! Curret grey horse takes 15 minutes at most to blast the dirt off, and he even enjoys it! Snuggy Hoods are very effective but a bit faffy for me. Cowboy Magic Green Spot remover is good for poo patches. A trick which takes a bit of practice to get right is to make a slurry of chalk powder and water, and paint the legs the night before with this and allow to dry - brush it through next morning.

Of the 7 greys I’ve owned, only one kept himself clean. The rest have been complete swamp things.

Also Gold Label Grey Horse brightensing shampoo is very good for brightening murky greys.

I have a 2 grey hippos. You will have to rug him head to tail and then deal with the exposed or stained bits. I would strongly recommend a gas bottle powered shower to make the washing bit more pleasant for both of you. And I think warm water lifts the dirt better.

I am wrestling with this dilemma myself - has anyone bought a Mud Daddy?

@krustykittens if you can spare the cash and have a hose connection at your yard, buy a Showerking. I've got 17 litre Mobi portable pressure washer, and it's OK for taking out and about but at the yard the Showerking is the best thing ever. The Mobi is only enough for a quick rinse down after competing. Not enough to actually wash a grey horse properly.

Wrap them on cling film?

@backinthebox, thank you, you saved me £80! Well, not really as the showerking cost more but I didn't WASTE £80 on something I would probably have flung across the yard in frustration!

My grey yesterday 🙈 I’m new to greys, my other horse is a bay, and previous were chestnuts.. it’s definitely challenging keeping a grey clean 😬

Sell him and buy a bay.

Seriously though I swear by clean the day before, and damp with hot water and wring out cloth to get the wrost off on the day

My first highland pony spent his life trying to be brown, with a fetching green tail. We used to go to riding club quite early on Sunday mornings and although it is probably the wrong thing to do I just used to bath him to get the stains out after a good brush. With Highlands the coat is so thick and oily that I'm sure he didn't feel the cold much from the water. He preferred to live out and wouldn't wear a rug, the snow would sit on his wide back and not melt for ages!

Our grey hippo is retired now so have pretty much given up and just brush her over winter now. She loves a good bath in the summer, but not so much in the winter.

We had just resigned ourselves to stupid early starts on show days. A rug was enough to keep her clean enough to ride, but even keeping her in the night before an event was no guarantee of a clean pony in the morning.

I remember once spending an entire Saturday afternoon getting her gleaming white, ready for a show on the Sunday morning. Rugged her up and went home smugly thinking about the lay in I’d get the next morning. I got to the yard and the fucker was absolutely covered in poo stains and the rug in a heap on the floor. Poo stain remover and baby wipes only go so far.