Cleaning a white horse's legs??? Help!

Hey everyone!

I have a quick question. I ride a gray horse and his lower legs are always brown and disgusting. No matter how much I brush his legs, the dirt doesn’t come off. Is there any way I could get some of the dirt off without washing him? It’s too cold for that. Would a rag work? Also completely off topic, but do you start putting the girth on with the leather on the right?

Thanks in advance!

You could try one of the waterless shampoo sprays, they won't make them blindingly white but they'll lift some of the brown.

You could also use the hot towel method, but not with really hot water like you use on their backs.

And yes, I put the right side of the girth on first since the elastic goes on the left, if it's a little snug that side can stretch easier.

Do you keep him outside all day or is he in a barn? My horse's legs get the same way. Since he's in a heated barn ( not warmer than 40 deg) I just shave them.

Cowboy Magic Green Spot Remover works pretty good.
You can try rubbing them down with a warm towel and see if you can lift some of the dirt off.

Another thing a friend and I did was we would use rubbing alcohol, but that was only for shows because it dries the skin out.

Thanks for all the tips! I don't own him so I doubt I could shave his legs... I was going to bring a towel to my lesson today but forgot, so I'm going to try that next time.

Ah, baby powder!

My gelding gets his legs hidious, and I promise it works wonders without using water.

:) I love it,

I recommend Cowboy Magic Yellow Out. It worked really well when I had a horse with white stockings.

In the summer I use betadine scrub on my mares whites. It not only cleans their legs, but is will disenfect them. My usual ritual before a show is to scrub them with betadine, then the cowboy magic yellow out, then "spot" clean the really dirty spots (like knees) with the betadine again. After that I spray them with show sheen so the dirt will slip off if she gets dirty! Works well for me! The best thing is also to keep up on them, I clean my mares legs every ride in the summer, but then you have to be careful becuase they can dry out easily, so I sometimes uses human conditioner on them. Hope that helps. I don't have any real recondmentions for the winter other than to keep up on them and brush them with a soft curry often. You can also rub snow on them outside! The cold will not hurt their legs at all!