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How often do you give your horse a bath?

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How Often Do You Bathe Your Horse?

14K views 20 replies 21 participants last post by  1dog3cats17rodents 
#1 ·
Just curious! :wink:
 
#3 ·
If "bathing" includes a simple hose-down, I do that A LOT in the summer. Other than that I only give my horse a full-out bath about 2-3 times a year.
 
#5 ·
After jogging our racehorses usually just get rubbed down or if they are sweat they get a quick sponging. We only full bathe them after a race or after a training session. As for the young guys, we dont bathe unless needed.
 
#6 ·
The most I bathe is during the first few weeks of spring when it starts getting really hot. Their shedding, we're riding.....sweating. Other than that I'll only hose them after harder rides. Also, during the summer, on the unbearable days, I'll hose them and stick them in front of a huge fan.
 
#8 ·
As needed. I don't have any good place to give a decent bath, and most of my horses are pretty adverse to baths in general. Sometimes I'll spritz them off with the hose on a hot day, or I'll dump a bucket of water over them just to help get some excess mud or hair or stubborn stain off, but the last time I gave a full bath to a horse was when Tanner hurt herself last summer and I had to wash the blood and pus off her leg. I figured that while I had the shampoo and hose out, I'd give her a good scrub, just because she was being a good sport about me rubbing at her cut up leg. It was the only time since I got her and Magic that I could tell them apart at a glance.
 
#9 ·
The weather is finally going to co-operate for everyone to get their first bath by the end of this week:-p

I don't show, so I might use a shampoo on them once a month if they haven't been trailered somewhere to trail ride.

If I go trail riding and they've picked up a lot of ticks, I will bath them with some sort of iodine shampoo; it makes the ticks stand up, therefore much easier to see and pull off.

Like others have said, I will hose them down and squee-gee them off as-needed, and that is generally every night during July & August. Middle Tennessee gets sticky/humid during those months:)
 
#14 ·
Hardly ever. My girls love the rain, so if theres a good downpour getting ready to happen, I'll corral them in the paddock & let mother nature wash them. They will walk OUT of the shelter, and will NOT go in the barn - unless there's thunder. They seem to know what's ok, and what's not. Nothing works better than a downpour anyhow. They will even stand there afterwards and just dry - no rolling if it's from rain - If I wash them though ---- waste of time.
 
#16 ·
Full bath usually every 2 weeks in the summer cuz he rolls a lot. But I wash his legs and tail every couple days. (I have a grey) I actually don't mind bathing my horse. It's a lot nicer than having a dirty horse. That's embarassing. =D
 
#17 ·
Rarely, but I'm lucky to have a Bay.

I rarely even bathe for a show. I usually give a really good grooming. If my horse is really dirty, alright - but other than that, I use allot of elbow grease and that magic spray stuff that gets rid of stains for his white area's.

If it is really warm out after a good ride, I'll hose him off.
 
#19 ·
As needed. During the summer I do it more often to cool them down (being in south GA it gets HOT). I don't like doing a bunch though because after you go through all the work they go and roll in the dirt. :-x
 
#20 ·
I'd like to say once a month for a proper bath (apart from over the colder months)... we started off last spring trying to bathe all my horses (I had three at the time) once a month... but I kinda got slack, oops. My two that I have now are to be show horses when I FINALLY get back up in the saddle and when my gelding went to his first show, my friend told me I had to get into more of routine washing them cos he was quite dirty... I'm lucky to have two horses that stand still for baths... I just have to be in the mood to do them. It's good not to do them all the time though - stripping the coat of its natural oils isn't good! My mare that I just sold has gone to a home where they get baths every Saturday and their rugs are drycleaned every week too!!
Otherwise, over summer my horses have learn to have hose downs with riders on their backs (haha I know weird right) during training sessions... and if they're sweaty they get hose downs too. Over winter if they work up a sweat I'll sponge it off and then rug.
x
 
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