Bathing......But not bathing.....
 

Hi everyone!

I have our final show on the 17, this Sunday. Of course since it's mid-October it's getting too chilly to bathe. My mare is an fleabitten (extremely light) light grey, so all of the dirt and stains show. It's suppose to be in the upper 50's, so I can't bathe her whole body...ugh. I plan on washing her legs, tail and mane. My question is, how can I bathe her, but without completely soaking her? I already have some ideas but I would like other input. Any advice is great, thanks!

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Hot towel her... granted this works much better with darker horses. Basically giving them a steam bath with a mild conditioner. Combine hot water and conditioner in a bucket. Insert towel... wring so it's not dripping and start rubbing.

I also have a white horse and an event Nov 7. My plan is to steal the last isle spot, use hot water and bucket bath him. We don't have a big enough hot water heater to bath normally, but I can fill buckets. It just takes a while. And I usually touch up in the AM.

Hot towel bath....just like MudPaint said. I use hand towel size ones as I find they are easier to work with and you can get most of the water rung out of them. Dollar store towels are awesome for this as once they get too dirty, it is easier to chuck them into the garbage.

Ive never put anything in the water though, so how much do you put in? And if your barn doesnt have enough hot water, take a tea kettle and boil a bunch of water before starting and add it to a couple of buckets. Dont put any warm/cold water in one of the buckets and use it last....by the time you get to it, it should be the right temp.

Miracle groom from Absorbine is one of those waterless shampoos but is great when you can't groom. All you do is spray it on a towel and rub it in. I do this with my Quarter Horse who is a gross roller in his stall during the winter!

Miracle Groom just like Luvs2jump said. I had a fleabitten that I showed on the A circuit in hunters, that stuff got all the spots out for shows, and I always put some in my show bag just in case he got dirty on the way, because he often did =).

Thanks for the help!I was planning on hot toweling her. I do have the Miracle Groom, so I was going to use a combo of both.

Yea I like the miracle groom for touch ups. I put in pink stuff with the hot water. I have no idea what it's called, bought it in bulk after using it at a TB farm and haven't found it since.

I've seen others use mane n tail or similar leave in conditioners (about 2 cap fulls to a half bucket) but have never used it myself. basically just brings the shine out. For darker horses I follow a hot towel bath up with a rub rag and baby oil. Sadly this no longer works for me. Why did I get a white horse?

Dry shampoo.
I've never used it before but I've heard other people that have used it on other forums and they say that it's really good to at least do spot cleaning, if not cleaning the whole horse if you have enough.

There are lots of 'spot cleaners' out there. I knew someone who used laundry detergent to spot clean and it worked well for them...

Personally, I'd just hit the 'highlights' with a sponge and some sort of cleaner and towel dry the spots as best you can.