For this handsome fella, Goose. Yeppers. This was his Before picture.
My lesson instructor friend, Lori asked me to come over and help her 'beautify' a horse she was recently given for remedial and prep training. The folks who dropped him off asked her to ride him in competitions in the State Fair this month. Lori thought his mane and tail were too blah for his unique body coloring, so came up with the idea to color his mane and tail black to bring more attention to them and his black legs. I thought she was a little zonky, but I agreed to help her. It's not every day someone asks you to give their horse a beauty treatment.
First we gave him a good bath.
This was his tail before coloring.
The tail wasn't too bad to get done actually. Goose is not the most patient horse and it was getting late and time for his dinner. So, with me in the back and Lori in the front we all did a sort of horse shuffle until we were through. This is the end result. (get it? END result? haha. I crack myself up.)
Now, this is a frontal view of Goose. He's a cutie.
And this is his mane BEFORE coloring.
Before coloring we did some clipping around his face to remove whiskers. He did not have much tolerance for it at all. He reared a few times and pranced around alot.
All that movement made it really difficult to trim and clip.
Goose went ballistic when it was time to trim his bridle path. Lori tried clippers first and then scissors, but he was not taking it. I was really surprised because I've never seen a horse get so crazy about this before. My neighbor recently showed me how to trim my Baby Doll's bridle path, and Baby Doll almost fell asleep during the clipping.So Lori pulled out the 'big guns' and 'twitched' him. I had never seen a horse being twitched before and it was quite unnerving. It did seem to work.....for a little while. I really hope I never have to see it again, though.
Lori held Goose while I tried to apply the coloring to his mane and forelock. It was very challenging because he wouldn't stay still and also because he was very tall. I really needed a stool to see what I was doing, but somehow did it all by feel. This was the result before washing out the color mixture.
I had to leave because it was already 9:30pm, so I didn't get to see the final After Rinse result, and I haven't been able to get over there since this was done. But Lori did tell me that the mane and taill look amazing. Other than a few black and purply spots that got onto his head and neck the color looks natural. Hopefully those spots will fade away before the State Fair. Another view.
I did a little bit of touch up on his tail because the color didn't go all the way to the top. This was the final result.
So what do you all think? I've never heard of anyone coloring a horse's tail, mane or body before. Is this something that is often done in show rings? Or for fun? I'm just a blind volunteer, so I have no idea. But it does seem sort of strange. Is it any different than a model adding hair extensions, hair coloring or makeup to show herself in a different light?
I'm really curious as to how common it is to artificially enhance horses being shown.
16 comments :
I have no idea as I don't move in the show ring world, but it seems like a lot of work to make a horse 'different,' because he was pretty good looking to me without all the beauty stuff.
Just my male perspective.
Dan
I'm not sure but I believe in some shows that it is actually against the rules.
He is more striking now but there was nothing wrong with his colouring before.
Heehee!! I have spent many hours prepping horses for the show ring, and believe me, you can use almost anything on horses that you can use on humans.
There are even tail (hair) extensions for horses that have wimpy ones, and false eyelashes to make your horses eyes stand out!
Don't you feel like you have now been to beauty school...lol!!!
Well, I think the kind of stuff is done more than you think. Of course, I always worry about the chemicals. I imagine they'd be worse with lightening (bleach/peroxide) then darkening. And also, what's he going to do about the root growout? LOL! ;)
My sister used to show quarter horses, and had a palomino as I recall, and used to lighten the mane and tail. so it's an old practice to use hair dye on horses!
PG - I didn't even think of his roots growing out! LOL
We have Paso Finos, but the only thing we use for color is to add blueing to the rinse water for Vivvy, the palomino.
Other than that bit of blueing, the only thing we use is a bit of baby oil in the manes and tails to add a little "wave" as well a bit rubbed around the muzzle and eyes to make them glisten.
He's a fine looking guy, though..with or without the dye job LOL!
I'd like to see him all finished up. I thought he was a beauty before the treatment.
That twitch thing looked awful. Those velvety lips are so sensitive, I cant even imagine going through that. Poor baby.
Hair color i guess isn't that bad, but when they start wanting to give a horse breast implants and make them wear high heels...
It was good reading these comments, because the thought of coloring a horse's hair has never occurred to me. I don't show, beyond the ONE that I put Gabbrielle in. I don't really get a chance to talk to people behind the scenes much either. I think just all the non-coloring prep work before a show is mind boggling.
It was a common but illegal practise with thoroughbred racehorses. They used ringers, especially in the old days, where they would replace one horse with another to beat the odds. They favored the plain brown horses with no stand out markings and used henna to color them. That is one of the reasons for lip tatoos and now, microchips, in thoroughbreds.
I don't know the rules for show horses but it's probably okay as long as they don't exchange horses.
I know there was a professional Arabian trainer/exhibitor who was banned a few years back for having cosmetic surgery performed on halter horses to hide conformation faults. People will do anything for money.
WOW, I've never heard of coloring a horse's tail! It looks pretty cool, though...
I'm not big into twitching...I've never been around a horse that's being "twitched" but by that picture, it does look unnerving :-/...I hope I'm never around to see it!
We have to twitch sometimes, and it is not as bad as it looks. There is some kind of endorphine that is given off when this is done, a calming effect.
I did paint Rio's feet before the last show - they were white and I wanted them to be all black, so I just used spray paint.
It is amazing what people will do in the show circle. I had a boarding barn once with Western Pleasure show horses and they were all the time, bleaching, coloring, etc....
He looks great - you both did a great job. It has to be hard, not to get it on the horse.
I can't believe people actually color their horses. That is strange to me, but that is coming from someone who doesn't wear make-up except the occasional mascara. His tail job is definitely striking and he should stand out now... I don't believe I would do it to my horses though, it is just too unnatural. I'm a natural gal all the way around.
I have horse spray paint. You can buy it at a local tack store. It is used to inhance the already black legs or white markings. I also have white chalk that I used for white on the face and legs. I love spray paint. I do know it's illegal to make a horse have black legs that does not. Or to put white markings on a horse that doesn't naturally have them. I have seen people dye their horses hair. I know it is illegal in some show rings. But a fun post!! I bet it was challenging not to get that black every where.
I saw a horse last night at the rodeo that had a white body and black stockings, mane, and tail. Gorgeous creature! I was telling my friend they probably die him and give hair extensions for the tail. Now I bet I'm right.
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