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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 599
 
| All in vanity - but is there a way to keep your horse’s coat/mane/tail from sun fade?
Last summer I kept my horses up during th day and turned them out at night. I live in Georgia. Big mistake - my horse had a really hard time in the heat at shows since he wasn’t used to it.
So this year, they will definitely be turned out during the day.
I don’t get home from work until 3, so bringing them in just during peak hours isn’t an option.
My horse’s mane was black and beautiful until I started turn out. Now it’s fried at the ends and blondish-reddish.
I have fly sheets with hoods with UV protection, but find they sweat under them.
Just wondering if there were other tricks. :) |
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 Take a Picture
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | dRowe - 2018-01-21 2:37 PM All in vanity - but is there a way to keep your horse’s coat/mane/tail from sun fade? Last summer I kept my horses up during th day and turned them out at night. I live in Georgia. Big mistake - my horse had a really hard time in the heat at shows since he wasn’t used to it. So this year, they will definitely be turned out during the day. I don’t get home from work until 3, so bringing them in just during peak hours isn’t an option. My horse’s mane was black and beautiful until I started turn out. Now it’s fried at the ends and blondish-reddish. I have fly sheets with hoods with UV protection, but find they sweat under them. Just wondering if there were other tricks. :)
The UV sheet and you need to always wash the sweat off of them. As soon as you can after a ride, if they sweat under the UV sheet cold hose them off in the pm after you take it off. My show horse is in the barn in the morning around 8 am-ish and I let him back outside around 4-5ish at night. He wears his UV sheet in the evening, through the night and I take it off when he goes in the barn. I am in WY but we do get in the 90's July-Aug. So he does sweat some if he is stuck outside all day if we are gone. But that sweat is awful for hair coats. I have a neck cover to keep his mane good and I use a 3 way tail braid thing made of lycra to keep his tail from getting sunburnt. I also use Eqyss products to condition. |
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Expert
Posts: 1409
Location: Oklahoma | I'm firm believer it has to do with your minerals and vit. My horses used to fade in the summer I keep out 24/7 and this past summer was the first time they didn't fade! it had to do with min/vit. I had heard a few other people mention it before and some articles and I didn't really believe til it worked for mine! Im not positive but I think I read that copper is lower in the summer and a couple other minerals. |
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Veteran
Posts: 233
| Supplement zinc and copper. I use uckele, but if you like to spend money horsetech products are good too. |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | rinsing sweat off after every ride, good minerals/vitamins (progressive nutrition makes one for free choice pasture) and flax-1 cup a day. |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Turnburnsis - 2018-01-22 6:24 AM I'm firm believer it has to do with your minerals and vit. My horses used to fade in the summer I keep out 24/7 and this past summer was the first time they didn't fade! it had to do with min/vit. I had heard a few other people mention it before and some articles and I didn't really believe til it worked for mine! Im not positive but I think I read that copper is lower in the summer and a couple other minerals.
yes minerals can play a big part actually. I bought a mare from AR that was a bay via the pictures. When I went to pick her up in CO and they brought her out of the stall to me I was just sure they were bringing the wrong mare. All I could think was how in the world was I going to explain to my husband what I just bought. She was thin, pot bellied, cribbed terrible and her coat was the worst of it. She was a shabby dull tan and her mane and tail were nearly red. We powerpacked her, treated those ulcers, and have her free choice mineral which she ate like it was grain. She turned into quite a pretty mare after all that... still cribs like a dirty monkey but that might be from the pain of having a needle tip broke off in her foot. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1074
| I have a jet black gelding. Two small spots of white on him. He will fade during the summer unless he is on Animal Element Detox. If he's on detox, he remains jet black. If he isn't, he looks like a dark bay. Big difference for him. I don't know what specifically works, but something definitely keeps his color dark on that supplement. I turn mine out daily in full sunshine. Nothing changes but the supplement. |
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Member
Posts: 33
| I may be the odd one out on a type of solution as it's probably my halter horse background talking, but you could always dye the red/sunbleached parts of his mane and tail back to black. I'm not sure how well it holds long term as far as fading, and it does grow out with the hair but works great to bring back that black color you want. We normally use Just For Mens hair dye in black, and it works really well. |
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Expert
Posts: 1280
Location: Texas | hannahbug - 2018-01-22 7:42 AM Supplement zinc and copper. I use uckele, but if you like to spend money horsetech products are good too.
I use the Uckele Copper and Zinc also. Super cheap and there are many more benefits (structural integrity of connective tissues!!) besides just keeping that nice color. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 599
| tracies - 2018-01-26 2:17 PM
hannahbug - 2018-01-22 7:42 AM Supplement zinc and copper. I use uckele, but if you like to spend money horsetech products are good too.
I use the Uckele Copper and Zinc also. Super cheap and there are many more benefits (structural integrity of connective tissues!!) besides just keeping that nice color.
Are those 2 separate supplements? I see Poly Copper and Poly Zinc.... |
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Expert
Posts: 1280
Location: Texas | Yes, I buy the poly copper 1lb., the poly zinc 1lb., and the magnesium oxide 58% 2lb. all from Uckele. For 1 horse they last about 4 mo. I think. Long time. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1515
Location: Illinois | I have a black gelding that didn't fade until he was cut at 7 years old. I had him on Black As Night and Blackenall and neither worked. I switched to the Smart Dark & Handsome and actually saw results. The copper and paprika are what tends to keep the coat darker. Also what I didn't know until after speaking with someone about it, if they're already faded most of the time a feed through won't change their coats. You have to wait for the new coat growth. A lot of people try to start it in the dead of summer when their black is now a light bay and wonder why nothing is happening. You typically won't see results until new coat growth. Mine used to fade to a dappled almost buckskin color and now he still fades, but he also lives outside with no protection bc he shreds a fly sheet a week. I'll try to attach photos of what he faded to before he was on the SmartPak one and after. He's not on it anymore, I took him off to put that money towards some large vet bills I accumulated with one of the others. But he was on the old formula that is now on sale for a really cheap price if anyone is interested.
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 Boomer faded 2.jpg (63KB - 193 downloads)
Boomer small.jpg (72KB - 185 downloads)
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