My boy is a greasy bo-hunk

Foxtrotalot · My boy is a greasy bo-hunk

He's as pretty as they come, but my gosh is he greasy. His sheath needs to be cleaned every 4-6 weeks and the crest of his neck gets greasy and he scratches his mane off. All of this is no big deal in the summer, but as it gets colder, I'm going to need to be able to wash his mane in the winter. His tail bone gets kind of nasty, too, but now there's a tail bag that you can put warm water into and JUST wash the tail. Any suggestions on how I can wash his mane in cold weather? I thought of making a sort of slinky that just exposes his crest from wet suit material. That wouldn't keep his neck DRY, but the cool thing about wetsuits is that they keep the water against your skin as warm as your skin is. Grant or Sue, (if they see this) does that make sense to you?

Any other ideas? He completely scratched off about a 4-inch long patch of his mane last year. I tried using baby wipes down at the skin, but it just didn't do the job. He needs a real WASH. HELP!

Edited to add: Sorry to turn this into such a long post. I wish I could just find the cause of it. He is insulin resistant and his diet is currently only grass with a grazing muzzle. He gets a multivitamin and APF, too. If anyone has any info on what can cause the greasy crest and dirty sheath, please let me know.

4theloveofjake

I don't know what causes it, maybe it's like people who have oily skin. I would suggest washing the crest in the barn and then blow drying his mane to make it warm and dry. Remember, it's not about the blow dryer ! With a little luck and alot of patience you can get him used to it. My friend who lives in Canada has to use one on her horses feet in the winter because the ice is impossible to get out by hand.

Julie

I would look at him needing more omega oils in his diet. can you not get the no rinse shampoo - i use this in the winter sometimes.

http://www.miraclecorp.com/horse/waterless.html

Foxtrotalot

Thanks for the tip on Miracle Coat. I'm going to try it. I have a Hott Wash and I doubt he would mind a blow dryer. That entered my head before and I may have to result to that if he gets dirtier than the waterless shampoo can handle. We have a horse vac and he doesn't mind that at all, so I doubt the blow dryer would bother him.

I'm just wondering why he has, in the last year, started getting greasy and his sheath needs cleaning so often. I'll go ask this question in an insulin resistance thread, if I can find one, but could the greasiness and dirty sheath be related to insulin resistance? We've only learned of it this year.

Thanks,

Paula