Eventing Nation: Keeping a white tail white

Boyd Martin’s right-hand girl Lindsey Taylor shares some tips for conquering this grooming challenge.

From Lindsey:

Keeping a white tail white is one of the most time consuming grooming procedures. Nevertheless, the maintenance is worth the extra work as a gleaming white tail is both eye catching and stunning.

Some of my favorite washing products for white tails include Ivory soap, Quiksilver, Orvus industrial paste, and Tide with Bleach laundry detergent. I will use Ivory soap on a daily basis to remove any dirt and debris from the tail. I have found that Quiksilver, Orvus paste and Tide with Bleach clean on a deeper level and use these products once or twice a week within my daily washing routine. In my experience, each product washes the hair in a slightly different way and for a truly whitle tail, I would prefer to use all three in rotation with each other. After washing the tail, I like to spray Vetrolin Shine heavily throughout the tail to keep dirt and shavings from sticking to the hair.

If I have a horse with a white tail that is headed to a big show, I use extra caution in the two weeks leading up to the event. It is in these weeks that I use a tail bag during turnout and while being ridden to prevent any kind of dirt or footing from accumulating in the hair. You can even go so far as to douse the tail in Quiksilver, braid the tail all the way to the end and put it in a tail bag for 24 hours. The next day, rinse out the Quiksilver, rebraid and replace the tail bag.

The biggest key in keeping a white tail white is to limit the amount of dirt that comes into contact with the hair. Besides that, some good washing products are important, but these products will not work miracles overnight. A white tail is the result of consistent washing and of preventing dirt from accumulating in the hair.