Dying manes/tails

Is it allowed or is it against the rules with the mini horses?
My stallion could do with a dye...his mane/tail are so sun bleached and gross

Ya can dye them, I used to dye my black buckskin's mane and tail, but NEVER use black, always use very dark brown or it just looks way too fake.

These photos show what he looked like with a dyed mane and tail (it was done the day before and involved a lot of glad wrap!):

I admit I tryed to die it for blacktown but it came out the packet purple so I tried a little bit and where I tried it it did go purple so I just pulled that bit of the mane out! lol.

But it was just one of those cheap 8 wash dyes..than an araby friend of mine said it had to be a really good quality one.
Ok dark brown,will make sure I get it and not black (which I actually thought I had to use)

that horse is stunning!! where is he now?!

Long story, won't bore you with it here, but I sold him and he is now a gelding.

i would clip him off and do a full body dye.
(black)
they look so much better full body dyed.
goodluck with him.

I just went and looked at him then and his winter coat is comming in fast!
Looks like im going to have to go get teh clipper blades sharpened and start already!!! It's still....What the hell.then I will dye him to get his colour back then

Nooo.. I've seen horses full body dyed and they looked shocking!! I personally would never do that.

If you clip him, he might look more buckskin anyway

there is no way on gods earth that
a natural black would look better then a dyed black
(if done right of course!)
its up to you though.

You guys saw my colt at the Blacktown Show. He was clipped and dyed black so its worth it. He come up pretty good. I use black dye all the time. I havent had a drama with it looking fake it looks quite good if done properly.

Sharleen

I have just been reading and I am guessing that you all use human hair dye? How on earth do you dye a horse without getting it everywhere...I can't even do my own hair without getting patches somewhere on my body it isn't meant to be.
I had no idea people did this but it makes sense when you see horses with perfect "colour" in the show ring as I always thought they had to be shown naturally. Gees am I behind or what!

To me, "perfect colour" often looks "too fake to be real".

You dye a horses mane with lots and lots of towels and glad wrap/alfoil! It's also wise to rug the horse while you do it, and bandage his legs, the fewer areas you have exposed to potential slops, the better!

Basically the easiest way I found to do it is to do it the same way as a hairdresser does foils. Do a section at a time, put foil/glad wrap underneath and brush the dye on, then wrap it up, peg it out of the way.

Thanks Kay! I might practice with Goldie, she can earn her keep as my guinea pig. lol
I don't have any that need their manes dyed though but it's nice to know. Now do you think vivid violet would suit her...I am just joking btw!

What about full body...do people use human hair dyes for that too...you would need an awful lot!

I haven't done full body, not a fan of the fake look (don't like human fake tan either), but I know a lot of people I've spoken to use a special horse colouring for that. Show pony brand or something???

Ah yes I have seen that on a black horse and thought it looked a little fake myself...I guess it's all in the application too, less is more so to speak!

I have to admit I not a fake tan fanatic myself...although everytime I wear shorts after spending my life in jeans I think I should be! lol

Hi Guys
I found a good thing to do is to dye the main and tail before you clip.That way if you do have a mishap you can clip it off......................Of course I don't always remember this myself but if you do its great!!!!!!!!

I would never ever dye a horse's body - no way!

But i have dyed manes/tails that were black but sunbleached black (Just For Men hair dye, i use Black not Brown) for big shows only, i don't worry for small Breed Shows.

I generally dye before i body clip, much easier LOL.

I used the Show Pony on our Black Gelding last year, very easy to use. I know a few people that love the stuff.
Personally I found it does look fake & wont be using it again.

I do dye black manes & tail due to sun bleaching. I use a good quality human dye in blue/black. I buy which ever ones on special at the time.

Lai Lai wrote:

I used the Show Pony on our Black Gelding last year...
Personally I found it does look fake & wont be using it again.

Karen, I am so glad you said this because that's what I thought too but I thought maybe I was out of touch with the show scene and it was the "in thing" so I didn't have the heart to say anything...

from the moment I did it I thought oh bugga, & it takes a bit to get it out.
I recently saw a Chestnut done with show pony and that looks even worse, he looked almost like plastic.

Yeah I think the show pony stuff is great for touching up legs etc but when the whole body is done it just looks way too fake.

There use to be a pony that was dyed all the time. He was absolutely stunning. He was then sold and his new owners stopped dying him and he was a totally different colour horse.

I have never dyed one of my own and probably never will.

Professionals use the dye,
to make their horses look the best they can.
Not worth showing the horses if you
are going to present them terribly.
I would never ever even take my horse
out the drive way to a show in natural colour
if their blacks.
Chestnuts also look stunning if you mix the
colour right.
But you have to be a PROFESSIONAL to get
the look that will win.

I just wonder what the horses would think of it all.
Cheers