Smart Grooming Review - Super Shine

Happy bank holiday Monday everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend with your horses.

I certainly have and I got to use some new products, so I was in my element.

A couple of weeks ago I did a review on Smart Groomings Leg and Body Whitener so I had a play around with that again on our Shetland Millie as unlike our ex racehorse Beanie, she has white on her body and she has feathers so I wanted to see how it fared on those. As well as using Smart Groomings Super Shine on manes and tails! 

I got Millie in from the field and, to begin with, her little jockey (My niece) Francesca gave her a brush over to remove dried on mud and start from a relatively clean pony.

First I thought i'd try the new Super Shine I'd been sent earlier in the week. Millie has a lovely long soft mane but does enjoy rubbing it into the mud, like all Shetlands, so I shampooed it and brushed the tangles out.

I rubbed it dry with a clean dry towel and left the rest to dry naturally in the wind. It was still slightly damp here so to act as a anti tangling agent, I put a pea sized amount onto the palm of my hands, rubbing it over both palms equally and then ran my hands and fingers through her mane to cover as much as I could with the product.

As you can see it dries beautifully, tangle free and somewhat fluffy. It doesn't stick and clump together like some finishing oils, lovely result and I was really pleased.
I used Super Shine on Millie's mane as she is an M&M that shouldn't be plaited for the ring. Do not use this product on a horse or pony you have to plait up as it makes it extremely silky, therefore your plaits wouldn't stay in! And that is not what you want when you're trying to get your neatest tight plaits!

I also put a small amount spread evenly on a clean dry cloth and rubbed it over Millie's body. She was being turned out that evening so if she did roll in the mud, it wouldn't stick to her! And low and behold, it didn't and brushed off instantly without leaving any dusty brown marks on her.
Great product and works for ages.Even today after being out all day she's still dirt free as the formula of the products keeps working days afterwards expelling dust and dirt.

I also wanted to try it on Millie's tail. Unfortunately with mares, she has got a urine stained tail. The disadvantage with a Mountain & Moorland pony is you have the leave them quite Au natural which means we can't cut her tail too short. The downside to this is that a long tail does get muddier and more likely to be wee'd on.

First I just washed her tail with normal shampoo and then a bit of conditioner.

It did come out quite white but still unfortunately horse wee does stain tails, especially those that are white or have white in them, as you can see it does still have a yellow tinge to it, so I thought i'd see how the whitener did in her tail.

While Millie's tail was still wet slightly I dampened a sponge and dipped it into the whitener and spread it through the strands of white tail only. I also found dabbing the tips of my fingers into the whitener and spreading it through the white tail hair helped also.

Look how lovely it turned out! This is after it had dried. To seal in the whitener and also make it soft and smooth I put a pea sized amount of Super Shine into my hands, rubbed it in so it was evenly coating my hands and ran them through the tail. Millie's tail didn't tangle up at all and keep a clean fluffy appearance!

When Smart Grooming put my review on their Facebook I noticed quite a lot of people asking how the whitener works on feathers, so while I had my shampoo's out I hosed Millie's 4 white socks and gave them a clean with some whitening shampoo and tried the whitener on her feathers. Same as I did with B's short hair socks, I damped a sponge and dabbed it sparingly into the powder to just coat the sponge and brushed it over the fur, and in circular motions worked the powder into Millie's longer fur. Here it is, slightly wet but with the whitener on -

Here she is - All clean, soft and shiny! (Note - she naturally stands on a mounting block, she is in no way made to do that. It's self taught and she came to us doing it. Maybe she likes to see a bit higher than her natural 10 hands 2 inches?)

The final verdict, lovely products that really work. They have good, clear instructions how to use them that make them easy to use and they work amazingly well! They're also multi use products, so you can buy one products that has more than one purpose. Better than buying 1 product for every little thing, it saves a fortune!

The whitener isn't just for legs, it can be used on short or long hair, use on the body and even a tail! I'd highly recommend it for all horses, especially greys and piebald/skewbalds!

If you use the whitener on a tail, make sure to finish it with a silicone based shine/softening product to make it soft and clump free as the powder does make it quite matte in appearance.

The Super Shine can be used after bathing to act as a finisher. Ladies, we use oils on our hair after washing to help it dry shiny and tangle free, well that's what Super Shine does for horses! 

You can also add it to a cloth to rub over the horse or ponies body to expel dust and dirt after bathing, as well as just before you go into the ring to give that final finishing shine!

We had a lovely day yesterday and won, not once but twice! Lead Rein Pony and Ridden Mountain and Moorland. Not bad for Francesca's first show and my first attempt at lead rein showing! Thank you so much to Smart Grooming for your wonderful products. There are a lot of big name products out there but Smart Grooming will be the ones we use from now on!

(See Millie's tail soft, white and flowing in the wind.. because she's worth it!)

Smart Grooming Product Review - Leg and Body Whitening Powder

A couple of weeks ago the lovely people over at Smart Grooming and Clippersharp sent me some things to try out. Obviously I've been dying to try them but until today we've been jumping in the mud, but I finally got to try them yesterday. 

The first thing I tried was this pot of Leg and Body Whitening Powder. B has 3 white socks that we wash before competitions, and usually use chalk to finish them off before going into the show ring.

I must admit that I have used other leg whiteners before but wasn't all that impressed. I've used spray on whiteners but that was just very sticky and clumped all the hair together which didn't look natural. We usually use chalk which works well but covers you, the horse and everything else in a thin layer of dust! Not what you want with a nice clean horse now covered in fine chalk dust. So with an open mind I was keen to try this powder out. 

Firstly I off washed B's legs with whitening shampoo to remove the ingrained dirt and mud (B does love to wade in muddy puddles) and start with a 'blank canvas' as it were. His nice clean legs below -

I then dampened a sponge as suggested and lightly dipped one end into the powder. I wasn't quite sure how much to use so I just covered about a quarter of the sponge with a thin layer of powder. I then began gently rubbing it over B's white legs. He has quite a straight transition into his chestnut fur into his white socks so I used a square sponge so that I could really make sure I accurately covered only the white sock and didn't get any of the powder onto the rest of his legs. Its good to use the corners of the sponge to get into corners and little edges accurately without smudging.

The powder goes a long way so use sparingly to avoid caking the fur. It will stick together a little, but don't worry that will go once it's dry.

B's legs after applying the powder to slightly dam legs.

I then left it to dry out slightly, then put clean travel boots over the top to avoid getting any dirt, poo or anything else on his now immaculate white socks. This saved time at the show as this job was already done!

Once at the show and B was unloaded and his boots taken off, his legs had completely dried. I brushed the excess powder off, which will also de-clump the hair making it look nice and natural, and slightly fluffy.

Ta Dah! Look how white they are! I was honestly really shocked with how good the results are.

Unlike chalk which goes EVERYWHERE, this whitening powder doesn't at all. Because you dampen the sponge slightly and apply it, it creates a very light paste which easily and thinly spreads over the horses coat.

Well I am absolutely converted and will loath to use chalk ever again. This pot will last for ages as you only have to use a small amount, a little goes a long way. It also slightly coats the skin under the coat lightly making the area looks super white! 

This product does exactly what it says on the tin (well tub, but you know what I mean) and the instructions are spot on. It's easy to accurately apply so you can get it exactly where you need to without making the dark fur stained with white. It makes the coat 'dazzling' white, and doesn't become cakey and sticky.

It also won't break the bank, at only £11.95 for a 1KG tub!  (Now at a special price of £9.95 on 22/4/15) Compared to other high end showing products this is really reasonable! 

If you have a horse who is either a white grey, has white socks or any other white patches you want to whiten for competitions then stop what you're doing and buy some! Link above

I have another Smart Grooming product to review when we have B's full summer coat we watch out for that! 

Really pleased with yesterdays result and qualified for Thoroughbred and Retired Racehorse Championship at Aintree Racecourse. Thanks for the help on making B look gorgeous Smart Grooming 

Sophie x