Smart Grooming Review - Perfect Plaits (Including how to video by Show Producer, Robert Walker)

As followers of this blog will know, for the last few weeks i've been working with Smart Grooming to try out and thus review their show prep products, and am now a Brand Ambassador, which I am incredibly excited about. They've been really successful (even featuring in Horse & Hound) so I've been very kindly given a few more products to try out, as I am totally sold on just how good these products work! 

Manes - 

We had Suffolk County Show last week so up at 4am to start prep and plaiting! Luckily the sun is up that early in the morning.
I'd washed Beanie's body, tail and mane the day before to get rid of flakey dry dandruff in the mane and also remove dust, dry and oil.
Now by shampooing it meant the mane was now lovely, shiny and clean but now also slippery. That's where Perfect Plaits comes into play. Previously we've used VO5 hair wax for this, which is great at keeping the hair together but by using that, it makes the hair have a matte appearance and very sticky, rather than shiny.

First, we sprayed the Perfect Plaits all over the mane; so it was well covered and all wisps of hair were combed down, then split the mane hair into sections which were the length of the comb, which is about 3 inches long.

Perfect plaits make the hair slightly oily and tacky which keeps all the fine hairs stuck into the main plait, so no fly away bits!

Then, making sure the base of the plait was high enough, we plaited the hair fairly tightly all the way to the bottom and put a band round it (Like the end of the neck plaits below)

 We did this until all of the sections were plated in length.

Once that was finished, we went back up to the first plait, nearest the pole, and threaded the very end of the plait. Then took the needle under and thread it through the base of the plait and rolled the end under so it was now at the base of the plait length (to make a loop) 

Then folding the length of the plait in half again until it creates a ball. 

With the needle and thread we sewed the plate in securely making sure it was not too tight as that it will damage the hair follicle; which would cause the hair to fall out.
We did this for the entirety of neck until all of the mane was rolled up plaited.
(Note - It's recommended to sow in plaits as with bands it's harder to get the desired round ball shape that you want)

To finish off we then sprayed all of the plaits again with Perfect Plaits to help seal in any escaped wispy hairs and seal the overall plait. 
Here is the finished product -

I also watched this very helpful video from Horse and Country TV a couple of weeks ago, which is with show producer Robert Walker on plaiting your horse to add top line, which is really helpful in explaining why you do this, why you thread in plaits and how it looks better. 
Hope it helps -

 
I think he explained it very well, don't you?

We vary B's work a lot so he doesn't get bored. We lunge him regularly in a pessoa to build top line and he is fed on Equi-Jewel to keep him nice and covered (but not fat!) but unlike some racehorses who were cut later (thus meaning they have a more cresty neck from being entire for longer) we do do as Robert suggests and plait to add top line. 
Unfortunately there is only so much neck work you can do (without having your horse stood in his stable in draw reins. Yes some show riders do this) and a horse will get to it's maximum neck muscle mass, so using the different plaiting techniques to your advantage is perfectly fine. For example if you had a pony with a spring grass cresty neck then people will plait down flat, with smaller plaits and more of them, to not accentuate that crest. All show riders we know plait this way using the illusion effects to give a better overall picture.

Tails - 

We shave Beanies tail for showing thus meaning we're unable to plait it, so I was very kindly allowed to try out Perfect Plaits on various friends Polo Ponies a couple of weekends ago for a polo tournament!

It was a little bit of an experiment to see how well it would work. Tails were first brushed through with no product on (to make sure multiple products we're mixed together), then once tangles were removed we sprayed through the hair from about 10cm away so to get even coverage.

Left to work in slightly for a minute or so before I commenced plaiting. The product is a little oily but makes the hair slightly tacky to stick in stray hairs, as mentioned above.

After slowly but surely adding a little extra hair into the plait each time, until finally all the tail was fully plaited all the way to the end, ready to be taped up.

Perfect Plaits leaves the tail seriously shiny and looking very impressive. Here it is on a black tail of polo pony Thunder.  Very shiny, neat and very few hairs escaping.

We came back the next day to plait the ponies tails up for day two of the tournament and Perfect Plaits was still in the tail, they were very shiny still and very easy to plait back up.

This product works really well - although be warned it does go a long way so make sure to not use too much (all of Smart Groomings products only need a little) as it will make the hair too slippery. Also something I found is make sure to fully press the lever on the bottle down quickly to make a mist, as if pressed too slow it comes out in a stream and isn't evenly covering the hair, leaving an oily patch, which you don't want) 

Now that's a beautiful tail on Boo!  

I hope you find it helpful too in keeping your horse or ponies plaits sleek, shiny and none fly away!
A little goes a long way, remember that! 

Sophie x

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!)