White horses don’t need separate horse shampoos. They would do just fine with a regular good horse shampoo and conditioner. However, when it comes to maintaining a glistening white coat on a horse, nothing works better than a horse whitening shampoo. What’s more, coat brightening shampoos aren’t just for white horses but for all parts of a horse that are light-colored.
Choosing the best whitening shampoo for horses means neutralizing weird coat smells and brightening the white coat zone. Before we share our take on the best whitening shampoos, let’s have a quick look at the top picks by professional groomers.
Quick Picks
A good whitening shampoo for horses can ideally be used on golden, cream, and palomino coats as well. So if that sounds like your horse, the products listed below will be a game-changer for their grooming routine.
Best Overall: Exhibitor Laboratories Whitening Intensifier and Shampoo for Horses
The Exhibitor’s horse whitening shampoo is pricier than the products we have tested. But that is mainly because it provides you with a two-part process with a whitening intensifier and a shampoo. It does not dry the coat out for a heavy product, but if you are not careful with the instructions given, it can certainly leave a mark.
Best Budget Option: UltraCruz Equine Bright White Horse Shampoo
UltraCruz is packed with natural oils making it an organic option with vitamins, proteins, and moisturizers. It will also retain the coat’s natural protein-moisture balance to give it a healthy glow. Despite its fragrant lather, it does not leave any residue behind and provides an enriching deep clean.
5 Best Horse Whitening Shampoo
Unlike most whitening horse shampoos, the products listed below do not stain or dry out a horse’s coat. In the following reviews, we have compiled each product’s impressive benefits and shortcomings for you to compare against and make an informed buying decision.
1. Exhibitor Laboratories Whitening Intensifier and Shampoo
Packed in this two-in-one bottle is a short silver formula that changes how light reflects on a horse’s hair strands. It has a low-subsiding mixture that makes it easy for you to rinse off the shampoo within minutes after a bath. If your horse has a stain of yellow, its purple-colored intensifier lightens the yellow to a perfect white finish.
Generally, you would expect a heavy shampoo like Exhibitor’s to dry out the coat. For that reason, it has an aloe-based mix that moisturizes the coat while cleaning it thoroughly. Now it would be a dream come true without a catch or a con, and for this whitening intensifier and shampoo, it certainly isn’t any lighter on the pocket.
2. Fiebing’s Blue Frost Whitening Shampoo
There are plenty of whitening horse shampoos, but given a choice, we would pick Fiebing’s Blue Frost in our five best picks each time. It is mainly a horse owner’s go-to option if you need straighter, more shiny hair. Fiebing’s has gained a reputation for successfully damaging free radicals, and for a good reason.
It can clean the horse coat while moisturizing it with the much-needed vitamins. Whether your horse is white, golden, or palomino – it can brighten the coat of any light-colored horse. If done correctly, it will leave your horse whiter than ever. The best thing about this whitening shampoo is that is environment-friendly. The light baby-powder scent lasts in between the washes.
3. Espana Silk Specially Formulated Silk Pro Whitening and Brightening Shampoo
This shampoo is one of our top picks because of its resilience to keep your horse’s skin healthy. It provides a soft, velvety wash that will not irritate their skin if your horse is allergic to chemicals, has sensitive skin, or has some brazen rashes. It is an ideal mane and tail shampoo to use if your horse has a chronic itch.
Espana’s water-based, all-natural formula is hypoallergenic and does not contain alcohol, potassium, petroleum, or any of the common skin irritants. While its optimal PH level balance reduces static, it still has a long way to go in offering a topical treatment for fleas.
4. UltraCruz Equine Bright White Horse Shampoo
UltraCruz is luckily the only horse whitening shampoo that you can confidently use on all coat colors. It does not contain any bleach, making it a perfect choice for horse owners looking to brighten a few white markings. Despite being a good choice for many coat colors, it is still an ideal horse shampoo if you want to remove hard urine, grass, or fume stains.
Its hydrolyzed and PH-balanced silk formula provides the hair with the proteins and collagen they need to strengthen the shaft for healthier hair. For this reason, UltraCruz is one of the best shampoos you have if your horse is old and shedding hair. It works to bring about a voluminous look that will give your horse a healthy look.
5. Farnam Vetrolin White N’ Brite Shampoo
Horse dandruff can be the breeding ground for lice, mites, parasitic diseases, or a rough, dry coat. The best shampoo for horses with a flaky white coat is a color brightening formula that brightens the coat while conditioning it with important moistures. Its coconut oil derivatives are a sure-shot moisturizing agent that will provide you with a deep clean.
Like UltraCruz, it can also brighten the light-colored hair on a dark horse, making it a usable option for all coat colors. If I were you, I wouldn’t look past the fact that you can buy a box of Farnam primarily when it can be used on all your horses in the stable. Unluckily, Farnam Vetrolin, for reasons unknown, is hard to come by in physical stores. And if you are looking for a shampoo that makes a lot of foam, this isn’t the right choice.
How to Choose the Best Horse Whitening Shampoo
Grooming a creature as majestic as the horse is hard work. Add onto it the mud, grass, or dirt they roll around in all day makes it even harder. As all horses deserve a good scrubbing in a while, there are a few features you need to look out for. when choosing a whitening shampoo. While all these features may not be included in some of the shampoos you like, professional groomers still consider them a standard necessity.
Scent
The scent of a horse shampoo may not be your first choice, but it is a definite stand-out feature if you are grooming them for a local horse show. Besides, a pleasing citrus scent works to deodorize their body odor. With a whitening horse shampoo, the smell can go either way. They will either have a good scent, a terrible perfume, or no fragrance at all.
Some horse owners adore the baby-powder scent that some of our horse shampoos listed above have. And it is a plus if you are investing in a high-end product.
Lather
Working up a thick foamy lather is the tell-tale sign of a deep cleaning shampoo. On the other hand, if you are looking for a horse shampoo that is easier to rinse, you might need an aloe-based or a water-based formula that isn’t hard to wash.
Now that is particularly crucial if you either live in a cold area, your horse hates having a bath, or both! There are also select environment-friendly chemicals that make sure you have the rich lathering experience you want. On the contrary, your horse can, over time, develop an allergic reaction to lathering shampoos.
Stains
If you have a light-colored horse or a horse with light-colored markings, you are prone to see tough irremovable stains on their coat. Such stubborn stains usually require a concentrated effort or the appliance of a spot-removing tonic. In any case, both of these formulas are known to kill the moisture in a horse’s coat.
While the whitening horse shampoos listed in our article are just the reverse. They come with a moisturizing agent that counters the drying properties of the whitening shampoo, which gives you the light-colored glow that you prefer.
Moisturizers
A lack of moisture in a horse’s coat, as discussed above, can give it a sorry dry look. Now, what’s an exquisite creature like a horse without its following silky mane? For this reason, choosing a whitening shampoo that comes with a moisturizing agent is a definite must.
The conditioning element in the shampoo is usually a water-based mix with aloe vera or coconut oil. A shampoo that miraculously lathers less is the brightening solution you want to make your horse’s coat shine brighter.
Skin Treatment
Different triggering elements in the environment can cause skin infections for your horse. To avoid developing them, it is ideally best to give them a regular bath. Also, coats that have not been rinsed well can leave the added product on a horse’s skin, gradually creating an allergic skin reaction.
To avoid the growth of bacteria and fungi on the skin, you can opt for medicated shampoos that have several antibacterial properties. Some whitening horse shampoos are specifically developed to boost skin health. They are an excellent option to go for, especially if they have nourishing properties such as needed vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin B and copper.
FAQ Related to Whitening Shampoos for Horses
We know you are brimming with different questions related to whitening shampoos. To quench your curiosity, we have answered the most asked questions about horse whitening shampoos down below.
A white horse will need a brightening shampoo that does not contain any harsh chemicals or bleach. As white horses are prone to having irremovable stains on their coat, it is best to go for intensifying and brightening shampoo treatments that come along with moisturizing properties.
No, giving a daily bath to a horse can be deteriorating for their health. While every horse is unique and has different needs, on average, it is best to clean them every other month. Some horse owners like to clean their horses when necessary, and you can go by a few things to decide the time for your horse’s bath.
A water-based or aloe-based shampoo provides one of the best mixes to bathe your blonde-haired horse. If a shampoo contains moisturizing agents that give your horse’s skin the nutrition it needs to retain the coat moisture, then it is a definite must-have.
Although you can get many cheap shampoo options that contain bleach to lighten the stain on your blonde horse, put in a few more bucks, and you can give your horse a non-irritating, hypoallergenic shampoo that will remove any hard stains.
You can use a brightening or a whitening horse shampoo with a balanced PH level to lighten the dark streaks on your horse. While some horse owners believe scrubbing hard is the key, it usually irritates a horse’s skin. You can use a deep clean whitening shampoo from our list for a whiter coat and keep grooming equipment like different brushes to keep the coat clean.
Despite your horse’s coat color, you can use whitening shampoos like Farnam and UltraCruz to wash out the yellow stains in its coat. Although they are primarily advertised as whitening shampoos, they also work great for horses with a dark coat and a few white markings.
Conclusion
The horse whitening shampoos listed in this article are some of the best products you will find in the market so far. Having said that, none of them is above or beyond the magic of a textured mitt or a currycomb. Hence, investing in good grooming tools can save you from trying your patience and that of your horse. When done well, the sweat equity invested in a good bathing time is all parts fulfilling in the evident gleam of your horse’s coat.
