Horse Shampoo

JDOM · Oct 26, 2016

Hi everyone

I am still fairly new to making soap but one of the reasons I looked into making soap was for my son's eczema and one of my horses who is constantly itchy and irritated.

My son has now been using handmade soap successfully!

Regarding shampooing the horse. Ive tried a few horse shampoos and human shampoos and he is still itchy. I think this is just the way he is, may have slight allergies, however I would like to try to make a shampoo to use on my horses. Hopefully he will benefit as well.

Ive only made CP soap so far so looking for some ideas of recipes, hints etc.

Thanks in advance

Susie · Oct 26, 2016

Congratulations on finding something to help your son! I know that that is a problem, as I started making hand made soaps to help my uncontrolled eczema.

Shampoo, however, is not the same as soap. Shampoo is specially formulated to clean hair. It has a lower pH than soap. Some people use soap as shampoo. I, and many others, can not. It damages our hair. So, before you make a whole bunch of soap specifically for the horse, I suggest you test a small place with hand made soap for at least a month.

Dahila · Oct 26, 2016

“Over-use of improperly balanced shampoos can harm your horse. What's put on skin can be absorbed into the system,” says veterinarian and founder of Healing Tree Products, Eric Witherspoon. “A healthy horse's pH is 7.0 to 7.4. Human pH is 6.7 to 6.9.
It is the same as dogs, and I am kind of upset with people who constantly ask for dog's cat's or horse soap. IT CAN NOT BE USED ON THEM
The least expierence i have is a cat, dogs and horses is a love of my life.
It took 4 years or series of antibiotics and other meds to clear up skin infection in my late dog. Put your attention on brushes you clean your horse, they must be clean of dust. Dogs, cats, horses do suffer from allergies. watch what solutions you use when you clean his home. Forget about making shampoo if you do not have good ph meter, When you have I can give you a hand with it

Please do not harm your animals with soap.
The best would be to get a gentle shampoo maybe medicated at vet clinic.
I was buying such shampoo for my dog and it was very effective, helped a lot. No essential oils for animals of course.

nsmar4211 · Oct 26, 2016

Have you tried Listerine? Seriously! It cured my itchy skinned dog, and I've used it on itchy goats too.

It HAS to be the original style-brown, not the colored ones (they have sugar). You can use a generic version, but *brown*....check the ingredient label to make sure of no sugar.

Try a patch test first to make sure there's no adverse reaction and this is just my unvet opinion..... If it was my horse, I would dump a normal sized bottle of brown listerine into a 5 gallon bucket of water and sponge the entire body until it's soaked through to the skin. Then I would leave the mix sit for about 15 minutes (hoof cleaning time maybe?), then I would rinse it off. I would do this every other day for a week and see if there's an improvement. If so, I'd continue it weekly until no more itch! The only caveat I'd have is if it changed the coat color....never had it happen to me but if it's a show horse try small areas!

Listerine is antifungal (among other things). If it was a small area that was itchy, say a leg, I'd say use it straight (my dog I used it 50/50 on the whole body, the goats got it straight on their itchy bellies). It does contain alcohol so dilution would be better if used over the entire body.

Another trick was vinegar 50/50 with water on the dog...I used white vinegar, let sit 10 minutes, rinse well. This I only did weekly if I didn't have enough listerine. Apple cider vinegar would be better but it was too expensive for a whole dog! Makes the white areas nice and white. Just keep it out of the sensitive areas and the eyes.....

The medicated shampoo (I think "No Itch" was one I got from the feed store) worked temporarily but got really expensive. I use baby shampoo now on the dog and no recent skin flareups!

Check with a vet , I'm not a vet, etc.... but hopefully you find something!

JDOM · Oct 27, 2016

Susie said:
Congratulations on finding something to help your son! I know that that is a problem, as I started making hand made soaps to help my uncontrolled eczema.

Shampoo, however, is not the same as soap. Shampoo is specially formulated to clean hair. It has a lower pH than soap. Some people use soap as shampoo. I, and many others, can not. It damages our hair. So, before you make a whole bunch of soap specifically for the horse, I suggest you test a small place with hand made soap for at least a month.

Thanks Susie, you actually gave me a recipe which ive made and my son is using successfully, so thank-you!!