If you own a black horse, there’s a decent chance you’ve encountered the annoyance of fading. It can take only weeks or even days for a glossy black coat to bleach anywhere from a subtle chocolate brown to a yellow bay color. “Is he black or bay?” others might ask you. “Are you sure he’s black? Have you had him tested?” Many a black horse owner has agonized over this issue, scoured the Internet and heard some swear by paprika and others insist that the solution lies in shampoos. How can one fix a sun-bleached coat? The best remedy is prevention, and some methods are more effective than others for certain horses.
A horse’s coat goes through two normal growth cycles each year: summer coat growth and winter coat growth. These will be your two opportunities for a clean slate where your horse’s coat is concerned. Be wary of starting a product shortly before new coat growth is slated to show; if you start feeding a blackening supplement to your bleached horse late in August and find that in September he has a rich black coat again, you are likely looking at the results of new growth, not a “fix” born of outside influence. The coat that grows in usually around September or October in fall and the coat that’s left after spring shedding is fresh, unbleached hair. If the horse’s diet is balanced, then this is the color that your horse’s genetics have given him and there is not much that can be done to change it. Some horses are a deeper black than others, but the best way to keep your horse as black as possible is to protect this new growth and not allow bleaching to occur in the first place.
Paprika is one of the most common suggestions that crops up time and time again when dealing with a fading black horse. Most people advise others to start feeding it in winter, a couple of tablespoons in your horse’s feed every day, and in spring your horse will be blacker and not fade—or fade less, at least.
There is a grain of truth to this, but not for the reason that most people think: paprika does not have any inherent hair-darkening or hair-protecting properties. Rather, it addresses a copper deficiency. Copper-deficient horses have coats that are dull and brittle in comparison to their non-deficient counterparts, and paprika is a good source of copper. (Note: it does test positive at shows due to its capsaicin content and takes about ten days to leave the horse’s system). If the horse’s new coat growth generally looks rich and glossy, the chances are that he is not deficient. However, paprika can be bought in bulk relatively cheaply, so feeding it from winter through shedding season is a good test. Paprika is the main ingredient in most commercial blackening supplements. If the horse is deficient, paprika will bring out a richer pigment in the coat, but while a healthier coat can better withstand the ravages of the sun, it cannot resist them on its own.
Black oil sunflower seeds are another common suggestion to prevent sun-bleaching, one that I suspect may stem more from their name than their sun-defying properties. Black oil sunflower seeds (commonly abbreviated as BOSS) are high in fat and omega-6 fatty acids, which can add shine to a poor coat if the horse’s diet is lacking, but, like paprika, will do absolutely nothing to protect an already-healthy coat from the sun.
Next up: sunscreen. There are many different sunscreens marketed toward horses. This is an external and thus generally more effective way of keeping a healthy coat from bleaching, though collected anecdotal evidence would suggest that most sunscreens are not as strong or capable as their bottles’ labels would have you believe. Wiping or spraying sunscreen on every few days can help manage sun-bleaching, though it likely will not eliminate it entirely.
UV sheets are another tool that can greatly decrease fading. They do tend to leave “tan lines” on the areas of the horse’s body that they do not cover, and none are 100% effective against the sun. However, for a horse that is pastured 24/7, a UV sheet with a neck cover used in conjunction with a strong wipe-on sunscreen—especially on areas the sheet does not cover—is the best protection against the sun.
There is only one method that is almost completely preventative and effective against bleaching, and that is to keep the horse out of the sun entirely. Many barns opt to do night turnout during the summer. For badly fading horses, night turnout is the only real solution to bleaching. If the horse’s stall is well-lit enough to still trigger his normal shedding cycles, night turnout can be started in the spring, shortly before shedding season, to best preserve the new coat growth. Otherwise, it’s best to start as soon as the horse is finished or almost finished shedding.
Unfortunately, the sun is not the only thing that causes fading: sweat also bleaches hair, and even a horse who is stalled during the day will likely sweat during the summer and can still bleach. A fan in the horse’s stall is advisable along with frequent rinses. Rinsing the horse off after any work is imperative to prevent bleaching.
“But what if my horse is already bleached?” This is a question that gets asked frequently, and the above suggested methods are often proffered—to no avail, as the damage has already been done. “But is there a way to fix hair that is bleached now instead of waiting until the next coat growth cycle?”
The short answer is no. If you are looking at all-natural, dietary or regimental solutions, you are stuck with a bleached coat until the new black coat grows in when the season changes, period. If you truly feel the need to fix a bleached coat immediately, you’ll be taking a trip into dye territory.
Some people insist that blackening shampoos make a difference. Some are said to be regular shampoo with minute traces of black dye, but most actually contain bluing, which leaves a slight blue tint in its wake. A cooler tint does trick the eye into thinking that an object is “blacker” than an object with the same darkness but a redder cast, so with repeated washes, it is theoretically possible to notice a slight difference in the cast of a horse’s coat. Overall, though, bluing is much more effective on fabric than it is on hair, and anecdotally, owners tend to be very disappointed with the lack of results that blackening shampoos provide. Others may be advertised as containing henna or indigo, but the herbs tend to be so diluted within the shampoo that most of their dyeing ability is lost. To dye hair jet black with indigo requires a henna base and a thick paste that must often be left on for hours—to use it at its full strength to correct bleaching a would not be a realistic option for the vast majority of horses.
Other black horse owners have been known to mix Condy’s crystals (potassium permanganate) with water and spray the mixture on to darken a coat semi-permanently, but Condy’s crystals are caustic and can irritate the skin, so this method is not recommended.
To alter the pigment of already-bleached hair, the most reliable option is an animal-safe dye such as those sold by Lucky Pony or Show Pony Colour. They are designed to be low-irritant, but a patch test to make sure your horse is not allergic to the dye is a must. The process is relatively straightforward: coat the entire horse in dye, carefully excluding white markings; wait the allotted time; and rinse the dye out. It’s always a good idea to re-hydrate the coat afterwards with an oil or conditioner. Healthy HairCare is a popular choice in many barns. Also, be sure to check regulations on your given show circuit, if applicable, about altering coat color. Many organizations only have rules about altering a horse’s natural coat color, e.g. covering white markings or taking a horse from bay to black. Restoring a sun-bleached coat to its original state—black—does not violate this category of rule, contrary to popular belief.
Whether you decide to go with dye or change your turnout routine or pick up some sunscreen at your local tack store, there are steps you can take to help minimize the damage the sun does to your horse’s coat and improve his appearance. Keeping a black horse black can be a lot of work, but you may find that the end result makes it all worthwhile!