GRASS STAINS

With April showers come renewed pastures. And with renewed pastures come bright green grass stains, all over a gray or white horse’s coat.

The best way to remove grass stains from a horse’s coat is to give him a long, soapy bath, using a coat-whitening shampoo and a lot of elbow grease. But that’s not always possible. Instead, you can “spot clean” grass stains using this two-step technique.

Step 1: “Pretreat” the stain with a spray-on spot remover. You’ll find any number of these in the grooming aisle of your local tack store or available online. Most call for spraying the stain until it is saturated, then rubbing the area with a clean cloth to remove it. Remember to keep rotating the cloth to a clean area as you work or you’ll be rubbing the stain back onto the horse.

Step 2: With the worst of the stain gone, try “hot toweling” for a deeper clean. This involves dipping a clean towel into very hot water (just cool enough that you can comfortably submerge a gloved hand) and wringing it out until it’s nearly dry but steaming. Then, rub it on the stained area, again regularly rotating it to a clean section. Repeat

as necessary to lift the dirt from the depths of the coat without soaking it.

Once the stain is gone and the area is dried, you can prevent future discolorations with a generous application of silicone spray to problem areas. These types of products coat the hair shafts, keeping dirt and stains from sticking.