Polish for hooves at a show? Other trends?

[TheUpNorthCowgirl]

I have been showing miniature horses for eight years now. I was taught that a horses with white hooves, got clear polish. Black hooves got black polish. I have been noticing recently that white hooves are getting black polish. I was scolded by a judge one year at a show for blacking white hooves (on a pinto). What do you guys do? What are the other show ring grooming trends where you are? (not just pertaining to hooves either...

[PrinceyPoo]

I'm not too sure about minis
BUT
regular horses, halter, showmanship, anything.
DON'T BLACK A WHITE HOOF.
I'm not sure why, But i was at Area E, and my friend blacked her paint's hoof, (that was noticeably white underneath) and got last ):


Like i said, I don't know how they do it with minis, but I'm pretty sure it's the same.

[Sirita_88]

So in QH it basically goes black for black and clear for white. But never mixing the two. Usually if a horse has 3-4 socks it's clear. But 2 or less socks you choose black or clear.

On my chestnut horse some days I paint them black and sometimes I put a clearcoat. His hooves are more of a brown. I like the clearcoat better, but he always seems to do better (behave) with the black, lol.

From what I heard saddlbreds actually paint on striped hooves. So if it's striped the stripe will be black and the light part will be clear.

[minilover101]

My little pinto has all white hooves so we usually dont put anything on them. But my other 2 minis have black hooves so they get black paint. Hope this helps.

[Sirita_88]

Originally Posted by PrinceyPoo

I'm not too sure about minis
BUT
regular horses, halter, showmanship, anything.
DON'T BLACK A WHITE HOOF.
I'm not sure why, But i was at Area E, and my friend blacked her paint's hoof, (that was noticeably white underneath) and got last ):


Like i said, I don't know how they do it with minis, but I'm pretty sure it's the same.

I have never had it work that way. I am not sure with paints as our paint has striped hooves (clear coat). But with AQHA, it's either ALL clear or ALL black. Seeing 3 jet black hooves and one clear is just wierd. Like I said, if 3 white hooves use clear, if 2 either, 1 or less all black.


Oh, and some cool thing that I came up with myself....

The purple Ultra aresol (the clear hoof polish to put over a painted hoof) of course makes the hoof have that extra shine, but it works great in whispy manes!!!! I didn't have time to put a slinky on a horse the other day and his mane needs to be thinned, so I just gobbed on the ultra stuff and it make his mane lay flat and SHINEY! It was great!! I will have to use it more often! It's like the ultimate hairspray lol.

[SunnyKS]

I learned Paint and quarter horses get black regardless of foot color and Apps get clear. But I haven't shown in a very long time.

[tuffsmom]

We do clear.

[pasopony]

I black everything on the QHs and the minis when I show regardless of what color hoof they have.

[AllUpHill]

This is interesting. I am no help - I just had to open because I couldn't figure out what Polish (like Poland) hooves were .

Ohhhh the blonde moments...

[rm185western]

Originally Posted by AllUpHill

This is interesting. I am no help - I just had to open because I couldn't figure out what Polish (like Poland) hooves were .

Ohhhh the blonde moments...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does things like that

When we were showing in England only ever used hoof oil, only comes in one variety, it's a lot easier

[JoesLove]

when my friend shows her chestnut QH( I've only seen what she does at the local shows btw but she does do qh shows) she blacks all the hooves, he has a white sock on his back but she blacks that and she has done decently. The only reason she wouldnt place good is if the horse messes up..but she usually cleans up pretty good at the shows.

[yellowhorsesinc]

I've always blacked all hooves even on my paint that had 4 white feet. One time I had a gelding my son rode and we did stripes on his striped feet. We got a comment that the judge loved it. But that was a long time ago.

[paintedpastures]

Seems like there is real differences in trends & breeds.I show paints & no set rules.I like working with the clear coat,easier to work with.Cant see your slip ups,lol. I have used both going on what looks best with horse.My one mare had all white legs & hooves the black was better.her daughter has white legs but stripes in her hooves so the clear coat looks ok on her.my one gelding had 3 dark & one stiped hoof I used clear coat. so basiaclly if they have more dark in there hooves I use clear,white I use black.

[kaykay]

This really does vary in miniature horse shows/judges. I go according to what looks best on the particular horse. Jet our pony is pinto but looks best with all black hooves. Tease our pinto filly gets all clear on all hooves but she has no stripes like jet. Solid colored dark horses always get black.

If you do clear you must sand and really clean each hoof first or you will really get counted down for just putting clear on. You will be in big trouble if you dont put anything on as judges take that as being lazy.

[Skylight]

I was told at a show not to bother putting any stuff on at all. If i wanted them shiny just rub on some baby oil right before we go into the ring. Its all dirt any how and seems to be no matter what the dirt sticks to the hooves so you really cant tell if they are painted or oiled anyhow. Generally i dont use any at all and i've always gotten first - third place lots more blues than anything else. Course i've only done halter class once. Mostly i've done obstacle, costume, and color classes.

[kaykay]

skylight are these rated shows?? Here in Area 2 AMHR shows you would really get counted down for that. especially in halter and color class. Tease won the area 2 national show multi color class and that judge checked every horses hooves. I agree sometimes it feels silly as you are going in a dirt arena but our judges in Ohio, Illinois etc would definitely count you down for not polishing and sanding hooves.

I kinda look at it this way. It takes very little time to do the hooves and it may just matter if it comes down between my horse and another horse and all things are equal but my horses hooves are polished then it could make the difference.

We also spray ours when the polish is dry with Ultra Clear to make them shinier and repel dirt.

[Gids_mama]

i know this might be a completely ignorant question but yesss im asking anyway!!!
lol
my paint horses..i dont do any shows with like apha or anything like that ust some local classes on the flat.. they have part black part white hooves..the original ? to this thread was what color polish to use..so shoud i just do clear for my horses hooves on all hooves because they are partly white??
or do i do black cus they are partly black?
if someone would p.m me i would appreciate it..thank you so much

[scrapchick]

Originally Posted by AllUpHill

This is interesting. I am no help - I just had to open because I couldn't figure out what Polish (like Poland) hooves were .

Ohhhh the blonde moments...

tee heeee. cheers to you for that one.

[kaykay]

Gids can you post pictures??

Here is jet showing at the national show. You can see he has 4 white legs. His hooves are striped but heavily black so we do his hooves in black




Tease has 4 white legs but very little black stripe so she is done in clear

[pasopony]

For all halter classes the hooves should be polished (either black or clear, whatever suits your horse breed best).

For riding classes, you really don't need to polish hooves unless you are at a LARGE show.

Don't forget to remove all hoof polishes after the show as they can dry the hooves out.