Washing your mini horse should be a part of your grooming routine. You don’t have to do do it too often depending on where you live of course. Getting a mini to relax while washing can be a task in itself.
So how do you wash a mini horse?
You should be washing your mini at least once every season and more often if you work them. A great way to get a mini started with bathing is just using a sponge and bucket of room temp water. It will take longer but they get used to it then jump up to using the hose in a wash stall. Using warmer water is a great trick so they aren’t shocked and spooky from the colder water right away. Once you get them desensitized to water it will be much easier.
That is the biggest issue with mini’s and regular sized horses is just getting them used to water so take your time and once they get over it will be easy sailing. Really all you need is a bucket, sponge and hose along with some horse shampoo to get your mini bathed. A wash stall or something safe to tie them too is great as well but you can always just have someone to hold them.
There are some bathing tools you can get to make things a bit easier and using warmer water during cooler days can help your mini enjoy there baths. Below we go over mini horse owners opinions on how to wash their mini and get them acclimated to the water.
Below are some tools you can use to make things easier as well.
Tools For Bathing Your Mini
- Standard Bucket
- Micro Fiber Bristle Sponge Sponge
- Grooming Mit
- Shedding Blade
- Metal/Rubber Curry Comb
- Sweat Scraper
- Thermo Rubber Hose
- Horse Shampoo
The frequency in which you wash your horse is up for debate for most horse owners. We don’t use horse shampoo that much and wouldn’t do that more then maybe once a week at most. We really mainly make sure to wash when spring comes to help get rid of winter coat then seasonal from there. After we work our horses we give them just a water bath to get that sweat off and cool down they have grown to love it.
We love our minis, but don’t take our word for it. We have gone out and gathered information from real mini owners on the matter and their experience with how they wash their miniature horses.
We curated content from several forums and websites to bring all the information to one spot for you to review. Other then correcting the grammar and spelling all answers have remained the same.
Bathing A Mini
Real Horse Owner Opinions
1. ShortHorseMom “Sensitive Minis Can Be Tough” – For my sensitive horses during training.. I bucket wash with warm soapy water and a sponge and then I rinse well using sponges too
and lots of clean warm water buckets lined up and I finish with a scrape with a shedding blade. Takes much longer getting them clean using sponges and buckets of warm water, but well worth it
until they trust you. It took years for me to wash using a hose on my one boy. He thought “flames” were shooting out of the hose.
Not sure how you are washing but many horses cannot stand a hose squirting and they really enjoy warmed water bathing. I fill a bunch of buckets and in summer I let them stand in the sun for
awhile… or I use a water heater and just warm them all up one by one. Takes longer but well worth the effort to watch my boy enjoy his bath when I make it more like petting to be washed.
I don’t have warm water hose option in my stable, my hose comes directly from the well and it is cold.
2. Marsha Cassada “Take Your Time” – It might help to wet, put the shampoo on with a brush or rubber scrubber, then walk away for a few minutes. Then come back to rinse. Start with the
legs and work upI saw a youtube about rinsing with white vinegar using a hose-end sprayer. The vinegar raises the ph of the skin to inhibit insects/fungus, rinses the soap out better, and I think it
feels good on the skin. I fill the sprayer with vinegar then rinse. You might have lots of horse experience, but I always like to suggest that handlers be careful with silly horses, as the pressure of the
halter on the poll and nose can cause damage when the horse is acting up. Good time of year to have to do this before the weather gets too cold.
Also, I use a vacuum on mine quite often. You might see how yours take to that.
3. RiverRose28 “Work Your Way Up To The Water” – I first like to make sure that the horse is used to being tied, and I use a lead rope they can’t break. I also like to wear boots the first
time in case I get stepped on. Warm water is a must, as I can’t stand a cold shower. I’m lucky and have a hot water hook up, but rarely use it as I prefer to hook up a couple hundred feet of hose
and turn the water on, the sun will heat the water in the hose. I use an end that has different amounts of water coming out and the first one I use is mist or shower and lightly spray the legs then
move up to the chest, sometimes if the youngster is acting scared I will talk to them or stop squirting and give scratches. Sometimes for the first bath it is just a partial one like wet the legs and
chest and lower neck and then scrub witch they love and rinse. Then the next day try to give a full bath. Some young horses take to it better then others, you need to be more determined then them.
Related Questions
What Can I use To Wash My Mini Horse?
Washing your mini horse you can use whatever you and horse are comfortable with. All you really need is a bucket, horse shampoo and sponge along with a hose.
Other items you can use are:
- Sweat Scraper
- Rubber Curry
- Horse Shampoo
- Detangler
- Towel
How Often Do Mini Horses Need To Be Bathed?
You shouldn’t use horse shampoo more then once a week, but bathing after lunging or after they sweat can be done daily. Your mini horse will come to love being bathed after they get used to it. Nothing like getting them a nice workout then finishing it off with a cooler bath in the hot weather.
Is it Okay To Wash A Mini Horse With Cold Water?
Yes it is fine to wash your mini horse with cold water. In colder months you can get a thermal rubber horse to warm it up a bit. In the hot summer months they will grow to love the colder water.
Can You Wash A Mini Horse With Dish Soap?
No you should not use dish soap on your horse as it can remove
Final Thoughts
Washing a mini can be tough at first so you have options either start out slowly with a bucket, sponge and some warm water. Or you can try to get it over with quickly as far as the desensitization out the way.
Using warmer water will have a less of a shock. Start at the legs and work your way up their body to ease the temperature changing affects of the water on the skin.
