Makeover with Brogan and Samantha

At a show earlier this year, Brogan - a 13.2hh Traditional Cob - was sadly subjected to a widely publicised attack where his forelock was hacked off. We were delighted to be able to help at the time and we supplied a false tail to Brogan’s owner, Samantha Perkins, so this could be fitted to restore Brogan’s long flowing locks. We made a follow up visit to Samantha and Brogan in early September to give Brogan a full makeover and provide some handy hints and tips for Samantha so she could incorporate them in to her grooming regime for the 2015 season, as she plans to enter some HOYS qualifiers.

Susie Shuttleworth from Traditional Show Cobs very kindly offered to come along and assist with the makeover. Susie is very well-known within the Traditionals fraternity with horses such as Del Boy V and In Your Dreams, amongst others.

Susie first carried out an assessment of the damage to the forelock and advised to keep applying Mane and Tail Builder 2 to 3 times a week to help promote hair growth. We could already see that there had been some growth since the forelock was cut off and Samantha is going to provide some pictures on a monthly basis so we can publish the growth process.

Brogan was quite clean on the body as he had been shampooed in the days leading up to the makeover, so Susie just sponged off a couple of stable stains and then started to address the feathers. Brogan has got some feather but ideally could do with more. 

Susie advised that Samantha should apply Mane and Tail Builder to the feathers and this will help to promote growth as ideally a Traditional should have feather covering the hooves. She advised that with regular use, Samantha could easily expect a good few inches of additional feather over coming months.

Susie always pays special attention to feathers as this is so important for a Traditional Cob. She advised that immediately after returning home from a show, her team always apply pig oil to the feathers, so one of the first things they subsequently need to do when starting their grooming prep for a show day is to break down the oil and remove it. 

Firstly, Susie plaited the tail in to a loose plait so that she could work easily when around the back legs. She then hosed the legs down until they were really wet and then used Fairy Liquid on the hair as this is an effective de-greaser

Once the oil had been broken down and rinsed, Susie used Blue Shampoo to really whiten and brighten the feathers and she always starts with this as her first job so that she can lather up the legs and leave the lather on the feather whilst she is going about her other preparation.

By leaving Blue Shampoo on the legs, this gives the shampoo a good few minutes to really sink in to the feather and for the optical brighteners contained in the shampoo to work their magic. Both Susie and Samantha lathered up the legs and really worked it in to the hair before leaving it on to sink in.

Susie then got the clippers so she could tidy up Brogan’s appearance. She inverted the clippers and tidied up his cheeks and jawline as well as ‘removing his pants’ by trimming the longer hairs down his back legs. 

She then addressed his ears which were untrimmed and tidied these by clipping them out, tidied up the edges and over the top and around the ears. This gave a much ‘sharper’ and cleaner finish to the ears and really accentuated Brogan’s ears once they were pricked.

 Susie spot-checked the white parts of Brogan’s coat and applied Stain Remover Spray to any marks, then allowed it to sink in for a couple of minutes before sponging the dirty marks away.

She then applied HeritageCollection Coat Shine all over the coat – leaving the saddle area clear – and used a chenille mitt to smooth the coat in the direction of growth – this lays the coat and adds a lovely shine.

Returning to the feathers, Samantha and Susie rinsed off the legs and Susie applied Moisturise and Condition. 

Susie advised that she sprays it on and with a mane brush she works the spray in to the hair. She starts at the level of the coronet band and works her way up the legs to the top of the feather. This will soften and moisturise the hair as well as give additional volume when dry. Brogan also has a little bit of dermatitis on the back of his front legs and Susie advised that with regular applications of Moisturise and Condition, this dermatitis would start to break down and will be worked out.

Samantha then brought out her stock of wood flour. Susie advised that the wood flour she uses at home is very fine and is really effective at drying the legs as well as increasing the appearance of volume of hair. The wood flour was poured in to a tub and Brogan’s leg was placed in to the centre of the tub and then Susie worked her magic to dry the legs and enhance the volume of the hair. This she did, once again by starting at the coronet band,  and really rubbed the wood flour in to the feather. Immediately we could see the effects of the flour on the feather as this was dry within what seemed like seconds but the volume of the feather increased dramatically – giving a much fuller and wispy appearance. All four legs were done in this way and then the tub was removed.

The feather had a slightly yellow tinge from the wood flour, but Susie asked Paul – Samantha’s partner – to walk Brogan up the concrete surface of the stable block and the wood flour dropped out of the hair but the appearance of volume remained.

To remove the yellow tinge from the application of wood flour, Susie applied Leg and Body Whitener in powder form using a small medium stiffness brush. She dipped the brush in to the powder then applied it to the feather area in flicking motion so the Leg and Body Whitener was applied but didn’t create clumps to the all important feather.

The next job was to improve the appearance of the mane and forelock area. Obviously, Brogan is currently really lacking forelock hair so this was the most important part of the makeover. Susie first applied Moisturise and Condition to the mane – Brogan has a great length and volume of mane – as this really preserves and enhances both the condition and appearance of mane and tail hair.

Susie plaited the existing forelock and banded it, which she felt would be beneficial in stopping the wispy forelock from creeping out from underneath the false tail when fitted.

Brogan has – luckily – a good 10 – 12 centimetres of black mane at the top, before it changes to white. This was to our advantage as Susie created a plait  at the far end of the black mane section and threaded one of the strands of the plait through the fabric loop at the top of the false tail. She then continued to plait down and turned the plait in to a French braid which she thought would hold the tail more securely in place.

 Once this braid was banded and sewn in  – Susie also ran a couple of stitches

through the actual plait and the loop of the false tail to keep it more securely in place – the false tail was positioned over the poll and down over the face. Brogan was immediately transformed! Susie also took a few strands from the false tail and plaited it in to the existing forelock – once again to keep it more secure and in place.

 

Brogan’s make over was completed by grooming out his tail and applying Sparkle to both mane and tail as well as Heritage Collection High Shine Serum – one of Susie’s favourite products, which she smoothed down the top of the tail and also used to smooth over and lay any hairs that were sticking up out of Brogan’s mane.

Finishing touches from Susie came in the form of High Shine Serum around the eyes, nose and muzzle, then Brogan was ready to be tacked up for his ‘after’ pictures.

We hope you agree that Susie did a fabulous job and Brogan was back to his beautiful self!

Susie, Brogan and Samantha.

Special thanks to Susie Shuttleworth from Traditional Show Cobs who gave up her time to come along and carry out the makeover. 

Products used in this makeover include:

For product and stockist information, visit www.supremeproducts.co.uk 

To learn more about Susie and her team, visit www.traditionalshowcobs.co.uk  


To see more about Brogan's progress - visit Samantha and Brogan's FB page