Waterless shampoo is probably one of the greatest beauty inventions for humans. I know I certainly love being able to wash my hair without actually getting it wet. But did you know that waterless shampoo exists for horses also? If you haven’t heard by now, Ecolicious Equestrian has a waterless shampoo for our equine friends that love to get dirty. It’s called Squeaky Green & Clean Waterless Deep Cleaning Shampoo. When I found out about Ecolicious Equestrian and the waterless shampoo, I had to try it. It’s been quite cold in New Jersey, so none of our horses have been getting baths (no luxurious heated wash stalls here). It finally got near 40 degrees today, so I was determined to use it.

Now, my horses don’t usually get particularly dirty during the winter because they are usually blanketed, but my pony has a little quirk that gives him what I like to call poopy butt (a very scientific term).

What is ‘poopy butt’?

Poopy butt, as it is known here at The Legal Equestrian, is a condition where your horse or pony’s butt always has poop on it. You brush it. You wash it. You do everything you can to keep his butt from being poopy, but it always comes back. It also has an unpleasant smell.

How does poopy butt happen?

Poopy butt can happen for a variety of reasons. Some horses or ponies have wet manure while others like to smoosh their butt up against the stall wall before they go to the bathroom. Then, they make sure that as they are going to the bathroom, they get it all over the wall (and their butt), while getting little to none in any of the walking space in their stall. While my barn manager thinks that my pony is extremely neat and loves mucking his stall where all his manure piles are one on top of the other against the wall, he also doesn’t have to groom him on a regular basis. My pony also does have a wet manure problem, which he has had for years and has cleared up significantly thanks to SmartDigest Ultra and Sand Clear. When the weather changes and when new spring grass comes in, he also tends to get the “squirts.” Obviously, this isn’t an ideal situation for keeping away poopy butt. Note: My pony has been checked out by a vet multiple times for the wet manure/squirts issues. We think it is partially tied to weather changes, new spring grass, and something he just has for some reason.

The waterless shampoo itself comes in a 100% recyclable plastic bottle. Also, it may be a bit tricky figuring out how to use the spray nozzle. There is a small square underneath the nozzle that can be pushed in or out to lock and unlock the nozzle. Once I figured this out, I decided this was a super ingenious idea. The other spray bottles I have require the user to turn the nozzle left or right, but this always causes some of the product to squirt out onto my hands and down the bottle – this may seem stupid, but getting nasty smelling fly spray chemicals on my hands isn’t exactly my idea of a party.

To use the shampoo, you spray it all over your horse, leave it in for a short period of time, towel it off, and then allow it to dry before brushing your horse. I did this all over my horse and put a little bit of extra on his poopy butt. Here is a before picture.

Note: If you are eating, easily grossed out by horse poop, or just don’t want to look at horse poop, don’t look at the next photo. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

As you can see, my pony’s butt is quite .. disgusting. Since he has his winter coat, he had some poop matted in as well. After about two minutes, I began to towel off my pony. I used a white towel to see if dirt was really coming off – it was! It also didn’t make his coat too damp, which is great for cold temperatures, especially because I don’t clip him in the winter. The dirt lifted off of his fur, and he looked much cleaner and shinier. I also really loved the smell, as did he! He didn’t make any funny faces when I began spraying it or when he had to smell the towel I had to make sure it wasn’t edible.

After doing both sides of his body and his front legs, I tackled the poopy butt. I used some elbow grease for this part, but the poop came off really easily. His hind legs cleaned up very well also. I was super impressed that this product made his butt look clean. It removed the poop and most of the stains, and I got most of the matting out also. Best of all – I could go back there and smell wonderful citrus rather than nasty poo!

For clarification, my pony is a black blanket appaloosa. He has black hair mixed in with his blanket, so sometimes his white blanket doesn’t look clean even though it does. The black streaks you can see in his blanket are his black fur mixed in, not poop stains.

As you can see, his butt looks MUCH better. I LOVE this product, and I’m so glad I discovered it. This is definitely something I will be keeping around, and I’ve also recommended it to my friends / offered to let them use mine so they can try it out for themselves.

Best of all, it’s all natural. There are no harsh chemicals or parabens. The shampoo contains:

• Coconut-derived cleansers
• Witch Hazel
• Honey
• Aloe Vera
• Shea Butter
• Tea Tree Essential Oil
• Sweet Orange Essential Oil

I love that this product has Tea Tree Oil in it. Tea Tree Oil has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It also calms and protects all types of skin. This is fantastic for use on my pony’s butt. As an appaloosa, he has sensitive pink skin under his tails and between his legs, so a product that isn’t going to be harsh or irritate him is a must have for me.

I did a quick brush with a hard and soft brush as directed on the shampoo bottle. His fur was super soft, and he had a very pleasant smell to him. He also normally rolls in his stall after I groom him, and he didn’t do that when I put him back, so I guess he liked smelling like an orange too!

I loved this product so much, I had to try another Ecolicious Equestrian product. In full disclosure, Ecolicious Equestrian sent me a free minis set of three of their products with my order: De-Stress Intensive Restructuring & Detangling Treatment, Squeaky Green & Clean Shampoo, and Silky Rinse Out Moisturizing Conditioner for Coat, Mane, & Tail. Since it was relatively warm out compared to the 20-degree weather we’ve been having, I decided to try the Squeaky Green and Clean Shampoo, just on my pony’s hind end and back legs – an unfortunate side effect of poopy butt is poop running down the hind legs.

To give my pony a “winter” bath, I filled a bucket up with very hot water and then added in cold water to make the temperature more friendly to his skin. I also had a few towels so that I could use one to get out the dirt and the other to rinse. I put a very tiny drop of the shampoo into the water – just enough to notice there was some soap, but not enough to work up a lather as I would not be able to do a thorough rinse job without getting him super wet. I put a cooler on his front end while I washed his back end. I really wanted to make sure I got out what little stains he had left as well as make sure none of his fur was matted with poop anymore.

His butt is much cleaner, though the waterless shampoo had already done an amazing job of getting out the manure stains and crud that was in and around his hind area. Once again, the shampoo contains Tea Tree Oil which is great on sensitive skin. It also has silk powder which will make your horse’s coat super shiny; is biodegradable so it won’t harm the environment; and has a scent that does not attract bugs, which is a huge plus since my pony is very bug-sensitive.

As an added bonus, this shampoo is gentle on human hair as well! You can save money and share beauty products with your horse – what a great concept!

Overall, I am very impressed with these two products, and I can’t wait to use the other two that are waiting for me. My pony’s tail is a mess right now (another poopy butt side effect), so that De-Stress Intensive Restructuring & Detangling Treatment is just what he needs! All of the Ecolicious Equestrian products are environmentally friendly, using no harsh chemicals, silicones, or parabens.

By the way, sheath cleaning time is a-coming. I’m definitely going to toss my Excalibur aside and try Ecolicious Equestrian’s sheath cleaning product out. Once again, it’s all natural, and that sounds like the perfect combination for our geldings’ and stallions’ most sensitive areas.

The shipping time was super fast. I received the package within 3 days and paid for regular ground shipping. They’ve got great customer service as well – I turned to their twitter for help with figuring out how to use the Waterless Shampoo nozzle, and they answered me right away!

Haven’t tried Ecolicious Equestrian products yet? Check them out! They can be found here. They are also are on Facebook and Twitter!

By the way, after my pony was all day with his spa day, he promptly pooped against his wall within 5 minutes of me putting him back in his stall. Oh well, at least I know I can easily combat his poopy butt, hot or cold, rain or shine.