Welcome to our independent group test of horse shampoos. All of the shampoos in this group test have been put through their paces by dressage rider Jamie Broom and his wife Georgi. Find out what they thought below.
Official description: Smart Grooming Deep Purple shampoo
Smart Grooming Deep Purple is a conditioning shampoo that helps to neutralise and lift stubborn stable and grass stains. This shampoo is gentle but effective and contains essential oils of lavender to soothe sensitive skins. It can be applied neat or diluted depending on the severity of staining. For very yellow tails, use neat and directly on the tail.
First impressions
The bottle was tidy and smart. It’s one of those where you walk into a tack room or shop and it catches your eye because it’s a bright purple colour. It had a clip lid that would make it easy to use, too.
Overview of performance
It is a great shampoo for a show prep on a grey horse. However, really stubborn stains needed a couple of washes. It did a great job of removing stains on our grey horse’s mane and tail — more effectively than on his body. I had to scrub more on his body to remove the stable stains. You wouldn’t want your horse to get too dirty with stable stains because one wash with this shampoo isn’t enough. You need two washes to really get the horse sparkling.
Georgi’s likes and dislikes
It foams well and you can see where you are putting it so you know where the horse has been washed and where he hasn’t, which avoids wastage. It will remove stains but if they are stubborn it’ll need two applications of the shampoo to completely get rid of it.
Verdict
It does what it says on the tin, you just need to use it a couple of times. I thought it would be more expensive, so its great value for money as it does work. I’d definitely buy it for that price.
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Jamie Broom began his equestrian career in the Household Cavalry, and is now a full-time dressage rider who competes up to prix st georges level, winning his first national title in 2016. He and wife Georgi run a successful livery yard at the busy Lakeside Equestrian Centre, where they also run clinics. Jamie and Georgi are part of our team of professional riders who put equestrian products through their paces in a real-life busy yard environment for a suitable period of time to test the item, before their thoughts are featured in our reviews section.
