Recently on
Horse Junkie's Facebook Page, I asked you guys what products you wanted me to review next on here. One of you said EquiFUSE products...and since I'm such a nice gal...TA DA!
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| Professional Photography. |
I contacted Amber Dunmire over at EquiFuse, and she generously sent me a sample of their Complete Body Package, with instructions on how to use each component. As I was looking through everything, I loved to see that the ingredients include a ton of natural stuff, some of which I use on my own hair! Very cool. Lucky for me, it's still 85 degrees mid-October here in Southern California (don't be jealous), so I was still able to test these products to their full capacity!
Here are the full instructions, and each component of the care kit as I received it:
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| FOOL-PROOF. Love it. |
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| Step 1: Shampoo |
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| Awww...what a cute grey! |
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| Step 2: Conditioner |
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| Wait a minute...leave in? Brianne, tell me MORE! |
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| Step 3: Shine Serum |
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| The secret weapon, for sure. |
OK, already I'm going to tell you, this is going to be a photo heavy review. I guess I figured you'd need to see me bathing my horse, yes? I knew it. Before we jump into that exciting stuff, I figured I'd post a "Before" picture of Hatchet, our handsome model for today - also known as the Breyer Horse. :)
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| BEFORE |
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| MORE BEFORE: Look back at it. |
So, he's already pretty shiny, due to an awesome
supplement I give him regularly, so this stuff has it's work cut out for it to impress me! BUT, I guarantee you he is unwashed for a couple weeks at this point (LAAAZYYY), and I let him roll around in the arena before we started. Something that makes him happy, right before I torture him (Read: he has bath time). I do notice though, that he is a duller color than usual for this time of year, and he is duuuusty. Remember that I said it's still 85 degrees here? Well yeah, it's also super dry right now, which means EVERYTHING has a nice healthy coat of dirt on it, even Hatchet's butt.
OK let's dive in, because this will already be the longest shampoo review known to man.
First instructions say to open the (SMALL) packet of shampoo, and dilute it in a gallon or two of water. I have to say, I was a little worried here because the packet didn't look like much. It was about how much shampoo I usually use out of a bottle for MY hair. I'm used to using a TON more of the Mane & Tail Shampoo that I use now, just for one horse wash. There was no way that I could get a whole horse washed with what I had been given as sample!
BUT, low and behold, I squeezed the packet into the bottom of a small bucket, filled it with water, and went to work! Now, you'd think with all these pictures, I'd have ONE of a soapy bucket, but I don't. Imagine it in your head.
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| Soapy |
As you can see, the shampoo lathered nicely - much nicer than what I was expecting. Hatchet is a 15.2HH Quarter Horse, and I was able to do his whole body with a little over half of the bucket. Then I felt like I did something wrong, so I went over him twice. You can never be too sure.
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| I LOVE BATHING HORSES! |
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| Action Shot. |
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| Bargaining with Hatchet. Also: Our wash racks look like the ghetto. |
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| Yeah, this is how I wash tails. Judge me. |
Then I rinsed him off, and went to work with the conditioner. Similar instructions on that, to dilute it in a bucket of water...BUT WAIT, YOU LEAVE IT IN. I'm usually not a fan of conditioners on horses. I think that just stems from my innate laziness, though. But it's one extra step, and they'll get dirty anyways, right?? Baths are just a formality. I have to say, though, I was attracted to this conditioner because of the mere fact that I didn't have to do another rinse cycle.
So, I filled my bucket and went to work. One standout thing that you'll notice is that the conditioner was not lathery. Not to say that conditioner is USUALLY lathery, but you can usually feel it when you're putting it on them, or in your own hair, right? Well, this just looked like water - but smelled lovely!
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| I know how to work a sponge! |
Again, 1 one-gallon bucket was PLENTY to do his whole body, mane, and tail. I even sponged some onto his face - go me! It was hard to fight my natural instincts to rinse him off, but somehow I was able to avoid it.
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| Sorry for the unwarranted boob shot - I'm not responsible! |
After you apply the conditioner, you straight-up sweat scrape. COOL, almost done. For some reason, he was already looking shinier than usual, and smelled fresh-to-death. I don't really have anything else to say about this step.
The final step - the shine serum - can be applied either wet or dry. I figured, what the heck, he's already wet, let's do it NOW! :D Again, no pictures. Just imagine me putting the clear goo in my hands, and applying it evenly to both his mane and tail.
This shine serum, I gotta say, might just be the pretty little bow on top of this awesome package. It smelled GREAT, is made of all-natural ingredients like macadamia nut oil and vitamin E (So it will make your horse's hair grow, LADIESSS!!) and a little bit goes a long way. I got excited and used the whole sample, but I bet I could have used that amount for a couple applications. Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it?
So now we wait, and wait, and wait.
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| Hatchet doesn't mind waiting... |
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| Still doesn't mind waiting. |
And here's how it looks when he finally dried!
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| Umm...GORGEOUS! |
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| Shiny face |
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| Even his crack was shiny!! |
End result: LOVE this stuff! His coat was so soft, you could barely even feel it! (Is that weird?)
WAIT - let me do one of those cool before and after things...It's a blog, after all!
A few notes: Of course, the sun was at a romantical setting phase when we took the "After" photos, so I'm pretty sure it would have made even his dirty butt look decent, BUT I will tell you, the Body Package did bring out his coloration and his shine much more than before. It made his colors brighter, and his whites whiter! He smelled SO GOOD, and Amber let me know that his shine will last 4-5 days from now!
Now, where can you purchase this magical stuff, you say?
Well, you can always go to your nearest tack shop and see if they have it in stock (a lot of them DO!), or you can contact Amber here and purchase it from her! They've also got a very user-friendly
website you can shop right off of. They also sell the sampler package that I was sent, so you can try it out for yourself before you take the dive! Perfecto.
She was definitely kind enough to send me some of this great product, so I'm sure she'd LOVE to help you discover this great brand too! Of course, you can always follow them on
Facebook, or message her through there! Tell her I sent you, for sure.
Special thanks to Amber Dunmire, for introducing me to this brand - we'll be in touch! ;-)
Also to my photographer and BFF, Erin. Thanks for all the ATTRACTIVE photos of me!
Happy Bathing!
The Horse Junkie
**Disclaimer - All products shown here were sent to me for review purposes. All opinions are my OWN!**
