Can You Clean A Horse’s Tail With Ketchup? One Site Conducts An Experiment

Horses have had to endure a lot of silly myths.

A lot of people think they only sleep standing up, that they need to be put down if they break a leg, and that there are sparkling unicorns out there somewhere.

Yet one fable about foals that is even odder than the existence of unicorns is that you can clean a horse’s tail with ketchup. It seems ridiculous, but many horse enthusiasts, bloggers, and users on equestrian message boards claim, very adamantly, that this is indeed fact and not fiction.

Believers in the cleaning power of ketchup may be on to something, however, being that the condiment can be used as an inexpensive way to polish brass.

Lusitano Portal, a website dedicated to all things Lusitanos (a breed of Portuguese horse), decided to grab ahold of the reins in regards to this particular issue and take matters into their own hooves. Being that many Lusitanos happen to have white tails, they wanted to verify if this method actually worked or was just another wives' tale.

They conducted an experiment and this is what they discovered, straight from the horse’s mouth…

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They experimented on two Lusitanos, one named Chandôa, who has a completely white tail, similar to the horse in the photo. Before the experiment, her tail had a pre-wash with soap.

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Horsepedia

Duque, who has a grayish/white tail, like the one in this photo, did not have his tail washed before the experiment.

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Wikimedia

They decided to experiment with a trio of ketchup brands, Heinz, Calvé, and Top Budget.

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Lusitano Portal

They split the horses’ tails into three sections and used a different brand on each.

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Lusitano Portal

They squirted on the ketchup and let it soak for 15 minutes before rinsing it out.

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Lusitano Portal

The proof is in the photos — the site claims that ketchup does work! They say the results aren’t perfect, and Chandôa (the white horse) had much stronger results than Duque’s because of the pre-wash.

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Lusitano Portal

Yet, they conclude, “It is still much better than the wide variety of shampoos and soaps we have tried before.” They also say the brand didn’t seem to matter and the longer you soak, the better the results. Also, if you decide to try this, don’t wear your

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Lusitano Portal

What do you think? Cool? Weird? Have you tried it before?

Please SHARE if you think this was a fascinating experiment!

h/t: Lusitano Portal