I was wondering what everyone does to make their horses so sleak and clean and just so perfect looking when they do showmanship or halter. 

 I have never competed very high up for showmanship or halter, I just have for 4H and open shows and a few smaller breed shows. But I think it looks absolutly lovely when you see the horses in the halter classes look all slick and shiny.

What are some special things you do to make the horse look it's absolute best and most presentable it can be?  Any tips or just your routine?

Thanks!

Nothing beats a high quality feeding program and lots of elbow grease!

A friend of mine that showed paints on the national level suggested adding a raw egg to your horses diet.  Ugh!  Maybe he is on to something, it works great for my dogs coat. LOL

Another lady showing now insists on having her halter horses on a very high fat diet (1 cup corn oil, oats/corn, 30% fat Purina Amplify supplement)

I just make sure my horses have high quality grass hay, a balanced diet, lots of exercise, plenty of grazing time, and completely groom them at least once a day (rubber curry, dandy brush, finish brush, wipe down with a rag, and sometimes a hay wisp to get invigorate the skin).  At the show, before stepping in the ring, a quick once over with a damp rag (50% water/50% alcohol) gets rid of all traces of dust.  I am still learning and look forward to hearing tips from everyone else.

Grooming and fitting for halter and showmanship is an art! Halter really should be considered unto itself, so I won't cover that--just showmanship. We're getting ready for our first paint show of the season, and it's a big 4-judge show. There is a larger show a couple of weeks later (8 judges!) that I hope to be able to send my niece and horse to. Needless to say, I've been preparing my horse for this for 8 weeks now. When you compete against the best, you have to look the best!

1) Your horse has to be in good condition. Meaning, not too thin, not too fat. The judge really does take that into account.  this means you have to be up on worming, teeth, feed, etc.

2) HAIR COAT!!!  That's a big one, and you can really tell who has put the effort into it.  Since the weather here isn't conducive to early shedding, I brought my mare in 2 months ago and layered on the blankets.  I also put her under lights 16 hours a day.  This fools the body into thinking that it's summer, and they will start dropping hair.  This also brings mares into heat, so be forewarned!  LOL!  I don't actually keep her in her stall for those 16 hours of light (she goes outside during the day if the weather is nice enough), but it makes her dawn earlier and sunset later. I keep her on that light schedule all show season to prevent her from hairing up before our last fall shows.   It's also important for the horse to not get too chilled during this time, as that prevents them from really starting the shedding process.  I've also found that adding Nu-Image really helps get a gorgeous shine on that emerging hair.  I pull her blankets regularly and spend a lot of quality time with my soft rubber curry :P  It really shows! 

3) There is a lot of pre-show grooming.  After a thorough bath (with warm water--cold isn't good when you're trying to shed out a hairy yak!), I clip the bridle path, ears, and jaw with a #15 clipper blade.  Then I shave all white legs and big blazes with a #10.  I pull the mane so it's about the width of my hand, maybe a little bit longer.  I try to get this whole process done at home, as it can take all afternoon!  At the show, she gets another bath.  Any white markings get scrubbed with a whitening shampoo.  After rinsing, I like to do an additional rinse with 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar.  It cuts any soap residue so the coat can really shine--also helpful to get all the soap out of the mane and tail.  I thoroughly condition the tail (NOT the mane), and before I leave the wash rack, I spray her down with Laser Sheen, towel dry her blaze, socks, and tail, then coat them with the Laser Sheen.  It prevents dirt, dust, and manure from sticking to her.  While she's still wet, I use a sanding block on her hooves to smooth them out a tad and I band her mane.  You do NOT want to condition or Laser Sheen the mane or else it's a nightmare to hold on to when banding!  Her sleazy hood and sheet go on to protect all my hard work :)

4) Show grooming!!!  If you've done everything I've done up to this point, grooming right before the class is quick.  I take off all her jammies and use a spot cleaning product for any manure stains on her socks.  A quick brushing knocks off all loose hair and dust, smae with her tail.  I take a razor to her whiskers and quickly touch-up her ears and bridle path with a #30 or #40 clipper blade.  A baby wipe or damp cloth is great for wiping her face off, then on goes the face goop (basically, it's glorified vaseline! lol!).  That goes all over her muzzle, eyes, and ears.  I use Shapely's white spray on her socks, clear polish on her hooves, and another quick spray down with Laser Sheen and fly spray.  Put on the halter (properly adjusted) and put in her tail extension, and head to the make up pen!  You're ready to wow the judge and make that lasting impression.

I swear by this routine.  It sounds like a lot, but I've done it so much that I have a rhythm and everything goes very quickly.  I should have 4 horses showing by the fall circuit, so I should have it down to a science by then!  LOL!  When I was in high school, I showed a very loud tobiano mare who loved to be dirty, and I started showing at paint shows against several top kids in the midwest--that definitely made me learn fast! But, I can't stress enough the pre-show prep of having your horse fit and with a good hair coat. 

ditto what Robison02 says.  We use baby oil gel for the muzzle and eyes.  My daughter's show horse is a bay, so getting the legs BLACK is important.  We use the Ultra black spray to assure the lower legs are black.  I also use black hoof polish, then after the polish is dry, spray with another Ultra product that really shines.  It also seems to make the arena sand slide off, so the hooves appear to stay cleaner in the ring.  I also have some black creme that I use to make the inside of the ears black.

Since he's a bay, he has a black mane, so I've always used black bands.  As my banding technique has improved with practice, I'm considering using white bands this year.

2k10h

My mare is a black and white paint whose mane is is half of each color (see her pic on my photo blog) I like to band the white half with white bands, the black half with black bands, and right in the middle where the the black and white hairs mix, I like to use few gray bands. It seems to to blend everything together very nicely.