Rio Vista Color Enhancing Shampoos

MSRP: $9.75 for a 32 oz bottle

Rating: *** (3 out of 5)

Shampoos as a whole are generally homogeneous products, and while some are better than others - just about any shampoo will "do the job".

Aside from medicated shampoos, the one consistent niche for shampoos has traditionally been whitening shampoos - ones that can get those annoying green spots out of gray coats and white markings. Rio Vista has taken that desire one step further buy providing horse owners with a shampoo that brightens other coat colors.

The Rio Vista Color Enhancing Shampoos come in a number of shades for different coat colors: Hi-Ho Silver, Ravishing Red, Golden Palomino, Sorrel Chestnut, and Hi-Black Burgundy.

While I initially thought I'd like these shampoos and that they would work like the one I use for my color treated hair (using chemicals to enhance how the light hits the surface of the hair), that turned out not to be the case on either count. The Rio Vista shampoos have some sort of dye in them - a dye that stains your skin and clothes, the horse's white markings, and even light colored hooves. To the manufacturer's credit, the shampoos say on the bottle that they will stain skin and white markings, but on a horse with sizable leg markings its nearly impossible to prevent the shampoo from getting on the white areas during the course of a bath. Moreover, I was less than impressed with the outcome. The noticeable color enhancement to the horse's coat was both minimal and short lived (about 2 days).

In summary, this product line certainly has it's place, such as the day prior to a show or other event. But given the other factors it's just not all that practical or convenient for regular use.