Michelle Inch said pampering and dressing up dogs has become mainstream so she had decided to go for horses
Michelle Inch and her horse Roseleigh
Blinged up, she’s the mane attraction with her dazzling hot-pink hooves and shimmering ponytail.
Roseleigh, a six-year-old horse, loves nothing more than to be pampered and turned into a real life My Little Pony, according to her owner.
Michelle Inch, 25, from Barry, now plans to run My Little Pony parties, where children can make up their own ponies, after harnessing her creativity to develop body art and paint for the animals.
She said: “As a child I loved dressing up My Little Pony toys in their glitzy outfits and brushing their sparkly manes.
“And decorating Roseleigh with coloured sprays, polishes and diamanté makes grooming her just as much fun. People have said they think it’s cruel to dye a horse’s mane and spray her with colours.
“But I only have to approach with my grooming brushes and Roseleigh is nuzzling up to me.
“She loves nothing more than being pampered.
“Applying the pink polish balm to her hooves feels as if I’m giving her a wonderful foot massage, not abusing her.”
Michelle, who has a daughter, Brooke, six, and is expecting a second baby with partner Sean Wilkin, 29, runs a dog grooming business.
She decided to start using her skills to give horses makeovers after rescuing Roseleigh and paying £100 for her.
She said: “Within six months I’d got her back to full health. By then she’d grown to adore being groomed.”
Michelle started with £5 pink polish ointment on her hooves. “The pink balm is like a foot cream so it helped get Roseleigh’s hooves back into a lovely condition,” she said.
“Then I decided to add pretty glitter to it.”
Michelle – who uses non-toxic chalks and dyes to colour her horse’s mane – has set up an online business, Equidivine, which sells horse pampering treatments. She says she has 7,000 customers.
Katya Mira, from the RSPCA, said: “It is important to remember that an animal is not a fashion accessory. The RSPCA has concerns about anything which might lead people to see them as replaceable ornaments, rather than living creatures in need of care and commitment.”
But Michelle said: “Pampering dogs, dressing them up and painting their claws has become mainstream. Why not horses?
“Some horse owners have been critical. They seem to think there is something undignified about glamming up a horse.
“But I don’t think it’s any different from putting a brightly coloured blanket over your horse or plaiting your horse’s mane for a dressage competition.”
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