ForgeClean™ – Equine Cold-Processed Soap
Price range: £21.00 through £47.25
ForgeClean™ is a cold-process pre-wash bar built for horses that live, work, and compete hard. Hand-poured and cured for six weeks, it’s crafted with mineral clays and activated charcoal to cleanse deeply and prepare the coat for conditioning. Built to last. Built with care.
Using ForgeClean™ regularly?
Our ForgeClean™ Refill Packs are designed for regular users, multi-horse homes and yards who want to stock up and save.
Available bulk options:
5 bars saves £20
10 bars saves £65
20 bars saves £180
Description
“I built ForgeClean™ as the first step of a three-part system because I wanted more than a quick scrub. Horses carry sweat, mud, and grit every day, and I wanted a bar that could cut through all of it while still respecting the coat. ForgeClean clears the way so RinseCore™ can replenish, and ForgeSeal™ can protect. It’s about giving your horse more than clean, it’s about care that lasts.”
ForgeClean™ – The foundation of our three-step grooming system.
A cold-process bar, cured for six weeks, and crafted with mineral clays, charcoal, and slow-infused oils to cut through dirt, sweat, and buildup. It clears the way and prepares the coat for conditioning. It’s the foundation and the starting point of the Ironhide Grooming System. The stage that supports the coat and prepares it for deeper conditioning.
We put more into ForgeClean™ than most brands ever would.
Each bar is hand-poured in small batches, fully traceable, and carefully tested for stability and consistency. Every ingredient is chosen with intent – mineral clays to lift impurities, oils to soften the coat, and charcoal to bind with sweat and dirt. Nothing is filler, nothing is “just because.”
Built for horses that work, live, and compete hard.
ForgeClean™ is made to last. Built for horses that work to ensure durability and a reliable wash every time. It reflects our commitment to care, detail, and the betterment of equine grooming. A bar forged with intention, crafted for owners who value more than surface clean.
Caution:
Forgeclean™ contains natural essential oils (peppermint and Tea Tree), which in rare cases may cause a mild allergic reaction. This is noted as a precaution and is standard for products with essential oils. We use them at carefully balanced, low levels – enough to give purpose, but never excessive. While safely diluted. Always patch test before first use.
Bulk & Trade Orders
Looking for larger volumes at reduced rates? We can supply ForgeClean™, RinseCore™, and ForgeSeal™ in wholesale or yard-size formats. For enquiries about larger orders, please email us directly at enquiries@ironhideequine.co.uk to discuss bulk pricing and tailored supply.
For full technical background and traditional roles of every ingredient we use, see our Ingredients Page.
Ingredient Breakdown
Each element in ForgeClean™ carries properties that have long been valued in traditional grooming for maintaining balance, freshness, and resilience in the skin and coat.
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Activated Charcoal – highly porous, traditionally recognised for its ability to bind to dirt, sweat, and oils, helping lift away buildup during washing.
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Bentonite & Kaolin Clay – mineral clays long used for their cleansing and refining qualities. Bentonite is known for its stronger pull, while kaolin provides a softer touch to balance it.
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Babassu Oil – often compared to coconut oil but naturally gentler, babassu is known for producing a rich, stable lather and effective cleansing without excessive stripping.
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Herbal-Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil – slow-infused in-house for six weeks with calendula, chamomile, and comfrey. Extra virgin olive oil itself is rich in natural antioxidants and oleic acid. The herbs we select for infusion have long been valued in traditional care. Chamomile for its calming reputation, calendula for soothing support, and comfrey for its association with conditioning and resilience.
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Castor Oil – dense and glossy, widely used in traditional soapmaking for its ability to help lift grease and impurities while boosting a creamy, lasting lather.
- Refined Shea Butter – Smooth Nourishment
Refined shea butter is prized for its clean profile and consistency. Naturally rich in fatty acids, it has long been valued in grooming for helping maintain softness and providing a protective, conditioning layer during cleansing, without the heavier scent of unrefined shea. - Peppermint Essential Oil – long chosen in grooming for its cooling, refreshing feel post-exercise, alongside its sharp, uplifting scent.
- Tea Tree Essential Oil – recognised for its crisp, clean aroma and traditionally used to help maintain freshness. Its distinctive scent is also known to naturally deter insects, making it a common choice in equine care routines.
How the soap is made
ForgeClean™ is a cold-processed soap, created through a process called saponification, where oils are transformed into a solid cleansing bar.
Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) & Water
Used to start the soapmaking process. These react with the oils to form soap.
By the end of curing, the sodium hydroxide has been fully used and is no longer present in its original form.Sodium Lactate
Added to improve bar hardness, durability, and overall performance during use.What this means in practice
A formula that cleans effectively,
without being unnecessarily harsh.Built for repeated use.
Not just a one-off result.Caution:
Forgeclean™ contains natural essential oils (peppermint and Tea Tree), which in rare cases may cause a mild allergic reaction. This is noted as a precaution and is standard for products with essential oils. We use them at carefully balanced, low levels – enough to give purpose, but never excessive. While safely diluted. Always patch test before first use.
Yes, Forgeclean™ was developed to help rebalance the skin, by cleaning in a gentle, non-stripping way. It has been formulated with careful consideration of how a horse’s skin responds to ingredients over time, including the levels of raw materials used and always with sensitive horses in mind.
As with any new product though, we still recommend patch testing before first use to see how your horse responds.
ForgeClean™ is designed to be well-balanced and suitable for regular use, and it’s well tolerated by the vast majority of horses. As with any new product, individual sensitivities can vary and we recommend patch testing on a small area before first use.
If any irritation occurs, stop use and rinse the area well with water.
If you have any concerns, please feel free to get in touch.
No. ForgeClean™ is made using a controlled blend of oils, clays, and essential oils, carefully balanced for equine use.
Every ingredient and the final formula has been independently reviewed by veterinary toxicologists from the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS), who assess product safety based on real-world exposure risks.
This review process helps ensure the product is considered safe for horses when used correctly.
Most grooming products aren’t reviewed at this level!
Most soap bars are made for general use.
ForgeClean™ was built specifically for horses.
We looked at everything! From pH levels, to how much essential oil the skin can tolerate, to how different ingredients affect the coat over time.
Every adjustment came down to one question:
How will this affect the horse?
Hundreds of hours went into balancing the formula. Not just to make it clean well, but to make sure it works with the horse's natural skin, not against it.
That includes how it interacts with the skin barrier and the natural lipid layers that protect the coat.
If something felt too harsh, it was reduced.
If something affected the balance, it was changed.
This isn’t a standard soap adapted for horses.
It’s a bar built from the ground up to perform properly without disrupting what’s already there.
Most products clean the coat and strip.
This was built to respect it.
Yes. ForgeClean™ produces a rich, dark lather due to the clays and charcoal used in the formula.
This helps lift dirt, grease, and build-up from the coat during washing.
The colour comes from activated charcoal and natural clays in the formula.
These are included for their cleansing properties and to help draw out dirt and impurities from the coat.
No. Although the lather is dark, it rinses clean from the coat and does not stain.
While we always recommend using the full system to get the best results, ForgeClean™ works very well on its own and was built to clean properly so It could be used as a standalone bar.
It’s the first step of a three-part system, but it still does exactly what it’s meant to do by itself, removing dirt, sweat, and buildup effectively. The next two steps are recommended together as Rinsecore puts back in moisture and helps balance the pH levels and Forgeseal puts a breathable barrier which conditions the skin, supporting all that work from earlier.
Some owners prefer to start with one product first and see how it performs. If you were going to choose one to try on its own, this is where it starts
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Independently reviewed using veterinary toxicology standards
We didn’t want to release something and hope it was safe.
If a product is going onto a horse regularly, it should be properly understood, not guessed.
So we put ForgeClean™ through a full safety process before it was ever offered to customers.
What we did:
- Stability tested under real conditions
- Assessed through a full toxicology review
- Reviewed by veterinary toxicologists from the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS), the same service equine vets rely on when assessing risk in animals
This is as close as you can get to real-world equine safety assessment without testing directly on horses.
It’s a level of assessment most grooming products never go through.
The outcome was clear.
No significant toxicological concerns were identified when used as directed.
Below are the supporting documents for ForgeClean™.
Each one shows a different part of how the product has been assessed for safety and consistency.
Start with a fully wet coat.
ForgeClean™ is designed to be used directly on the horse, just like a traditional soap bar.
Apply with light pressure to build a gentle lather.
Glide the bar over the coat, then work it in by hand. Focus on areas where dirt, sweat, and buildup naturally collect.
Rinse thoroughly with clean water.
Ensure all lather is fully removed before moving to the next step.
Complete the system.
For best results, follow with RinseCore™ and finish with ForgeSeal™.
Important: Avoid contact with eyes and sensitive areas.
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