If your horses are looking a little dingy, or you picked up some new ones off ebay or goodwill, you probably want to clean them up a bit.
Things you need:
:: Two bowls or a sink or bathtub
:: Water
:: Antibacterial soap
:: Conditioner
:: Towels- One under any bowls used, one large for drying, one for sitting them on to drip dry, and a small one for your hands (you will need it along the way).
Start off by running them a warm bath. If you're just doing one or two horses, this can be the sink, for a whole collection it can be the tub, or any other way you like. I like filling two large mixing bowls with warm water and doing it as an assembly line- after all, no matter how many you wet at once, you can only wash one at a time.
My cleaning station for minis (I use bigger bowls for classics). Missing from the shot is antibacterial soap, already in the first (wash) bowl.
Note- the flocky (velvet GC or non-GC) horses with rabbit-skin manes do not like getting wet. The glue under their manes turns white and the hair can take ages to dry, or get contaminated with the glue. But if it needs washing and has a mane where the white glue will stand out, the whiteness can be gone over with ink or dye.
Put the horse you're working with in the water. Using a mild antibacterial soap (especially for those second-hand horses), wash their bodies gently. Use a soft sponge to scrub at marks, but if they don't initially come off, leave them- grand champions come with different finishes, some shiner than others, and you can scrub it off. Those with plentiful shading are also likely to lose it if you wash them too hard.
If you're making a horse to customize the whole body (painting and all), scrub it as much as you like, just don't scratch the plastic. The more clean it is and the loss of the shiny outer coat may mean your own base will stick better.
Wash their manes, using soap or shampoo (I use Pantene on my whole horse). Condition them, brush it through, and rinse. If they need a heavier conditioning or mane and tail touch ups, look at the Hair page.
Leave them to sit and dry, hair brushed into place so it doesn't take on funny shapes. If they've been soaking, some of them get water inside- Classics can be drained by holding them with their tail pointing down, then pulled out of the way, Feed n Nuzzles drain easily through their neck joint, etc. If you hear water sloshing or they feel heavy, drain them.
Touch Ups
For mane and tail issues, check out the Hair page.
The most basic but most impressive touch up that can be done is the eyes. If they are scratched, just dab a touch of black paint over the missing spot, and let dry. Then (this is very important), top it with some clear nail polish, to make them shine. New GCs have that shine pained in from the beginning, and their eyes look dull without it. This also looks good on any other model animal you might be painting. A bit in the nostrils looks good too, and many GCs come new with it.
For yellowing seams and plastic on white horses, not much can be done. A rub with bleach can help, especially with the yellowed glue on seems, but I've yet to find anything that will completely correct yellowing, especially without effecting the finish.
A spot remover, like those for crayon on walls, can be used to remove spots and scratches. I worry that Mr Clean would take off the paint, but Goo Gone is resoundingly recommended for those little bits that appear from bouncing around in a toybox or whatever.
Paint scratches other than the eyes are generally not worth fixing. GCs are originally painted with an airbrush system, leaving them with the smooth texture they have, and any brush strokes look bad in combination with it. Even with an airbrush system, one has to worry about colour matching. It can be done with a light hand and attention to detail, it just is not usually worth it. If you want details on body painting and customizing, look at the Customization page (in progress).
