Will Borax harm ponies?

[Pheasant]

After removing both black and white mold from my chicken coop this week, I've been wondering if I could use the same cleaning solution - Borax and vinegar - to remove mold from ponies. (It would be a nice alternative to bleach.) Has anyone tried using it? Will it harm the plastic or paint?

[Elisto]

I'm almost certain I've used borax and warm water (not with vinegar) and it seemed to be OK. I think it can dry the hair out a bit, but I don't entirely remember.

[Truly]

I tested it on a baity g3 pink pegasus and I left it on for too long and it did make it paler, so I recommend to keep an eye on it! Otherwise it wasn't that bad, definitely test on a baity pony first though just in case the different pony generations plastic reacts differently, I only had a g3 bait available at that time.
As Elisto mentioned, it does make them a bit dry.

[hathorcat]

Anything like that is going to be a risk unfortunately - any thing stronger than water and soap and need to be aware you could cause damage. However just because you could cause issues doesn't mean you will cause issues. So I think testing on baits, being careful when using and just being prepared to not be upset if there are issues is perhaps the best idea. Good luck with your experiments.

[flyawayraven]

Borax is pretty abrasive so that alone could scrub the paint off by accident. I'm also a little worried that the vinegar could cause some sort of bad reaction to the plastic, either leave a sticky film behind or cause some sort of dye or plastic breakdown. Vinegar's acidity is what makes it an effective cleaning agent as it just eats away at anything.  I'm not sure using it on something as porous and flimsy as pony plastic is a good idea, especially on G1's where the plastic has already begun to decay.

But I think the vinegar might do wonders for softening pony hair, though!

[partypony566]

I think as long as you're careful it should be fine. Like Cat said keep an eye on it and just be prepared for any unwanted results. I do know it definitely makes the hair dry out so be careful about submerging the hair.

And please let us know if it works for removing the mold!