Horse Grooming Tips

Horse grooming tips to help beautify your equine companion. Grooming promotes a healthy coat and helps to accustom your horse to daily handling. It also teaches him patience and good manners.

Tip 1

Keeping Brushes Clean

Remove dirt and hair from a brush during grooming by rubbing it firmly against a tight wire or net wire fence, or rubbing it with a curry comb.

Keep your brush from filling with hair quickly by applying a commercial hair coat conditioner on the clean bristles after washing the brush.

To avoid spreading skin problems from horse to horse, give each horse his own grooming tools.

Tip 2

Brightening White SocksRub a little baking soda, corn starch, or baby powder into the hair and then brush off the excess.

Tip 3

Removing Manure and Grass Stains

Mist the area with rubbing alcohol and rub the stain with a cloth.

You can also use vinegar directly on a cloth and use it to rub off the stain. Next, rinse the area with water (goes for the rubbing alcohol as well)

Mix bran or soybean meal with water to create a paste and smear the paste on the stained area (wet the stained area first, before putting on the paste) Scrub the stain with a brush, leave the mixture on the stain for a couple of minutes and then hose or sponge it off, and dry it with a towel.

Tip 4

Horse Grooming Tips For Mane and Tail

Brushing the mane and tail

Use a human hairbrush - it causes less damage, pulling and is gentler.

A plastic hair pick for human hair also does a good job of combing out a mane.

For the tail - start at the bottom and work up gradually, brushing small sections at a time to untangle any knots. Pull a long tail over your leg so you can work on the end more easily.

Tip 5

Horse Grooming Tips For Big Knots

After a long time without being groomed, extra big or tight knots in tail and mane usually appear.

To avoid cutting out the knots pour 2 cups of showSheen or fabric conditioner in a small bucket, then place the knotted part of the tail into it until it is fully covered with the liquid. Don’t try to brush the tail for 2 days, until it completely dries. Use a wire dog grooming brush and work gradually from the bottom up.

Wash and rinse the tail and reapply the conditioner. The conditioner makes the hair slippery so that it is easy to untangle.

Tip 6

Getting Rid of the Frizzies

For frizzy manes even after braiding, slick down the small hairs that are sticking up with a little petroleum jelly.

Tip 7

Removing Pitch from a pine tree

Dissolve the pitch by applying nail polish remover directly on it with gauze or towel; be careful not to get any polish remover on the skin. Wash the mane afterward, or try neat's-foot oil instead of polish remover.

Tip 8

Getting Burs Out of the Mane and Tail

Soak them with vegetable or mineral oil to keep microscopic flakes from floating in the air and possibly into the horse's eye. Wear gloves to protect your hands from the burs. After shampoo and rinse the hair to get the oil out.