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Hey yall I have a 3 year old paint gelding who is pretty much always dirty and in need of grooming. I just want to ask if anyone has any good grooming products or tips they reccomend(especially for white tails and white spots) and im about to replace all my horse brushes so looking for any reccomendations i might not have considered before taking the leap on purchasing Haas brushes. Any products whether its brushes, sprays, towels, ect. would be appreciated<3 |
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Moderator |
Blue Dawn dish soap on white coats/markings and tails. |
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Haas brushes and goop 12/10 Get the mustang brush from haas especially. Been a huge lifesaver for my dirty appy XD Takes caked mud and shedding hair right off. Also seemed to break up the sticky pee stains in winter. |
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Trivia Team |
Seconding Ven on the Dawns dish soap. Absolute lifesaver for grays. My favorite grooming tools are the Epona curry comb and the Winners Circle brushes. Super high quality, the Epona does a fantastic job currying and the horses all love it, even the sensitive ones. Depending on your setup, hot-toweling does WONDERS for lifting dirt out of coats. Just have a little plug-in kettle, boil some water, and when it's warm but touchable (please don't put boiling water on a horse), dip a towel in it, wring it out, and then run the cloth over the horse's coat. It's a bit intensive but sooo helpful. |
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The grooming kit I use at work is probably 10 to 20 years old - but the stuff is going strong. The stiff plastic style bristles of a good dandy brush works well. Natural products are great but sometimes don't have the grit to knock through the caked mud and the deep dirt/dandruff that hides below the surface. I use the SleekEZ shedding tools (large & medium) for shedding and a metal loop shedding blade for dried mud patches. I LOVE the Oster Hoof Picks - they fit really nice in the hand and the head is the perfect shape for all configurations of hooves. I like the Mane 'n Tail Detangler spray better than the Cowboy Magic - it works for regular maintenance and fairy knots. As a show groom - you cannot go wrong with Cowboy Magic Greenspot Remover for those last minute 'oh-nos!'
Absobine's Miracle Groom is the Best emergency bath-in-a-bottle. I learned about it forever ago when I worked at a high end show barn. Eqyss has good sprays too. I like the Marigold spray from them, as well as the Premier Moisturizing spray. Healthy HairCare Hair Moisturizer is the original Pink Spray I remember from my youth years in the barn. It worked great as a coat conditioner without the slipperiness of Show Sheen. For fly spray - I'm currently in the process of trial-and-error of EcoVet Fly Repellant. Unfortunately the flies are so bad right now that 24 hours later and the horses are overly bothered. I like that it's not full of the super harmful chemicals. (beware - it has a strong odor, not bad but interesting and it's oily so it really sticks.) I use a soft brush to apply it instead of spraying all over as I can really brush it into the hair - I do spray the legs and undercarriage though. It's better than the Farnam Bronco spray we had been using. For bathing, I've always used human shampoo and conditioner, and a dandruff shampoo. Liquid Ivory Soap is great for sheath and teat cleaning or a natural dye/fragrance free baby soap. Bag Balm is fantastic for teats and moisturizing any callused skin (like elbows). You cannot go wrong with having some Equiderma in your kit - the Skin Lotion and NEEM Oil is amazing for basically all problems. For wounds - I like ointments better than sprays as I think it sticks around longer. Anything Manuka Honey is highly recommened by a ton of vets (seen in Horse Vet Corner).
Chlorhexidine is one of the best wound cleaners and sterilizers. There's an article in The New England Journal of Medicine about the effectiveness between chlorhexidine and iodine solutions.
Vetericyn is a great wound spray for smaller cuts or ones on the face that can be covered by a fly mask.
AluShielf is a great wound cover.
I've been using E3 Medicated Horse Wound Care Cream instead of Swat for wound care and protection against flies. It can be used on the wound instead of just around it, and it sticks to those hard areas like the hocks. Shop Rags are great to have around the barn. 100% Cotton terry towels. Great when damp for wiping eyes, cleaning muzzles and docks, seperately. Wipe coats down with or without product. I like them better than the microfiber because in my experience everything in the barn environment sticks to the microfiber and you can never remove the things.
Cheap and easy to clean. Price wise - can be found in the Paint tool aisle cheaper than in the Mechanic aisle which is less than the basic washcloths sold. Scott Shop Towels are also handy - they are a durable paper towel. |
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I'm a paint owner and im always getting compliments on how clean and sparkly he is, and honestly the main thing for me is to just groom him consistently. Most days if he has stains i can just curry it really hard and then brush it out, but sometimes ill use the pink stuff that boulder mentioned, and then you can put a cornstarch/baking poweder mix over it, curry again, and brush out and it will come out. If its still not coming out, dawn soap like ven and puck said works great. If he's like mine, who gets bad stains on his hind legs, then purple shampoo is awesome, its really the only thing that gets those to look ok for me. I would recommend always conditioning or using some kind of oil after bathing, cause it acts kind of like a dirt repellent and so the dirt comes off more easily in the future. I even soak stains in oil sometimes and they come out better. If im not bathing my horse frequently i use a ton of the pink stuff on him, like 2-3x a week, and it helps keep him clean. For brushes i have one of the double sided jelly curries, the bigger side works great in winter and the finer side is good in summer. I also have the ledgends caliente brush, and i swear that thing works miracles. It's a natural brush, and i like the stiff plastic ones for like big chunks of dirt, but that thing gets stains out amazingly, so definitely recommend. I also have a tigers tounge brush just cause my horse likes it lol, it does work pretty well for stains though. I'm actually not a fan of like the green spot removers, ive never had luck with them personally, i just either sponge wash with shampoo or soap, or i do the pink stuff + cornstarch mixture. |
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- I also like the plastic shedding brushes that Lemieux makes, although it is hard to get the hair out once you use it too much, as well as the dirt. The metal one works great because it doesn't get trapped. - Hope this helps :) |
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