Our top 5 product picks for grooming shedding horses

 Shedding season is upon us again, as horses drop tumbleweeds of hair anywhere they rub or roll. In most climates, horses shed out twice a year, making way for their emerging summer and winter coats.

Here’s a look at our favorite tools for grooming shedding horses. For convenience, each title link leads to that product on Amazon. (Full disclosure: I’m an Amazon affiliate, meaning I receive credit for purchases made through their links on my sites. These products may also be purchased from saddle and tack merchants, pet stores, and other retailers.)

 

1. Equestrian Fuego Horse Shedding Bar-Blade – Get a grip on horse shedding with this handy tool. The metal combed edge easily scrapes away stray hairs all over the horse.

 

2. Farnam Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block – This hand-held coarse fiberglass block uses friction and elbow grease to groom the horse’s coat. It’s super for putting the finishing touches on shedding, after using more heavy-duty tools. It’s also great for doing a quick touch-up before a ride or show class.

3. LuxPal Five-Fingered Deshedding Gloves – Horse shedding doesn’t get any simpler than this. (It’s the same principle as those old car-washing mitts. “Wax on. Wax off” (to quote The Karate Kid movie.) Lots of companies offer this kind of shedding glove. Quality varies. Pick a pair, rather than a single one, for quick and easy horse grooming.

4. Oster Coarse Curry – This spiky curry only looks fierce. It’s actually soothing to many horses, and it works well in stirring up and removing shedding hair. (My Warmblood, Paint, and Morgan couldn’t get enough grooming with this curry, although my ticklish Thoroughbred didn’t favor it so much.)

5. Wahl Shedding Blade –
This looped tool has serrated edges, making it extra useful for shedding out a horse quickly. The handles separate, making one long blade for two-handed grooming. It’s also handy for clearing off mud or scraping off water after a horse’s shower.

 

A few comments on other horse shedding products and practices:

 Ringed metal curry combs (with concentric circular toothed blades) are frequently found in the hands of those shedding their horses. This is a matter of some debate, as certain equine experts and owners maintain that these tools are intended for cleaning grooming brushes, not for actual use on horses’ coats. I think it depends on how you use them. And they can be super for shedding or for removing dried mud.

Many equestrians choose to clip their horses’ hair periodically throughout the year, especially if those equines are housed in heated barns and wear weatherproof blankets (and possibly neck and hood coverage) for turnout. Some purchase their own clippers, while others pay professionals for clipping.

 Equine grooming vacuums are also popular. In some cases, show barns have such vacuums for grooms to use, or they make the machines available for boarders to use. Some equestrians buy their own horse grooming vacuums. Although these seem convenient, I have never found them useful with my own horses. None of my horses have been fans of the suction or noise these machines make.

 Horse shedding is messy work, but it can be quite pleasing to the horse. Done well, it’s sort of a form of massage, and it offers quality bonding time for horse and human. In addition, shedding horses are frequently regarded as harbingers of the changing seasons.

 

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Image/s: Public domain photo and product promo photos (fair use)

Herd helper: Morgan mare to the rescue

There’s one in every crowd, right? We’ve all known parents who loved to brag on their kids. And how many horse owners are particularly proud of their own horses?

OK, count me in.

I love arriving at the stables and being greeted with a good report about our horse. She’s a sweet Morgan mare, who is trusty enough to pack kids and adults around for riding lessons. She’s done some hippotherapy too. She’s that sweet.  (Morgans rock. But I digress.)

Sure, she can raise a ruckus, when she feels like it.

This past weekend, she actually spooked a bit. (It lasted about 5 seconds, while she scooted maybe 3 feet.) She’s a horse, after all, and it’s almost springtime. Plus, someone tossed up the big garage-like barn door without warning.

But this horse is well-trained and sort of senior and generally doesn’t seem to want to expend the effort it takes to kick up her heels much. (At this season of her life, she is willing to give me some good go, but I definitely have to ask for it.)

She was a hero the other day.

A barn staffer actually used the word “hero.” How funny is that?

This gentle mare is kind of bossy in the herd. We’ve never seen her rear or kick or bite. She doesn’t have to. She has mastered “the look.” You know. It’s the same look your toughest teacher had down. All she had to do with turn her head with that face on, and you knew she meant business.

That’s it exactly.

In this horse’s herd, there’s a chestnut mare who likes to play hard-to-catch at coming-in time. Maybe she forgets her filled feed bucket and a pile of hay await her in the stall. Perhaps she just loves staying outside. For whatever reason, she’s made this a game.

The other day, the barn staff had had enough of that.

The chestnut mare bolted and darted and wove her way around the pasture, while these folks tried to catch her. She was having none of it.

So one of these wranglers walked back into the barn and retrieved my horse from her stall. They led her out into the pasture again. They tossed some loose hay on the ground, and she began to munch it. Almost immediately, the errant one came alongside her turnout pal. The humans led my mare towards the gate, and the other followed. 

Soon, these folks were able to slip a rope over her neck and hold her for haltering.

That’s all it took.

Because sometimes it’s more fun to follow a friend home at the end of the day than to prolong the inevitable by breaking curfew. Something like that.

In any case, I was pleased with the good report about my own horse. She’s a keeper.

Images:

LAN photo. All rights reserved.

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Sign of spring: Horse blankets are washed and stowed

The snow has melted. The green grass is springing up everywhere. Bulbs are budding and blooming. Songbirds are building their nests. Mud season is in full swing at horse farms all over.

Horses are antsy, eager, extra-attentive to surrounding stimuli (Read: “spooking at every sight”).

That’s right. It must be spring.

So I have taken a leap of faith. And it is sort of like daring Mother Nature to bring her worst back. But I have looked at the long-range forecasts (as if those matter), and I’ve gone and done it anyway.

My horse blankets are washed, folded, packaged, and stowed for the year. I’m sincerely hoping they can stay that way till at least November. Given the wildly fluctuating weather we’ve experienced in the Upper Midwest over the past few months, this really is an act of faith.

But here we go. Bring on warm-weather riding! Let’s have those bright, sunny, outdoor arena sort of occasions.

Sure, we have a few more weeks of spring rains and slop to slog through. But brighter days are coming. My horses and I can hardly wait.

Image/s:

Adapted from public domain artwork

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Whaddya do when your 26-year-old horse shreds his blanket?

Here's how I saved a bundle.

Surprise! You trot out to fetch your horse from the paddock and find his sturdy turnout blanket has somehow been transformed into confetti. Or the barn owner texts a photo, showing how your dear equine’s winter rug is now ripped into ribbons. A comparable new blanket costs $90 – or even a few hundred dollars, if you popped for a fancy one.

You glance at the calendar. Spring has just sprung, even though the nights (and some days) are still chilly enough to warrant blanketing your horse.

Plus, he’s a senior. He’s in his late 20’s.

And you have a closet filled with horse blankets in various sizes – just none that will fit this particular one. Uh-oh!

So what do you do?

Sure, you can patch the thing with duct tape, but that stuff will come undone in a stiff wind, a pelting rain, or a hearty horse roll.

Barn-supplied photo.

I fixed my horse’s blanket myself and saved a bundle.

As you’ve guessed, this just happened to me. My cranky, old, dear, saintly Thoroughbred tore the tar out of his medium-weight turnout blanket. It was a wreck. But I didn’t really want to spring for a new one at this point. Sure, I hope he will live a dozen more years. But he’s retired and living out his last years on a quiet, out-of-the-way farm with endless acres of rolling hills – not in a fancy show stable, where horses sport sparkling attire every day.

The barn owner offered to have my horse’s rug laundered for $35 and mended for $15/hour (although he said he had no idea how many hours that might take).

That’s at least two bags of senior grain, I thought.

I thanked him and indicated that I would give the blanket repair a try on my own.

I trekked out to the farm and spread the tattered horse garment over a fence. Then I beat it with a broom to knock off the biggest clumps of dried mud.

I fastened the biggest rips closed with a couple dozen oversized safety pins, folded the blanket, and tossed it in my car.

Toting the soiled and shredded rug into the one laundromat in the tri-county area that still take horse items, I pleaded my case with the lady at the counter.

Three days and $12 later, I picked up the much-cleaner blanket and carted it to my sewing corner at home. 

LAN/The Mane Point photo. All rights reserved.

I arranged the torn horse garment on the floor and hand-stitched the rips. 

LAN/The Mane Point photo. All rights reserved.

 

Hunting through my fabric and trim remnants, I found several lengths of black grosgrain ribbon. I pinned these over the hand-sewing before top-stitching them in place.

LAN/The Mane Point photo. All rights reserved.

 

I also had to machine-stitch the torn area around one of the belly straps, reinforcing the region with a sturdy patch on the inside.

LAN/The Mane Point photo. All rights reserved.

Now my off-the-track Thoroughbred sports a few racing stripes on one side of his blanket. We think that’s somehow appropriate, even though his saddle-work days are long gone.

What’s more, the project’s a wrap, and  I can still afford his grain.

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