How To Keep Your Horse Naturally Clean
May 4th, 2012 by KittyKitty
I never cease being startled each time I look at the dazzling array of shampoos, conditioners and other vanity items for horses in shops around. Each time I visit a tack shop or a feed store, I see rows upon rows of those items.
While the producers of those things are in it for the money, the pony owners should know better. They should be aware of the fact that oil on pony skin is natural, and it is there for a purpose, a constructive one. Ideally, you should use a mild shampoo once a fortnight or so on your pony, with the same frequency of use of conditioners for the manes and tails. When you overdo the washing and shampooing part, you’ll get your pony to look sparkling clean, but you can land up making him pay a cost for it. By robbing him of his natural protecting oils, you are rendering him susceptible to issues relating to dry and flaky skin, sunburn and itchiness. Sure there also are rows upon rows of products for these ailments in shops. Now, you might spend a lot of cash on shampoos and conditioners and then spend serious cash setting right whatever damage the shampoos and conditioners wrought, or you may be a little proactive in the conviction that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
A little while ago, one of the horses of a good pal of mine started to rub its tail practically nonstop throughout the day. The tail in its natural state was classy, but the elegance was under major threat due to the rubbing. My friend assumed that his horse was suffering from worms, since rubbing is a normal sign of worm infestation, and he dewormed his horse. It was in vain, the horse’s rubbing became much worse.
It took a long while, plenty of agony to the horse and a lot of stress to my chum before he was eventually able to affirm that his horse was rubbing as it was allergic to the conditioner he was using on its tail. It was ironic that all the time he was searching for a solution to his hose’s rubbing, he was basically worsening the condition with his constant use of the conditioner. When he woke up to this face, he washed out his horse’s tail with plain water and threw away the conditioner. Inside a couple of days, there was no more rubbing to be seen.
The simplest way to keep your horse clean is actually by doing some careful grooming. Grooming is something that goes down well with horses, who love it, and there’s absolutely no doubt it is truly favorable for them. It’s got a therapeutic effect both on the groomer and the groomed.
Ideally, you should have a separate grooming kit for every one of your horses. If you don’t, at least ensure you wash out your brushes with a mild shampoo after each use. Don’t try to be vet and horse owner all combined. If your horses are all subjected to some skin condition that is raging around, get your vet over and follow his prescriptions and directions faithfully.
Another of my pony owner mates has the worthy habit of soaking all her grooming brushes every week in hot water with a little vinegar in it. She rarely has any skin conditions with her horses.
Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about horse rugs.
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