Favourite products
My 10 Favourite Things I Wouldn't Be Without
Grooma-matic brush
With soft rubber bristles they are the best mulit-purpose brush around. You can use them as a normal body brush - the rubber bristles are really soft for sensitive horses. The rubber bristles grab the old dead hairs which come out easily. They are also a fantastic washing brush - they get the shampoo all the way down to the roots - you actually spend more time rinsing they are so good!
PHP Top Tails hair detangler
Detangle even Friesian tails in 10 minutes. No more spending hours combing your horse’s tail, trying not to pull the hairs out. You only need a tiny amount smoothed through the tail, and knots seem to just fall out. They advertise in Horse Deals, you can get Top Tails from: PO Box 302, Oxenford, QLD 3210, ph 07 5502 8889. It costs approx $25 but comes in a huge tube and lasts for ages.
Rope halter & lead
Your horse is less likely to ignore or get away from you with these. Do not leave on in paddock as they don't break.
Shade cloth rug
I am talking about the plastic type. They are breathable, UV resistant, tough, keep off insects, keep your horse cool, they only let in a tiny bit of rain and let your horse dry off easily.
Shade cloth gear bag
I have a large gear bag made from plastic shade cloth, it fits all my ropes, bridle, lunging gear, saddle blanket etc and the mesh means everything can dry off so it doesn't go moldy. The gear is all in the one spot and really easy to carry.
Hay string cutter
Small plastic thingy with protected blade for cutting baling twine. Safe to use, you can get them from haberdashers a lot cheaper than the "stable" ones.
Hay sling
Strip of canvas the width of a hay biscuit and long enough to take up to half a bale with handles on each end. Means you can carry your hay and a bucket at the same time. You can get them from Goodwoods.
Velcro cleaner
Cleans the hooks of dirty Velcro so its good as new – great for horse gear. Get them from saddleries.
Small rubber curry comb
Fits inside hand so can lean really hard to shift hair and mud.
Metal hair comb
When your horse is changing coat, get a thing that looks like a metal sweat scraper with teeth on one side, it only takes a few minutes to get all the dead hair out when you brush (instead of hours). It is amazing fun to watch the hair come out, you can get a handfull per scrape, and the horses love it. The teeth get clogged up with grease from the coat so you have to wash it every so often. They look cruel but they aren’t - the horse can’t feel them through a thick winter coat and anyway your horse will soon tell you when to stop. Don’t use on the "bony" bits of your horse, just the muscular bits.