Tips and product reviews!

My 10 Favourite Things I Wouldn't Be Without | Products | Tips

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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.

Hair ripper
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.

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Products

Rugs | Jodhs | Bell boots | Mane Stay Hood | Natural bristle brush

Synthetic vs canvas rugs

Synthetic rugs are really lightweight so cut back on the weight of rugs on your horse, and also the number you have to use. Make sure you get the kind that is breathable. However, even though they are *breathable*, they don't breathe AS MUCH as a canvas rug. In hot conditions, canvas is probably a better bet. Here in Hobart, a sythetic would be OK for 3 seasons, but not in summer. One tip for keeping your horse from sweating under rugs is to use a fabric called polypropaline. It looks like a woolen fabric but is synthetic. It won't absorb water so is good for wicking moisture away. You can have it made up as an under rug or I get my canvas rugs made with it as a lining fabric. If your horse is hard to fit you might have to avoid combo rugs – they are harder to adjust. You need to make sure rugs fit high up over the wither so they don't rub, you do this by adding darts around the neck if the rug is too big. There are often new rugs to be found on eBay at discount prices

Made-to-measure jodhs for no extra cost

No, I’m not mad. The company’s name is "Buckskin Jodhpurs". They have a big range of colours and will make to measure at no extra cost so if "off the rack" jodhs don’t fit you they are the people to talk to. They advertise in Horse Deals, but here are their contact details: Buckskin Jodhpurs, 8 Tyro Crt, Montrose 3765 VIC, ph 03 9728 3761.

Neoprene bell boots are fantastic

Neoprene (and PVC) bell boots are fantastic!
It is well worth the money to fork out for non-rubber bell boots. Rubber bell boots can, well, rub, and are hard to get on and then fall off or invert half way round a cross country course. My neoprene ones are fantastic! Make sure you get ones that are double thickness neoprene not single. I also had a pair of the soft plastic ones (like the "Hampa" - style boots) that lasted more than 12 months fitted full time to a paddocked horse without breaking or rubbing. They were also fantastically easy to clean. (The horse had been "nerved", an operation to cut the nerves to the back of the foot. This means the horse cannot feel anything in the back of his foot so there is a danger of him injuring himself and he wouldn’t feel a thing - hence the bell boots. The horse "Crackle" (see my photos page) has "Navicular" and without the operation, he would have been put down because of this extremely painful condition).

Mane Stay hoods don’t move

These hoods really hold up to the manufacturer’s claims. They really stay in place, there is no danger of them slipping over the horse’s eyes. You can leave them on full time in the paddock, however they will saturate in heavy rain. If you horse rubs a lot they will rub small holes but the holes don’t seem to spread, and this would happen with any hood.

Horse-hair brush bargain of the century

You know how "natural hair" brushes at the saddlery cost a fortune? Have a look in your supermarket where the shoe polishes are. You will find a perfect wooden-backed natural horse hair brush for approx $8. The bristles are beautifully soft and make a great body brush/polishing brush, great on thinner-coated horses.

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Tips

Herbal fly spray | Skin cream | Greasy heel | Herbals | Chocolate swabs | Natural horsemanship | Records

Herbal fly spray

Be careful handling essential oils, do not get on your skin especially eyes or mouth, its best to use gloves.

Recipe #1 Victoria Ferguson In a 500ml spray bottle: Half water or strained wormwood tea Half organic cider vinegar 15 drops of citronella essential oil 5 drops of pennyroyal essential oil*

Recipe #2 Horses Down Under (I haven't tried this one yet) 300mls cider vinegar 150mls chamomile tea 4 drops eucalyptus oil 20 drops pennyroyal oil* 10 drops peppermint oil**

*Do not come into contact if pregnant, and open outside because it smells foul
**Optional

Skin-healing cream

This is the best cream, it is fabulous! This recipe was given to my by a friend, who had it given to her by another friend, during a very wet spring when nearly every horse locally had greasy heel. I discovered it also works well on healing minor scrapes/bite marks - it softened the scabs which revealed healthy pink skin underneath, and encouraged hair regrowth. All three ingredients encourage skin healing. The recipe is:
equal parts of the following:

• Zinc cream
• "Ungvita" cream (contains Vit. A, from a chemist in the baby section)
• Vitamin E cream

Combatting greasy heel

Greasy heel is an infection that horses get on their legs in wet conditions. Scabs form on the legs, especially just above the heels where the skin is soft. Some books say it is a bacterial infection, others fungal. You can get rid of it if you hit it hard in the early stages, but it can be notoriously hard to shift once it gets established. Moisture spreads the infection so you need to try to keep the horse dry, and if you wash him make sure you dry the legs thoroughly. I bought a horse once with chronic greasy heel and here are some suggestions for getting rid of it:
If it is in the early stages, dress with one of the following:

• The "skin healing cream" described above
• Sulphur powder (available from feed suppliers)
• Sulphur powder mixed with a bit of oil (eg baby oil) to make a paste
• 10% copper sulphate solution (you get copper sulphate from feed suppliers)
• any good quality herbal wash or cream
• preparation supplied by your vet

If it has really set in, you need to remove the scabs, so that your dressing can penetrate and start the healing. To remove the scabs, you will need to soften them first. To do this, poultice the scabs with the skin healing cream described above, or any herbal cream. Wrap in glad wrap to keep the moisture in, then bandage for 12-24-36 hours. I find it takes 36 hours to get them soft enough to pick off easily. Then dress with one of the dressings above. The scabs will grow back again but will be smaller, so repeat every couple of days until you get rid of them completely. You can rotate through different dressings in case the infection gets resistant to one of them, or you might find one works better than the others.

Herbal remedies

Herbal remedies are really good for treating minor injuries, yes they DO work and are cheaper than stuff you get in the saddlery. Examples are: fly spray, skin healing cream, disinfectant spray for minor scrapes, herbs for bruising, good coat, good hooves, herbs for calming horses, herbs for helping a horse recover following an injury or infection. There are some good books and web sites around.

Chocolate will swab!

Chocolate swabs so don’t give to your horse if competing officially. Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine (a chemical similar to caffeine) and they will both show up in a "swab". I read in a book that malt combings also might swab.

"Natural Horsemanship" really works

If you are wondering if you should try this, go right ahead. I did and my horsemanship advanced by lightyears. Minor issues such as float loading, horses that barge or crowd, horses that won’t lead or lunge, teaching your horse to go/stop and turn, training your horse to behave on a loose rein, to stop him if he bolts, to stand still while mounting are now just that: minor issues. You can go on and do more advanced stuff (including "on the bit") if you want but isn’t it worth a try just to solve all these "minor problems"? Just a bit of warning - "Natural" trainers like to train you from the beginning. Whist you are learning, learn on your quietest horse - leave your problem/sensitive horse at home. When you are learning you can give confusing signals that will upset a sensitive horse. Just with any training approach - if it isn’t working, you have to change your approch, and the techniques have been evolving over the past 10 years. So if you had a look 10 years ago and weren’t impressed, it might be time to look again, or try a different instructor. PS Did I mention the float loading? All my horses just walk on by themselves and stand there while I do up the ramp. When I let the ramp down again they wait till I tell them to come off. How much is that worth to you at 6am on show day?

Keep records

I know this sound anal retentive but if you keep a record of everything for your horse in one place, you can easily check when his feet/teeth/vaccines are due. You can also keep a record of costs. It is also kind of a nice keepsake of your horse. Years ago "Your Horse" magazine gave one away free so this is what I have based mine on. Just buy an exercise book for each horse. Here are the headings for each page to give you an idea:

• Horse details (name, dob, sex, colour, distinguishing marks, purchased from and date, breeding, height)
• Insurance
• Registration numbers
• Tack and equipment bought (need to keep a record for insurance)
• Vaccinations
• Worming
• Teeth
• Injuries (you can see what you did last time)
• Veterinary treatment
• Farrier
• Daily feed chart
• Feed/hay bought (it is fascinating to see how much prices go up!)
• Tuition
• Introduction of new activities/tack/level
• Competition record
• Gear repairs
• Agistment