Chesnuts are scaly growths on the inside of all four legs. They usually drop off by themselves, but for extra pampering, rub some potroleum jelly or mineral oil to help them drop off.
Ergots are tiny horny growths at the bottom of the fetlock. Do the same thing with the chestnuts.
For a luxurious finishing touch, rub your horse down with a sheepskin grooming mitt. Spray conditioner directly on the grooming mitt and rub the horse down.
Rinse a towel in some baby-oil and water in a bucket and then let air dry. Use it for the final rub down.
Once a month, try washing and disinfecting your grooming tools and brushes. Soak them in water and dish detergent, rub them clean, and then wash them in Lysol with water. Then rinse them in plain water and let them air dry. Make sure there ins't any soap left over.
Be gentle with the faces. Use a tiny 4-inch bristle brushes. The bristles should be soft, so the brush is gentle and soft for horses' faces.
Clean his muzzel and nostrils with Baby Wipes. It leaves there muzzel soft and sweet smelling, and after all, that's where we kiss em'!
Protect those pink noses! For horses with sensitive pink noses, rub Sunblock 45 on their noses so they won't get sunburned!
Get picky. To keep tail hair breakage to a minimum, use a human hair brush pick to gently seperate hairs and free it of tangles.
Desnag the burrs. To remove burrs or a particularly bad tangle, spray on conditioner generously and let it dry. Then, hand seperate hairs to loosen burrs or tangles. If your turned-out horse will get burrs caught in his tail, spray on conditioner before it even goes out. It will make it easier later to remove the burrs.
Don't spray too much conditioner when you are going to braid the mane and tail, for it makes it too slippery. If you accidently did spray too much, spray on some Quic Braid. It's a product that helps you grip onto the hairs, and won't make it too slippery. Or rinse the tail completely and let it dry.
Splash a little Vitalis on your hands and rub it through your horse's mane. It'll make him smell good.
For using scissors around horses, use blunt end scissors.
Don't overcut bushy manes. Since you're only trimming and not thinning, bushier manes may clump a bit when they hand. Trim them a little longer so that the added weight will hold them down.
Apply a light dusting of baby powder under leg wraps for a horse who gets rubbed. First, lightly brace the leg with witch hazel, let dry, and then apply the baby powder and wrap.
After strenuous acitvity, try pouliticing from ankle up to and including knees or hocks.
Much has been said to leave your horse's feet alone if they're healthy. No creams, conditioners, supplements, etc. Check with your vet though, to see what is best for your horse's hooves. Don't ever neglect the feet! They're your horse's foundation.
Biotin. If your horse's feet are dry, shelly or crumbly, check with your vet about feeding a biotin supplement to your horse to help heal his feet from the inside.
Hooves should be trimmed or reshod every 6-8 weeks.
A clean cement or rubber mats over a dirt floor is best when applying creams or packings to hooves.
In wet climates, too much dressing, creams or conditioners, etc., will soften the hooves. It will cause the nail holes of shod horses to give, loosening the shoes.
If your horse has soft feet, avoide too much bathing or putting to much dressing onto hooves.
Soothe aching or sore feet by packing with a cooling Pol-Cat poultice.
If your horse has thrush or early signs of thrush such as foul odor and/or black soles. Flush the hoove with hydrogen peroxide or commercially made treatments such as Thrush Busters, Thrush Remedy, etc.
Always use warm water when bathing in cool weather.
Use a spray nozzel so you can adjust the power of the water. A little more power can get and rinse out the soap well while bathing.
Only bathe your horse when the temperature is at or above 75 degrees.
