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Post by shan on Nov 29, 2012 20:52:41 GMT 1
Lol! I've never bathed a horse in my life! In winter dried mud comes off her back & sides with a metal curry when she comes in or for her to be rugged, heels & feet get cleaned & checked, legs & belly get left mostly, and in summer a good old fashioned brushing! Even when it's boiling hot all Ginge gets is a very occassional bucket & sponge. :-)
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Post by Karon on Nov 30, 2012 13:51:30 GMT 1
I just flick the worst of the mud off the tack areas with mine if I'm riding, too - they're way too disgusting to be able to get the mud off completely anyway. Those of us at the yard who never wash our horses' legs off when they come in are the only ones who don't have horses with mud fever, too
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Post by arabiangem on Nov 30, 2012 14:13:00 GMT 1
Had to laugh at this ;D you ought to see my TB. She was jet black and shiny in the summer - is now a disgusting shade of...............mud! She is plastered in the stuff and happy as a pig in the proverbial, so's my hairy cob and my PBA ;D All are checked daily, poo picked, fed, hayed, well loved and ridden. The one thing they are not is clean or tidy! I scrape off the tacked up areas and take the very worst off the rest. Time is of a premium and it is more important that they are exercised (mainly for feet health - all barefoot) than look pristine. I have had smart people on beautifully turned out horses give mine questioning looks, Am I bovvered? Not in the least!! And neither are my girls Judging by the way they strode out this morning Blaze and Marygold are wearing their winter look with pride and more than a hint of a swagger ;D Marygold is a total hippo when it comes to wallowing and wears her mudpack with pride! Marjorie on the other hand, is a laaaadddddddyyyyy and whilst she does roll, she rarely has a lot of mud to remove. In terms of grooming/checking, I do a daily check over. When riding Mon-Fri, I do a quick flick routine. But I do like to give a full groom session on a weekend. Thorough brush, mane and tail gleaming and a weight check as part of that. She looks so booootiful when gleaming!
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Post by jennyb on Nov 30, 2012 14:39:58 GMT 1
I don't lose sleep over Gazdag being muddy but he does get bathed relatively regularly for shows. In winter it's just mane/tail and any dirty bits, in summer it will be a full bath as he lives out naked in summer and loves to get dirty.
However I do like to give him a thorough groom regularly, even if he stays mud-stained in places. The usual reasons - good for bonding, coat condition, easy to do a proper check over for injuries whilst grooming, good for circulation and so on.
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Post by cheekychops on Nov 30, 2012 19:01:49 GMT 1
Cheeky chops got a thorough grooming today whilst waiting for the vet. Thankfully he was 3 hours late...just enough time!!
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Post by lisap on Nov 30, 2012 23:40:00 GMT 1
Our newest livery was quite shocked when I ripped the hosepipe from her hands just as she was going to start washing her cob's feathers the other day! our lot live out all the time, and the only time we ever have mudfever or similar is when the horse is under the weather and their immune system is not 100%. Or....when naughty owners insist on washing their horse's legs. If you are going to have horses live out all the time, then mud and dirt is a fact of life. Better left on while wet, and only removed when the mud is completely dry. Only wash legs if you are going to leave your horse stabled for long enough that the legs completely dry out. Otherwise leave well alone! Even the posh Lipizzaner only has white legs in the summer. Otherwise he is as grubby as all the others! ;D
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Post by BJMM on Dec 1, 2012 18:40:10 GMT 1
Totally agree Lisa. A woman I used to share a yard with insisted on washing her coloured cob's legs and they ended up red raw! Blaze has lots of feather, doused in pig oil and sulphur. The mud gets gross on the surface but she is dry and clean next to the skin.
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