winter health care

So you have decided to leave your horse as nature intended, and soon he will resemble a woolly yak but as nature has carefully provided this protection against the elements there are problems that can arise from going all-natural. Weight loss, wounds, skin problems are harder to pick up on compared to when that coat was slick and short, but by been on the look out hopefully your best friend will breeze through winter without any problems and still look like a million dollars.

Maintain Skin Health

Most winter skin conditions result from a dirty coat, which can allow bacteria and fungi a foothold, as long as you are rugging your horse, keep his skin healthy with some vigorous brushing daily. This allows you to really check his skin out for nicks, clumps of hair that could indicate a wound or the start of a skin problem. We like to use a non-silicone conditioner at the end of a groom session, and been eco wise, our pick is the Show Off spray made by ECO2000, this product has no chemicals and is all natural so there is no build up of gluggy, slimy sprays. You will also find by applying Show Off your horses’ coat will be less inclined to get really dirty.

A bath in winter….?

There are times when a good bath is well called for but you can only do this if you have the facilities to cope with washing in winter. Firstly you have to pick a warm day and time it so you can have your horse fully dried off before the afternoon chills come, warm water… there is no way I could subject a horse to a cold water bath in the middle of winter – if you do not have hot water you can still get by doing a somewhat old fashion sponge bath using lots of boiled water to get the water up to a comfortable temperature. After washing completely run your stable rubber all over to remove all excess water, then grab the towels and start rubbing! Now if you don’t have to the time to completely towel dry which is very hard with a full coat, towel him off to remove as much as possible, we use what they call hospital blankets made into rugs [they are a open weave] place this against his skin then rug him to a comfortable warmth so his body temperature helps to dry him off, if the day is as it should be sunny and no wind! You could place him back into paddock to walk around. Make sure before the chill comes in to remove the under blanket, rub him over again with towel to makes sure he is totally dry.

Without sounding like a commercial and its hard as we have gone through many products to find those that work or have that something special that makes our jobs easier, don’t use a shampoo that has suds exploding everywhere, the more pretty white sud’s and bubbles the more water and time will be needed to remove it all from their coats. We use the Shampoo made by ECO2000 for a number of reasons and the main one being… its ‘spot on’ for quick washes, using the least amount of water to remove, fill a bucket halfway with warm water splash in some shampoo swirl it up, dip your wash brush in and scrub you horse, don’t panic if your used to seeing lots of bubbles cause with this you wont see suds, but wait till you rinse and you will see the effect of this shampoo! and it does not strip out any of the horse natural oils, which he needs to help keep him warm during winter.

Mane and tail care, if your horse wears a tail bag, change it at least every week, same with neck rugs you must keep these clean, so both of these need to be washed each week. Condition the mane and tail by simply spraying through some Show Off and using your fingers to move it through, this will help prevent excessive hair breakage that could be caused through the use of neck rugs and tail bags.

Maintain Hoof & Skin Health

Mud/manure-packed hooves provide the ideal environment for thrush. Clean your horse's feet daily. Try to every 3^rd day give his hooves a squirt out with water, then spray on the Healthy Skin & Hoof it has ingredients that may assist in the prevention of thrush. Routinely examine your horse's legs for signs of redness or scurf, possible precursors to scratches, for minor problems you can use the Healthy Skin & Hoof spray directly on any troubled spots, if your horse has got a problem that is caused through standing in really boggy, wet slush, best is prevention – move him to a well drained paddock if you can not do this you could try using normally Zinc cream as a barrier but you will have to wash his legs every 2^nd day, completely dry and allow to air before applying again.