Spring Horse Grooming Essentials

For helpful tips on products for spring grooming your horse, Murdoch’s teamed up with Montana horse rancher Briana Malmquist (@pipers_zoo). Here are her recommendations for what you need in your grooming tote.

By Briana Malmquist

Spring has sprung, and with the increased daylight hours comes the inevitable shedding season. It’s the time of year when horse owners everywhere are covered with horse hair, and yet, unexplainably, there is still hair on their horses, somehow.

Grooming your horse is important, especially after a long winter. A good spring grooming can help stimulate circulation, remove any mud and dead-hair buildup, and allow you to assess the health of your horse. While grooming, keep a lookout for injuries, parasites, fungi, and anything else that may have shown up during hibernation season. 

Having the right tools for spring grooming goes a long way. Even better, comfortably packing them around the ranch helps a ton when your herd is spread over multiple pastures and pens.

For spring grooming, a few essential tools are necessary to get the job done right:

• Metal curry comb or shedding blade — Perfect for removing hair and caked-on mud. Just prepare for it to transfer directly from your horse to you!
• Stiff bristle brush – For use after the curry comb. Gently use it to comb the horse’s face and legs where the curry comb is too harsh.
• Mane and tail brush paired with Cowboy Magic detangler – If the mane and tail are not maintained throughout the winter, they could become matted and bunched into dreadlocks. Cowboy Magic provides just that — magic — to help you work that brush through your horse’s mane and tail. Plus, it restores moisture to your horse’s hair, repels dirt and dust, and leaves hair nice and shiny. 
• Hoof pick and Thrush Buster – Don’t forget the feet! It’s vital to regularly pick out your horse’s feet, especially if your horse spends any time in the mud. A prolonged wet environment can cause thrush – an infection. If left untreated, thrush could cause temporary or permanent lameness. 

For our horses, when the days get longer and the temperatures warm, we try to groom every horse at least once every week or two. Aside from the obvious benefits of spring grooming, it’s nice to get our hands on every horse to make sure everyone is healthy and happy. So, for an evening of horse lovin’, we either grab our grooming tote or simply stick a curry comb and mane and tail brush in our pockets and head out. If we don’t want to bother with full grooming, grooming gloves are an easy answer – you can pet your horse and remove that excess hair at the same time!

Grooming is a win-win all around. It is good for the horse, and good for your soul.