The best horse shedding tools
The time has come – wearing lip balm at the barn is no longer safe. It’s time to help your equine partner shed. The best horse-shedding tools make your life easier, and there are lots of options.
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What triggers shedding season?
- The deshedding season comes in earnest twice a year. Obviously, the wooly winter coat shedding cycle is much more dramatic and leaves lots of loose hair for spring birds to use for nest building. Your horse’s summer coat will also shed in the fall; it’s just not as noticeable.
- There’s a popular myth that equines grow and shed a coat because of temperatures. The shedding process is triggered as the hours of daylight increase. Decreasing daylight tells your horse’s brain to shed the summer coat and grow a winter coat in the fall. In the late winter and spring, your horse’s winter coat sheds as the day length increases.
- The density and length of a horse’s coat are genetically determined and have little to do with colder temperatures. Long hair and overall hair growth cycles vary from horse to horse.
Options for horse shedding tools
The best tools to help your horse shed are definitely worth their weight in gold, as long as the elbow they are attached to is ready to work. Call it the “deshedding horse workout.”
The rubber curry comb for deshedding and massage
- This essential grooming tool works well for most grooming but can quickly become overwhelmed during the shedding season. A curry comb that is deeper than the usual is often better. Curry combs also come in varying degrees of stiffness. A squishy and soft curry comb won’t be as effective as a hard curry. Consider finding a curry comb with longer teeth, too, if your horse has a dense undercoat.
The metal curry comb.
- These come in two basic sizes, the circle and the loop. Both are good for grabbing hair, but are they also damaging the sleek summer coat coming in? I’m not sure.
- The loop style of metal curry can also double as a sweat scraper after a shower. I’m not a fan of using metal tools over bony parts like shoulders, hips, legs, and faces. It’s not comfortable for many horses, and there are many other horse shedding tools that are more forgiving.
Equigroomers, furminators, and other scrapers
- I feel the same way about shedding blades and furminators as I do about metal curry combs. A shedding blade is a long straight blade that you can use to rake your horse. Many are like hacksaw blades squished in between wooden blocks. Do they work? Sure!
Grooming oils
- Using Shapley’s No. 1 Light Oil (or No. 2 Heavy Oil, your pick) can pull out the hairs that you can’t grab after a thorough grooming session. Spritz a washcloth with your grooming oil and wipe your horse. The oil will pick up any remaining hair, lay down some conditioner, and add some shine. Grooming oils are especially helpful in promoting coat health with their conditioning properties.
The horse vacuum
- These lovely machines save you from flicking all of the loose horse hair into the air. Let the vacuum help you while giving you less hair to sweep.
Clippers are great for dense undercoats and wooly beasts
- It’s totally legit to clip the shedding horse! Of course, your horse will still be shedding, but at least they will be more comfortable, and the hair they do shed will be much shorter. More on this topic here!
The grooming block
- These guys work similarly to the metal curry combs and blades. The blocks wear down over time and are reasonably good at getting into smaller areas. A grooming block’s bonus is removing bot fly eggs from horse legs.
Tiger tongue
- This handy shedding tool is part sponge, part grooming block, and part flexible curry comb. The block’s texture is great for use as a curry comb on all areas of your horse, including sensitive spots. Many folks with sensitive horses use these to help their horses shed.
The Striphair groomer
- This flexible device, for lack of a better term, is a bit like a softer metal shedding blade. You wipe it on your horse’s coat to help your horse shed, and it’s great for legs and faces.
Grooming gloves to use for shedding and as a scrubber
- These are wonderful tools for working around all parts of your horse, including bony bits, legs, and faces. And when it’s time for bathing? YES, please! Gloves make fast work of bath time.
How often should you use shedding tools on a horse?
Regular grooming with shedding tools for horses should be done daily, or more, during shedding season to help remove loose hair and promote a healthy coat. Adjust the frequency based on the shedding pattern and individual needs.
Tips for deshedding horses
Keep your horse’s skin and coat as the top priority.
- There are lots of factors that make up skin health, including diet, the weather, your grooming habits and routine, genetics, and even how much your horse sweats influence healthy skin.
- Your horse’s coat grows from the skin. Prioritizing skin health will also promote a healthy coat during shedding season!
Don’t skip on elbow grease and vigorous grooming.
- There are no shortcuts to good grooming habits. Proper currying helps distribute sebum, aka smearing around those natural oils, and it also acts like a nice massage.
- When the hair is long, the traditional circular motion of currying may not be best. Raking the hair in one direction may be more efficient and tidier.
- Use clean tools! Your horse’s coat will stay cleaner and shinier if your grooming brushes and curry combs are clean. For metal shedding tools and blades, keep them oiled to prevent rust.
Stabilized flax and fish oil make great Omega-3 fatty acid supplements. Corn oil is too high in Omega-6 fatty acids.
Omega 3 fattys acids as shedding tools for horses
- While there’s no magic supplement or feed ingredient to promote quick shedding, nutrition is critical to your horse’s healthy skin.
- Many supplements for hoof quality contain biotin, a crucial nutrient for your horse’s skin. Supplements with Omega-3 fatty acids and essential amino acids will help create a nice coat and promote your horse’s natural oils.
- An equine nutritionist or your veterinarian can help you find the best supplements to add to your horse’s diet. This is a complicated task, as many products have overlapping ingredients.
Clip your horse if your horse will be more comfortable.
- It does not matter what time of year you clip. If your horse would benefit from clipping, go for it. Clipping a shedding horse will not stop the shedding process—your horse will just release smaller bits of hair!
- A full body clip makes your horse comfortable as the weather warms up. You may choose to do a full body clip or trace clip to leave leg hair long in the fall.
- Anytime a horse is clipped, be prepared to supplement with blankets as needed.
Haircut time!
Talk to your vet if your horse’s shedding cycle is askew.
- Many horses with Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), also known as Cushing’s, do not shed completely and have longer and thicker summer coats. A few blood tests can confirm this metabolic disorder.
- But PPID isn’t the only reason horses are slow to shed. Visually impaired horses don’t register the increasing amounts of daylight as other horses do. Dark stalls without much natural light may also interfere with the signals to shed.
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Omega 3's plus gut health support in a delicious cold milled flax formula. It's delicious and it will turn your horse's coat into a mirror.
This is my favorite horse care product for shine, conditioning, detangling, and stain protection.
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Omega 3's plus gut health support in a delicious cold milled flax formula. It's delicious and it will turn your horse's coat into a mirror.
The jute side buffs to add shine, the other side is fuzzy for lifting dust and applying fly sprays and grooming products.
Sort of a mix between a finishing brush and a body brush. Soft for sensitive horses.
Keep all of your poops in a group with this handy tote.
Boost shine and create a smooth coat with this medium brush from the best of the best - HAAS. Go forth and shine!
Gentle and effective detangling for your horse's mane and tail.
These are HandsOn Gloves with special pricing! Only in the color gray.
This cordless trimmer is powerful and comes with the 5-in-2 blade system for versatility.
This is my favorite clipper - It's great for body clipping, trace clipping, and trimming. Cordless for the win!
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