How to Use Rubbing Alcohol at the Barn
If you were anything like me as a kid, your scraped knees and cuts were cleaned with alcohol. OUCH. I remember feeling more pain during “cleaning” than when I face-planted. Times have changed, and we know alcohol and hydrogen peroxides are NOT the go-to wound cleaner. Alcohol can create more tissue damage and delay healing. BUT – there are many uses for rubbing alcohol at the barn.
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Inexpensive and you can even find it at the grocery store!
- Alcohol is commonly used as a cooling brace under standing wraps. This acts as a liniment for your horse’s legs. Rub it in briskly until the leg isn’t wet anymore, which doesn’t take long as the alcohol evaporates quickly. You can then put your standing bandages on.
These standing wraps helped this horse travel across the country – by trailer, plane, and trailer again.
- You can make a laundry stain remover with one part rubbing alcohol and two parts water. Spritz on stains, especially grass stains, and get some more wear out of your horse items.
- Gross alert – For horses that live in tick-infested areas, a handy tick-removing tool is great. Clean your tool with rubbing alcohol, and drop your caught tick into a small container of alcohol to finish him off. More tick information here.
- Rubbing alcohol can aid in the removal of tar, sap, and smegma that sometimes appear on your horse. It can be drying to the skin, so use it sparingly. You may want to try witch hazel, too, which can help remove stains.
Alcohol is cooling
- When legs are spritzed with rubbing alcohol before using an icing product, the ice stays cooler! This is great for summer when you also have to battle heat and humidity.
- Keep rubbing alcohol on hand for the horse with anhidrosis. Mixed with a bit of water and sprayed on can help your horse cool off thanks to alcohol’s ability to evaporate. More about anhidrosis here!
- For the overheated horse (ALWAYS call the vet ASAP), your vet may have you pour rubbing alcohol along the spine for an extra-large helping of evaporative cooling. Any time your horse’s temperature is above 101.5 (or whatever your vet tells you), call! It could be a fever, which needs to be contained, or it could be overheating, which also needs to be addressed asap.
Why do you keep rubbing alcohol at the barn?
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Thank you!