HI Everyone!! I know it is a little early to be asking but I really need some help on this one! My horse took forever to shed out this year, I had to clip most of his hair off in June! I would really like to do spring shows, but he just looks too scruffy for those! Does anyone have any tips or secrets to speed up his shedding? I don't want to blanket him, because he relentlessly tries to take it off and completely shreds them. Thanks!!
A horse's coat starts changing when the hours of daylight start changing...if you can, you can keep him under lights for a couple extra hours at night and before sunrise. Also, some of the supplements to keep them shiny help with shedding them out (or at least makes it lay nicer). I've used corn oil, Black oil sunflower seeds, dried molasses, paprika (darkens the color), and calf manna (but that horse was also on a flax based multivitamin, so that may have contributed to it as well).
O.k.!! Thanks for the great suggestions! I am not able to keep him inside at all, because we are trying to update our stalls because they are unsafe. I am feeding him a tbsp of flax seed every day.
Get one of those shedding blocks - cheaper if you buy them as a large "grill cleaning brick" They had my draft sleek and shiny in no time. Better than a shedding blade in my opinion.
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A horse doesn't care how much you know until he knows how much you care.
Something I found that works great is an used meat saw blade I get the used ones from our meat cutter up at our local store (for free) and if you bend completly over then and step on it they will break I make them into about 3 foot lenths then I wrap the ends with a lot of duck tape for the handles and take a file over the teeth going the wrong way the teeth go so it dulls them some. My horses love them they go deeper than a reg shedding blade and pull the loose hair out as long as you don't use it like a saw it doesn't hurt them at all, you don't have to push hard with them ether.They bow like a shedding blade to use with 1 hand or you can use both hands and cover a wider area. And I usually get 3 out of 1 saw blade.
I have 4 favourite tools in my grooming kit - curry comb that fits my tiny hands, a dandy brush that also fits my tiny hands, a hoof pick and a shedding blade. The shedding blade that I have my Mother gave to me (or did I borrow it and never give it back?), it is dual sided. One side for shirt haired dogs (the size looks like the teeth on a regular shedding blade) and one sideĀ for long haired dog breeds, and I will never part with it!
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Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway. - John Wayne