Grooming-Arm-Burn – It’s a thing, and we have the cure
You’ve updated your saddle away from flat flaps and hard seats. You’ve updated your bridle to provide the latest ergonomic comfort for your horse. Your thick, wool show coat never leaves the back of the closet, and your boots feature convenient zippers. But has your grooming box received an upgrade?
I still have the pony club checklist burned into my brain: hard brush, soft brush, rubber curry, hoof pick, mane and tail brush. And, oh, the hours spent making circles with my curry, chipping away at the once grey, but now chestnut (mud brown) horse, feeling my arms burning and cursing that single mud puddle for making me late to my lesson.
Luckily for us, there have been some innovations in grooming equipment, making our grooming job more productive with less arm-burning.
1. Mud and hair removal made easy
First off, if you want to see a miracle in real life, the Tough-1 Grooming Genie will make your dreams come true. Mud will literally jump off your horse, hair will shed off with ease, and even the most sensitive skinned horse will appreciate not being accosted with endless scrubbing circles.
2. Elbow grease – in a brush
For that “my horse is ready for the show ring at all times” shine, follow the Grooming Genie with the Vale Easy Clean Body Brush. This brush combines hard brush scrubbing and soft brush polish in the most perfect half-and-half combination. It cleans and shines in one fell swoop, and works better than having two separate brushes.
3. Leave it long and flowing – mane and tail
When moving on to the mane and tail, we all want something that is gentle on the hair, and won’t wind up with the dreaded ‘separation’ of bristle pad and handle. With the Roma Gell Mane/Tail Brush you have both the gentle bristles, and no pad separation, plus it features a comfortable gel handle that conforms to your hand, and further reduces the grooming-arm-burn.
4. No hoof, no horse
There’s no getting around the act of picking out our horse’s feet, although certain individuals do make our job easier than others. What we do want to make sure of is that we are reaching all the necessary places that harmful bacteria, dirt, and rocks can hide. The unique shape of the Equi-Essentials Aluminum Hoof Pick make it easy to reach those hard to reach crevices, and features a comfort grip handle, for comfortable control, even with the most twitch-y footed horse.
5. Keep it organized
To round up all these fun grooming supplies (plus spray bottles, random spurs, and maybe the stray rubberband or two), you need something that is easy to clean, fun to organize, and convenient to carry. The WOW Deluxe Grooming Tools Tote is all of that and it makes the Type A part of us who want to see everything neat and orderly (even if we aren’t Type A OR neat and orderly).
And the best part of all these new grooming supplies isn’t how easy grooming will be, or how awesome your horse will look – it’s that they come in all the colors necessary for you to have the most color coordinated grooming box in the whole barn (just kidding – the best part will definitely be how awesome your horse will look).