First time hairy owner - feather care help

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littlecoblet

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Hi All

I (all being well) will be the proud of owner of my first hairy type coblet at the weekend and am just looking for tips on the best way to care for his lovely feathers. I've read conflicting advice about different products and would like some opinions :) I'm an experienced horse owner, but never had one with this much feather before.
 
Get your fingers in there for a rummage when you pick his hooves out. In summer they're prone to nasty bites and midges, so check the skin with your finger tips particularly if he has folds of skin around the fetlocks from past neglect. Check the backs of knees for malanders and cracks in the skin. My favourite prophylatic treatment is neem oil. Smelly stuff but keeps the midges away and very soothing and fast healing on sore areas. I put some on my finger tips and rub it into sore areas and then put some on my hands and rub it through the feathers (mane and tail too. stops the tangles and keeps the hair silky.)
For malanders, after rubbing in the oil, leave for a few minutes and then brush out any scabs. If you do this regularly, it'll prevent difficult to cure sores.
Don't wash the feathers too much and don't hose off mud in winter. Less is more, as the feathers protect the skin from the wet and mud, plus they take hours to dry if the water penetrates as far as the skin.
If you are shampooing, use something like T-Gel rather than a harsh shampoo, although soft soap is brilliant for leaving silky smooth feathers as long as you rinse well.

Deosect wormer injections help with midge problems. If you see him stamping his back legs or rubbing them on the gate, you can bet it'll be due to midges. It makes them very miserable.
 
Definitely not taking them off, he's a traditional and I think he'd look odd without them!

They look pretty healthy and I spent a couple of hours with him without him stamping at all so hopefully all is good but I'll have a good rummage when he comes. For day to day care do your spray with mane/tail or oil? I've seen people recommend and advise against both.
 
I use oil for mane and tails. Any oil,ie; olive, almond, neem, pig or baby oil. Only a small amount on my hands and massaged into the skin and rubbed through the hair. I only do it every couple of weeks, usually in the evening so its absorbed before he goes out in the sun or rain. On hot days, a Spanish plait keeps him cooler and its very quick to do. Also plait the ends of his tail when stabled otherwise he treads on it.
Your farrier will love you if you use the largest size of tubi grip or some old tights to cover his feathers before trimming. It'll be easier to see that the hoof is balanced and makes the farrier less mud covered.

Hope you post pictures of the lucky boy when he comes !
 
Oooh good idea with the tubigrip, I will get some before the farrier sees him. Yes I will post some pics, he's very cute, although I admit I am biased :)
 
With the weather being crap I haven't had much chance to take pics but this was one off his advert :)

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Tried to paste a picture but my IT skills failed me. My dear old boy was probably slightly hairier than your handsome chap.
Jimbo.jpg

Having given us 15 years of pleasure, Jimbo went to horsey heaven last month. He taught me lots about all sorts of things, not least of which is hairy legs!
We spent the first 3 winters SEARCHING for mud fever, never found any - nature gave natives feathers for a reason. In Jimbo's case, they did a MUCH better job than anything I could do. He hated stables so lived out all the time I could find suitable grass livery for him, some of which involved wallowing in muddy gate ways. When the leg hair is dry, part it right through to the skin in several places. You'l probably find the ends are a bit grey, then the middle of the hair has a greasy, slightly grubby look to it then right next to the skin will be beautifully clean and the skin bone dry, if you can find it.

We later realised Jimbo had a liver condition that meant he was photosensitive. If I'd clipped his legs out he would have had sun burn all over them from March through to October. There was no question for him, he kept his feathers.

To wash them, I would pick out & wash feet then stand the leg in a large tub tug of water and massage shampoo in under the water. Then remove water and check sufficiently soapy then hose off. Finally spray coat conditioner onto hairbrush style brush and brush through. He looked stunning :-)

From time to time he got crusty / scabby bits in the creases behind his knees. The scabs worked their way along the hair. The seller of a horse that came to our yard recommended a gold label product, can't remember which, for this condition. I researched it and then bought Equimins mud block lotion and massaged it in with finger tips for a few days and it soon cleared up. If you live close enough (west sussex/hants border), come and collect the last of mine. I bought a huge bottle and guess I have one or two small bottle's worth left.

Good luck and enjoy
 
My Gypsy Cob has amazing feathers due to the amount of effort I've put in to maintain them ;) However, horses with large feathers are prone to mites as well ergots.

Ergots are easy to control; you can twist or cut them off, much like chestnuts, and they apparently do not cause discomfort to the horse, they just make brushing the feathers difficult.

Mites, on the other hand, can be very difficult to treat and can have "relapses" after treatment. I asked for advice from an acquaintance on the yard that I keep my horse on, and she suggested washing the feathers with HibiScrub and then using an insecticidal shampoo to kill any living mites on the outside of the skin. Unfortunately, as mites bury their way under the skin, clipping the feathers off does not solve the problem; I know another horse on the yard has had his feathers clipped and he has a worse case of mites than my mare. There are various powders that you can buy and work into the feathers. Once you have gotten rid of the mites, I would suggest a monthly shampooing of them with the insecticidal shampoo to be on the safe side as mites can be very itchy for horses. Make sure you always use the same brushes on the feathers, as this reduces the risk of spreading any potential mites elsewhere to places such as the mane.

When it comes to making the feathers look good, if they are white, I would suggest using "Fairy Washing-Up-Liquid" to whiten them as it is a lot cheaper than whitening shampoos and is very effective as long as you rinse it out thoroughly. Alternately, baby shampoo works well to soften feathers, and I also use "Superdrug's own" coconut conditioner on the tips of the feathers when I wash them. You leave it in for five minutes and it is quite difficult to wash out, but it makes the feathers a lot easier to brush afterwards. I also regularly spray my mare's feathers with a light spray of "Requisite Mane and Tail Conditioner" to keep them silky and use a kind of plastic curry-comb and human hair comb to brush them.

When you get the feathers looking nice it can feel so rewarding, so good luck!
 
Wow he is stunning and love his feather. Pig oil and sulphur works well on my mare but definitely as dogatemysalad says and get your fingers into the feather everyday and have a rummage around, neem oil is great as well for keeping bitey things at bay but use gloves as takes days to get the horrendous smell off your hands, does take more work having a hairy but well worth it.
 
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