Headcollar for a delicate flower!

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zxp

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Hello guys,

My little mare is a very delicate flower! She has very sensitive skin. She lives out, but can be a toad to catch without a headcollar on, so she needs one on in the field. However her headcollar is now rubbing her - even though she had it on all winter and was fine :confused:. One day all is fine, and the next she has 3 large sores on her face :( She has always had a leather headcollar (feel safer in the field with her in leather) but as that was rubbing, I changed to a padded soft one. This too rubbed. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can get her that WONT rub?

Thanks in advance
 
Theres a grey leather i cant remember its name,but its very soft and if you oil it it goes very very soft indeed, I wish I could remember what its called, I havw a headcoller in my tack room made of it. Its sometimes used for girth straps. Help HHOliners, whats it called.
 
My mare is like this and I got her some sheepskin fluffy things for headcollers of ebay. So she looks like a right idiot but shes not rubbed!

I only have 1 pic and she doesnt have all of the pieces on but you can get the drift...
218120_10150155873367109_723417108_6907110_7800927_n.jpg


This is which one shes got...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MEDICAL-LAMBSKIN-SHEEPSKIN-4-PIECE-HEADCOLLAR-SET-COVER-/350462822351?pt=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item51993647cf

But if you ebay search sheepskin headcoller theres loads in varying expensiveness!!
 
She should really be in something specifically designed to be field safe (with fleecy bits as necessary) if wearing it turned out.
 
What about the Roma fleece one, has a fleecy nose and headpiece? I hack past two welshies that wear them out in the field, I think they look quite smart too! Cottagecraft, Bridleway and Equitheme also do a similar thing :)
 
Does the sheepskin not get a bit grosse after a while? How often do you have to wash them? If that is an option, I will dead-sheep her up! Do you think it would be better to get 2 sets to be able to have one in the washing? We are partial to a bit of dead sheep....


And yes, whilst I prefer her to be in leather in the firld, I will consider a non leather option as I think her not having open sores on her face is better for her welfare than the 0.001% chance of her getting stuck and the buckle/fence not breaking. Obvs if there is a "fieldsafe" option, that is lovely - but we do not live in a perfect world do we!
 
zxp said:
Obvs if there is a "fieldsafe" option, that is lovely - but we do not live in a perfect world do we!
Click to expand...

My boys face gets rubbed really badly, and I do have him in a "fieldsafe" headcollar (with velcro). It does still rub him unfortunatley but nowhere near as badly as his leather headcollar did - that used to leave open sores whereas the fieldsafe one leaves thinner patches of hair! Thats just what I have had to compromise on :)
 
zxp said:
Does the sheepskin not get a bit grosse after a while? How often do you have to wash them? If that is an option, I will dead-sheep her up! Do you think it would be better to get 2 sets to be able to have one in the washing? We are partial to a bit of dead sheep....


And yes, whilst I prefer her to be in leather in the firld, I will consider a non leather option as I think her not having open sores on her face is better for her welfare than the 0.001% chance of her getting stuck and the buckle/fence not breaking. Obvs if there is a "fieldsafe" option, that is lovely - but we do not live in a perfect world do we!
Click to expand...


If it were me, I wouldn't consider anything other than leather. I have seen and heard of some awful accidents in the field - you'd be amazed what horses can find to get caught up on. It really isn't 0.001% of a chance, I can assure you!

I've always been anti-nylon (and anti-haynets too, but don't get me started on that one!) but my mind was 100% made up a couple of years back after an incident in our trailer. I'd just tied Ellie up and she decided to turn her head round to look back, and in doing so, she caught the cheek of her (leather) headcollar on the top of the partition. She panicked, pulled back, and the leather snapped - it was still bloomin' scary though! I just dread to think what would have happened if she hadn't been wearing leather...it doesn't bear thinking about!

For what it's worth, Ellie sounds similar to your mare in that a) she isn't the best to catch and b) she has very sensitive skin. I try to avoid leaving the headcollar on wherever possible, but if she's going through a naughty phase then I just add lots of dead sheep to my leather headcollar, as others have suggested. It does get manky after a couple of rain showers, but it seems to help the rubbing! Last year I also tried cotton wool covered with VetRap over the areas that were rubbing most; that also worked, but got manky quite quickly.

Hope you find a solution! (but please stick to leather) :)
 
I used a foal slip for my yearling, it was cheap continental leather so would break if it caught on something, also could be kept soft with Flexolan , daily, and if you want you can get some sheep skin and make little sleeves to pad it. I use Camrosa for any sore skin.
Once caught you can pop on a stronger headcollar, I am very careful when I buy webbing HC's as some of them have very stiff edges which would cut any skin.
 
Last edited:
zxp said:
Hello guys,

My little mare is a very delicate flower! She has very sensitive skin. She lives out, but can be a toad to catch without a headcollar on, so she needs one on in the field. However her headcollar is now rubbing her - even though she had it on all winter and was fine :confused:. One day all is fine, and the next she has 3 large sores on her face :( She has always had a leather headcollar (feel safer in the field with her in leather) but as that was rubbing, I changed to a padded soft one. This too rubbed. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can get her that WONT rub?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
I would try and work on the catching issues!!! kills two birds with one stone horse is safer and more comfotable without one and it looks much more professional when horses are turned out without headcollars....
 
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