Time for your tips - share your secrets

Tnavas

Tnavas

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New Zealand but from UK
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Don't you hate it when the velcro on boots , rugs and bandages fills up with bits of hair, fluff and hay?

Find a very fine comb - such as a nit comb and comb the hook side of the Velcro - everything comes out leaving the Velcro working as good as new.
 
Got Neds in from the field and their feet are all muddy and mucky like they've been treading in treacle? (OK so they probably have.......)

Solution = simples. Get some Lynne Russell Stain Remover and spray on to all four feet/legs, over the mud, muck etc. THEN get your hosepipe and hose down as normal. Mud and gunk comes away easily, no problem. You can also spray it in tails before washing, fab stuff.

Even better: get preventive, and spray with Muddy Marvel BEFORE turning out. OR sponge down with a cheap oil such as baby oil. Or spray with hair-spray (same stuff I would guess as Muddy Marvel i.e. silicone, but cheaper!).

I can use Pig Oil, used carefully on my boy, but NOT with sulphur as many on here recommend - he came up all pink and sore when I used it on him (I felt Soooo guilty, poor lad). I put Neem oil and Tea Tree in, a few drops, and he can tolerate it that way, but not mixed in with the sulpher. But PLEEEESE peeps, if you've not used any of these oils or whatever on your Neds before, especially Pig Oil, then do a little patch test first on the area that you'll be using it on.
 
Show shine sprayed onto the inside of necks of combo rugs will help stop manes being rubbed out. Spray the rug, not the horse.

A grooming stone is brilliant for getting horse hairs off numnahs or serge panels on saddles.

Horses can be conditioned to be more amenable to syringe wormers by using an old (empty) worming syringe and sucking up apple sauce and "feeding" it to your horse regularly.

Carrots last longer when stored in a bucket of cold water rather than in a bag or net (change the water regularly).
 
For Ultra white socks

Wash first with Fairy liquid, rinse, towel dry and then wash with Blue Shampoo, leave for 20 mins rinse and towel dry. Warm water does the best job

Then - make a soft paste with Curash baby powder and warm water, using a tooth brush work well into the hair. For short hair, bandage over preferably with white or blue bandages - in case the colour runs! Just before class unwrap and brush off any excess powder.

If long hair allow to dry fully before brushing out.

If you can't get Curash baby powder you need the sort that is for nappy rash - usually contains zinc as well as the normal baby powder.
 
Carry a small multi tool style pocket knife when doing all things horsey, you never know when the scissors might come in handy or a bit of rope needs cut or a haynet gets inextricably wrapped around a horses leg even though you've pretty much tied it to the ceiling (how do they do it to themselves?) :rolleyes:
 
When velcro has become ineffective due to hay or hair clogging it then these cat grooming brushes are great at cleaning them up & restoring their function:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ancol-Her...1?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Cats&hash=item2325a81b45

Best tip is that if possible buy things to use on your horse or around your stable from anywhere other than a tack shop. As soon as something is labelled as 'Equestrian' the price trebles.

Buy your skips from a builders merchant rather than a tack shop, you won't get pink, probably black or yellow but they will be both stronger & cheaper. ;)
 
Feed samples in those nice little bags are great for bribing horses into boxes or hiding medicine as they taste that little bit different
 
To keep your sugarbeet from freezing in winter or going rancid in summer soak it inside a 'Chilly Bin' don't know what you call them in UK but one of these



The very big version is great for soaking haynets as it has wheels as well
 
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Shower caps for feed bucket covers (I buy mine in bulk from eBay, the clear ones used for spray tanning etc, means I don't mind chucking them when they get minging!)
Furniture polish for tail detangler and shine
Supermarket basic price nappies for poultices
Chest freezer for rug/feed bin
Baby oil as mud guard
Hot water and vingegar as coat shine
Cotton bed sheet under rug to keep rug clean, easier to clean the sheet than the rug!
 
A few drops of lavender and tea tree oil in bucket of water. Drop all your grooming kit in and the dirt rises to the top of the water. Leaves them smelling lovely, clean and disinfected.
 
Tnavas said:
For Ultra white socks
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You can see what a (human) mother I am - I thought we'd gone onto household hints. I was just going to get going on my meringue method!

Thanks for posting about the velcro. Just spring cleaned all my tack equipment today (every other spring), and was wondering about that.
 
Coblover63 said:
A grooming stone is brilliant for getting horse hairs off numnahs or serge panels on saddles.

Horses can be conditioned to be more amenable to syringe wormers by using an old (empty) worming syringe and sucking up apple sauce and "feeding" it to your horse regularly.

Carrots last longer when stored in a bucket of cold water rather than in a bag or net (change the water regularly).
Click to expand...


Brilliant tips here! liking the wormer tip and the carrot one, will be investing in a grooming stone to remove cob hair from my numnah! :D

For greys/white horses/white bits

I use touch of silver shampoo on my white cob (yes she has pink skin so very white :p ) the shampoo is purple and neutralises yellow/brassy tones - brings her tail and legs up lovely :) Also i crush up the chalk blocks and rub them into slightly damp legs then let dry and brush off with a soft brush - i also use chalk blocks on all her body not just white legs!! she's always gleaming white :D
 
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Good old Aussie Tea Tree oil.
Has a multitude of uses around the stable

- Fly repellant. Mix with water in a spray bottle and bugs and midges be gone!
- As a wound treatment as it has antiseptic and anti fungal properties. Simply dab it on cuts and abrasions. Apparently wounds do heal faster after it is applied. I've used it for years and swear by it.
- Mud fever. Mix with water and spray on and it does wonders for killing bacteria.
- Massage oil. Mix a few drops with a massage oil and give your neddy a good muscle massage. Mine loves his weekly massage sessions and he also seems to like the smell too.
- Great as a disinfectant. Add several drops in to the machine when washing rugs, saddlecloths, etc. Also add to a bucket of warm water to soak dirty brushes.
- It also helps in alleviating horsey dandruff in manes and tails. Simply add a few drops into the shampoo.
Also great for us humans too. Same applies as above.
I believe Boots sells it. About £4 for 10mls but it does go a long way.
 
Gusbear said:
Good old Aussie Tea Tree oil.
Has a multitude of uses around the stable
As a wound treatment as it has antiseptic and anti fungal properties. Simply dab it on cuts and abrasions. Apparently wounds do heal faster after it is applied. I've used it for years and swear by it.
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Do you have to mix it for cuts or use it neat? :)
 
Check out the local pound shop - mucking out gloves £7.99 in tack shop, £1 in pound shop, great for water buckets, feed bins, other bits and bobs too.

Drag full water buckets using a bit of bailing twine looped thru the handle instead of trying to carry them - just don't leave twine attached to bucket 24/7 (have seen this happen - eek!)

Avon skin so soft goes without saying ;)
 
Dear Tnavas
Haven't heard the term Chilly Bin or as we say (please, no offence) Chully Bun since I worked with a lovely lass from NZ years ago. We from Oz call it an Esky. I think the locals here in the UK call it a cooler (dear folk please correct me if I'm wrong).
Gawd, now feeling more than a little homesick for beach, sun and a cold beer from the Esky. And of course of the obligatory 'prawn on the barbie' 😢
Hope the weather there on the other side of the planet is good and you are having fun in lovely Kiwi land. :)
 
Gusbear said:
Dear Tnavas
Haven't heard the term Chilly Bin or as we say (please, no offence) Chully Bun since I worked with a lovely lass from NZ years ago. We from Oz call it an Esky. I think the locals here in the UK call it a cooler (dear folk please correct me if I'm wrong).
Gawd, now feeling more than a little homesick for beach, sun and a cold beer from the Esky. And of course of the obligatory 'prawn on the barbie' ��
Hope the weather there on the other side of the planet is good and you are having fun in lovely Kiwi land. :)
Click to expand...

It's ANZAC day today - The sun is shining but it's chilly cause the wind is blowing up from Antarctica - the drought has broken - leaves are falling and the shops are shut and there are no ads on the TV today - yeah!!!

It's a good day in Kiwi land
 
One of the best tips I read on here was to use cheap potties from the pound shop as polepods to elevate trotting poles
 
Spray WD40 on anything that might seize up eg padlocks, hinges, leg strap clips on rugs. Do it regularly and prolongs equipment life and makes doing jobs quick and easy!
In cold weather if you leave a tap very slightly dripping, it will take longer to freeze. Put a big bucket under it to avoid an icy yard!

If like me you have no running water and carry water in bottles to the field or yard, don't buy those big 20 litre ones that are difficult to carry and expensive. You can get good 10 litre ones from food packaging suppliers online for a good price. Each one holds enough for a standard black bucket.
 
Gusbear said:
Dear Tnavas
Haven't heard the term Chilly Bin or as we say (please, no offence) Chully Bun since I worked with a lovely lass from NZ years ago. We from Oz call it an Esky. I think the locals here in the UK call it a cooler (dear folk please correct me if I'm wrong).
Gawd, now feeling more than a little homesick for beach, sun and a cold beer from the Esky. And of course of the obligatory 'prawn on the barbie' ��
Hope the weather there on the other side of the planet is good and you are having fun in lovely Kiwi land. :)
Click to expand...

Oh, I love it! I haven't heard the term Chilly Bin since I lived in Hawaii and had very good friends from Wellington who came up to Honolulu every September/October for the PBEC (Pacific Basin Economic Council (?)) convention for as long as we lived there (20 years). We used to have wonderful, giggling times comparing different terms (I'm originally from New York). Yup, you are correct, in the US we called it a cooler. Here in the UK we call it a cool box, I think.

I keep fine mesh strainers at each water trough. I purchase the cheapest ones I can find (Wilkinson's) and use them to skim off any leaves, grass from the horses' mouths, insects, from the water to keep it as clean and fresh as possible.
 
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