Borstiq Brushes

[scislandsprite]

Has anyone here used the Borstiq brushes? I’m looking at the Arenga, Mex Fibre, and the Medium. Are they super similar to each other or pretty different? Also does anyone prefer the shaped ones or banana Borstiq brush handles?

My current brushes use the plastic/synthetic bristles, some of which I bought in elementary school for my local Pony Club so they’re pretty old. I’d like to upgrade mine and get her some nice brushes even though she probably won’t really care lol.

I also liked the idea of their finishing brush as it looks like it’s a longer bristle soft brush (not a short bristled body brush). However, that one is horsehair and I have absolutely no clue how horsehair is actually gathered or not for brushes (whether it is ethical or not, for lack of better words), I was afraid that I’d end up brushing my horse with a dead horse’s hair or something. Again, she won’t know but I felt a little funny about it. If anyone knows anything about this process, please let me know!

I hope this is an appropriate forum group to ask, wasn’t sure where given it’s a little off topic but pretty grooming related?

[Xanthoria]

@scislandsprite

However, that one is horsehair and I have absolutely no clue how horsehair is actually gathered or not for brushes (whether it is ethical or not, for lack of better words), I was afraid that I’d end up brushing my horse with a dead horse’s hair or something.

Yep. That’s how horsehair is gathered for commercial use. Brushes, fake tails, you name it.

[Scribbler]

It’s probably more ethical to cut the tail off a horse that’s been PTS than to “sustainably” harvest the tails of living horses. There are certainly enough horses being slaughtered for meat around the world to satisfy any need for brushes and fake tails.

That said I never considered where my mares favourite horse hair brush came from. That is a little sad.

[scislandsprite]

Ah okay thank you, for some reason I had just assumed for fake tails & brushes they were literally just trimming the tails. I know that they do the same for bows (violins, viola, etc) but wasn’t sure about brushes. Thanks for clarifying!

[scislandsprite]

Yes I never really considered it as I only have the synthetic ones from when I was a kid, never bothered buying anything nice for the school ponies that would come in dirty from the field. However I think some of the Borstiq brushes are made of plant fibres so I will likely end up with those. It definitely is kind of a bummer though

[Scribbler]

I dont know about brushes. I guess it could be trimmed. But a fake tail is pretty much the whole tail. I dont think you could take that much off a live horse. I mean you could but he’d be a mess for 2 or 3 years.

My mare will tolerate only her horse hair brush. Everything else makes her unhappy.

[scislandsprite]

Yes I had one that was really particular brushes in a similar manner, some she didn’t like while others she really liked! The fake tail one makes sense like the horsehair bows unfortunately. I may reach out to some brush companies & ask where they get their horsehair from to figure it out for sure. I did hear from a shaving company that makes brushes for people while shaving their face uses horsehair bristles in a cruelty-free way so now I’m a little confused but I guess we’ll see what info I find.

[Scribbler]

Well, we know horses aren’t being slaughtered just for their hair. On the other hand there are thousands pts every day for humane reasons and also slaughtered for meat. They are flying gorgeous draft horses out of Alberta in little cages for slaughter in Japan for sushi. I understand there are horses raised for meat in Europe too.

It’s never ocurred to me until now to wonder where vacqueros source the horse hair for their mecates and other gear.

Anyhow it doesn’t seem like a welfare issue to use tail hair off a horse PTS for humane reasons.

[scislandsprite]

Yes very true, from a little additional info I found, I think it is a byproduct from the slaughter similar to how most leather sourced? I don’t really have an issue with the tail being taken off from a humanely euthanized horse, I hope I didn’t come off as that.