Keeping Horses Clean in Winter

[Palm_Beach]

@Renn/aissance

I’d disagree with you on this - I think a reasonable standard of cleanliness is a hygiene issue. When environmental dirt gets trapped next to the skin, in combination with dampness (mud, rain, sweat), it can be a recipe for skin funk. Now, the madness of attempting to keep a white horse white, instead of vaguely pinto, is another story. This is why I have a brown horse. :lol:

I disagree. I go most of the winter without grooming since I don’t ride in the winter and my horses don’t get skin funk. Thousands of very valuable broodmares don’t get groomed. Yearlings and weanlings on breeding farms don’t get groomed unless they are going to the sale.

[S1969]

@Palm Beach

I disagree. I go most of the winter without grooming since I don’t ride in the winter and my horses don’t get skin funk. Thousands of very valuable broodmares don’t get groomed. Yearlings and weanlings on breeding farms don’t get groomed unless they are going to the sale.

Same here. My horses rarely get groomed in winter. Or even in other seasons; certainly none of them get regular or in depth grooming since most are unrideable retirees. No skin funk or rain rot.

[JB]

Same. Healthy horses with a good diet don’t get skin funk just because they aren’t groomed. I too don’t really groom anyone who doesn’t get ridden/worked, unless there’s some really caked on mud and it’s supposed to get cold (because that matted down hair can’t fluff). No skin funk, ever. And they have no qualms rolling in mud.

[demidq]

There are several grooming heads for vacuums that you can buy to use with a shop vac or any other vacuum. Check out ValleyVet. I use the Dr. Smith curry on dry caked on mud, and I blanket in the winter because horse is ridden regularly and, well, Canada! Don’t forget the waterless shampoos for bad manure stains. My favorite is the Miracle Groom one but there are lots to choose from.

[Renn_aissance]

@Palm Beach

I disagree. I go most of the winter without grooming since I don’t ride in the winter and my horses don’t get skin funk. Thousands of very valuable broodmares don’t get groomed. Yearlings and weanlings on breeding farms don’t get groomed unless they are going to the sale.

Your mileage clearly varies from mine! Probably also your climate, your soil composition, and the specific organisms in the ground your horses are rolling in. I’m glad what you’re doing works for you. Certainly that makes things easier.

[Abbie.S]

@enjoytheride

I do want to point out to those who are judging people who want clean horses in the winter that many people continue to take lessons and clinics in the winter, and it is unacceptable and disrespectful to show up with just the mud knocked off where the tack touches, even if that’s your routine when you ride at home alone the rest of the time. I’m not going to be as clean as with a bath, but I need to be cleaner than I would at home.

No judgment, it was an honest question. OP gave no indication for the need for higher levels of “clean”.

That said, I teach through the winter and ride (as best I can with New England weather). I don’t find it disrespectful to me or my time if a student shows up with a “dirty” horse. It is a fairly self-important person who would be put off by such a thing. I want my students to show up ready to get something done with their horse, not fretting because they couldn’t do anything about the wet mud on his haunch.