Safe product to make a mane smell and taste bad, discourage grooming game? May have found the answer!

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One horse has a mane thinning problem from asking her buddies to play the grooming game much too often. Her pasture mates are all a hand or more shorter than she is. I think the angle they are at and the frequency in which she asks to be scratched is the problem. Now about the first quarter of her mane is very thinned out. She is not rubbing her neck or body on trees and she is the only horse in her pasture with this problem. She’s been wormed for neck thread worms for good measure, but I don’t think that’s the problem. Is there any product that could be sprayed on her to discourage the grooming game? I can’t imagine what such a product would be that would be safe for her and not cause a reaction. Hopefully someone has a idea or two.

She is on an allergy med and supplements. The rest of her coat looks great.

[DawningDreams]

With a sensitive skinned gelding I worked with, we used an easy combo to discourage the naughty mini who liked to eat his mane. Use petroleum jelly and cayenne pepper mixed together- petroleum jelly is the “glue” that holds the nasty, burning cayenne on. Definitely wear gloves when applying it! That’s what I’ve used that works so it might work for you!

[joiedevie99]

Kensington Protective Fly Sheet with a neck cover

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@DawningDreams

With a sensitive skinned gelding I worked with, we used an easy combo to discourage the naughty mini who liked to eat his mane. Use petroleum jelly and cayenne pepper mixed together- petroleum jelly is the “glue” that holds the nasty, burning cayenne on. Definitely wear gloves when applying it! That’s what I’ve used that works so it might work for you!

Thank you. This is down to very thinned out mane, where I can see skin. I wouldn’t be able to apply cayenne where it would be on her skin and would burn her. I picture it melting in the sun and running down her neck and withers. I’ll keep that idea for other applications, though! Thanks!

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@joiedevie99

Kensington Protective Fly Sheet with a neck cover

Thanks. That’s the stiff type, right? She has an assortment of fly sheets with necks, but I’m trying to avoid using them for as long as possible, since she’s so uphill and they also rub off her mane when she’s out in pasture most or all of the day. A fly sheet wouldn’t keep other horses away. I think if they groomed her while wearing it, it would have a brillo pad-like effect on her already almost bare neck. You know how when hair is already damaged and you put something over it, it just breaks off or gets damaged more?

Too bad I can’t stick some sort of spiky bird strip on her neck, to keep the other horses away.

[joiedevie99]

@Color of Light

Thanks. That’s the stiff type, right? She has an assortment of fly sheets with necks, but I’m trying to avoid using them for as long as possible, since she’s so uphill and they also rub off her mane when she’s out in pasture most or all of the day. A fly sheet wouldn’t keep other horses away. I think if they groomed her while wearing it, it would have a brillo pad-like effect on her already almost bare neck. You know how when hair is already damaged and you put something over it, it just breaks off or gets damaged more?

Too bad I can’t stick some sort of spiky bird strip on her neck, to keep the other horses away.

Yes. That’s the stiff one. I think you can buy the hoods separately if you have something it will attach to. I’ve found that horses don’t groom each other with them on. It must feel weird on their teeth or something. I have no idea if it would do more damage to an already weakened mane though

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I just googled what smells don’t horses like, and I came up with a few recommendations. One person said to try a product called Well Horse. It’s a wound resin.

https://www.well-horse.com/collectio…rse-resin-2-oz

THE POSSIBLE ANSWER:

Wormer! No horse would care to chew on another if it smelled and tasted like wormer! Ivermictin is cheap. I’ll experiment with some and see what happens.

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@joiedevie99

I’ve found that horses don’t groom each other with them on. It must feel weird on their teeth or something. I have no idea if it would do more damage to an already weakened mane though

Last year when she wore a fly sheet daily, there was some mane damage. I was brain storming ways to keep the fly sheet lifted from her mane. I came up with an idea that I didn’t end up trying, using foam pipe insulation, the softer and more flexible of the two Home Depot types. Probably put it into a tube of slippery lycra fabric. I envisioned attaching foam inside the neck of the fly sheet a few inches from the crest of her neck on either side, to keep the mesh from touching her mane. Another idea was some sort of foam blocks, mounted in similar fashion, with the same idea in mind. The foam would have to have a slippery surface to prevent chaffing. I have no idea if this would work, but it might.

[joiedevie99]

Good idea! I bet pool noodles would work too.