Taking the threadjack where it belongs - Haas brush thread

[Jackie_Cochran]

Right now one of my lesson horses has the MOST SENSITIVE SKIN of any horse I have ever groomed in 50 years. He is an Appendix QH gelding (not a mare!) in his 20s, and he is a chestnut. I thought that only chestnut TB mares were super sensitive, but this aged QH gelding sure has every other horse I’ve handled (including my chestnut Anglo-Arab gelding) beat in the sensitivity department.

I am considering buying him some more Haas brushes for when I groom him. I already have the Haas Dive (love), the Haas Micro Diva (he LOVES it on his head), and the Small Diamond Noir Soft horse hair brush, which he also likes–somewhat, as in we only used it twice and he does not act like we are torturing him.

Which other Haas brushes would you all recommend for this super, super, super sensitive skinned horse? He lives outside 24/7/365 and wears a turnout blanket in the winter.

Right now we really cannot get him CLEAN, when we lean on him with regular brushes he quickly informs us that we are simply torturing him when we try for a deep clean (he gets restive and starts shifting and prancing around in the cross ties in the wash stall, giving us dirty looks and little tiny threat movements with his head and legs.) This horse is a GOOD BOY, trustworthy with beginners on his back and excellent for introducing the canter, so far no spooks or starts or any great fear episodes.

But a good, thorough grooming with regular brushes makes him act like he is a crazy unbroke horse, so he never gets a REAL thorough grooming. At best he allows us to get some dust out of his coat and maybe some mud off if we are very gentle with the brushes, then he acts like the good horse he is.

I want to get this horse CLEAN when I groom him so my saddle pad does not get as dirty. Besides he is a really red chestnut and I want to see his coat when it is shiny!

Please help me with suggestions for the best Haas brushes for this supreme diva of a horse!

[Scribbler]

Have you tried hot towelling?

[Jackie_Cochran]

No I have not tried hot towelling.

He is not my horse, it is not my stable, and while my riding teacher is open to many new things it gets to be a hurry to get him groomed for my lessons since I ride him as early in the morning as she will let me.

If it was my barn I would try this and I will suggest it to my riding teacher, she might find it useful for when they take him to horse shows.

[IPEsq]

I would hot towel him. It doesn’t really take very long. Not as long as trying to brush a horse that is prancing around. So long as you have access to hot water in the barn.

[BigMama1]

Haas brushes will save the world!!!

And thanks for the compliment about my horse. He’s a lovely sweet, super schoolmaster. I’ve been leasing him for the past year and the opportunity to buy him arose last week. So I did!

[seabreeze]

I would go with the Parcour and the Grundy.

[PaddockWood]

That is wonderful! What a dream come true!

[Pippigirl]

What were the two brushes that you used? What ones did you get?

[Pippigirl]

Are the brushes in the set only identified by number? Or do they also have names? How many brushes in a set?

[BigMama1]

They have names, I just can’t remember them, so I used a sharpie to number them in order. I got this set, which is 5 brushes plus a curry comb. https://eqclusive.com/products/haas-black-short-hair-horse-pack

[cardinale]

Jackie_CochranAdvanced

2d

Right now one of my lesson horses has the MOST SENSITIVE SKIN of any horse I have ever groomed in 50 years. He is an Appendix QH gelding (not a mare!) in his 20s, and he is a chestnut. I thought that only chestnut TB mares were super sensitive, but this aged QH gelding sure has every other horse I’ve handled (including my chestnut Anglo-Arab gelding) beat in the sensitivity department.

Oohh, how timely–just had my young horse shipped to me–turns out that she’s thin-skinned and sensitive–regular stiff brushes aren’t going to cut it.

[Posting_Trot]

Haas’s Grundy’s Finest brush is soft (beautifully soft!) but still does a good job of pulling dust and fine dirt out of the coat.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

Congratulations on your purchase! Of the horse, not the brushes

[Bebe_Falcon1]

@seabreeze

I would go with the Parcour and the Grundy.

Yes, another vote for the Parcour here! It strikes me as being a great all-around brush that will probably suit most horses and most situations.

… but… but… but… what about ANOTHER one My mare has a thick dark coat and I can still see that there’s scurf in there when I take a really close look between the hairs. I’m not sure what will bring that out, if it’s even possible to?

[For reference, I currently have the Horsehair/Brass Mix, Parcour, and Cavaliere (as well as the hard curry comb).]

[Jackie_Cochran]

Yes, I know it is my fault for doing so, but you all are sort of a “corrupting influence” as far as buying new horse stuff, this is just the latest.

Today I ordered 10 Haas brushes/curry combs, from two on-line sites, almost 200 USD, my Christmas present to myself. I just hope that the ultra sensitive thin skinned Appendix QH gelding who is my lesson horse enjoys being groomed with some of the softer ones. I will gradually try the stiffer ones on him if he ever grows a winter coat, but yesterday he looked like he still had a summer coat on. (He wears a blanket, out 24-7-365.)

This set is for ME!!! I will show them to the two ladies I ride with and ask if they want some. One stable already specified brushes for small hands and a mildly arthritic older lady (hey, I’m an older lady too). Those I will order them later, children sized Haas brushes with hand loops are available, but most of those are with synthetic bristles (except for the micro-Diva). Luckily for us both of her horses LOVE being groomed, LOVE the HandsOn grooming gloves, so I don’t have to get many additional super soft brushes.

My riding teacher’s personal riding horse is a black Arabian gelding with super, super sensitive skin. She has been trying for around 6-7 years to find him a curry comb he can stand. I am sure if he learned to enjoy being groomed he would start off rides in a calmer frame of mind (“spirited” and super sensitive.) This horse thinks that the HandsOn grooming gloves are instruments of torture, as well as most curry combs. Every once in a while I find new type curry comb, I buy it, lend it to my riding teacher, and if her super sensitive horse sort of accepts it I give it to him (the horse.)

Maybe some Haas brushes can help even him.

[Scribbler]

I was using a plain old Dandy brush on the mare today because winter coat and she turned around and bit my thigh. First time she’s made teeth contact in years. I am actually icing it on the sofa now, it’s quite stingy. My fear is I will buy a whole set of Haas brushes and she will reject them all. Yes, I made the roof fall in after she bit me and she was very polite for the rest of the day. I’m going to have a spectacular bruise for the next month.

[Renn_aissance]

@Scribbler

Yes, I made the roof fall in after she bit me and she was very polite for the rest of the day. I’m going to have a spectacular bruise for the next month.

I have one of those. I made friends with one of our school horses when I got to show him last month. I prepped him with my own brush kit, because he’s a ticklish fellow and I did not want to search through the barn’s 5 grooming boxes for the school brushes I thought he would like, and we came to an accord on the subject of his flanks and his stomach when he had the opportunity to contemplate the Parcour and Coat Gloss brushes. I went in to check on him the day after the show and I took my Coat Gloss and Mini Diva brushes over to his stall. Of course, he really likes the Mini Diva brush on his forehead. I paused brushing his face, and he pinned his ears. I kept brushing his face. Then I went to brush some dust off his neck, and he scowled at me. “I need to get your neck,” said I, and brushed his neck. He bit me! “NO NECK! Only face. ONLY face.”

I brushed his face for another five minutes with him lopping his ears in satisfaction. Then I fed him a cookie and we parted as friends. It’s been about 3.5 weeks and the bruise is now fading. ONLY FACE. I can’t say he didn’t tell me loud and clear.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Yeah, I have the same worry about the horse rejecting an expensive brush, just like a horse often totally rejects a carefully chosen, often expensive bit (BTDT).

This is why I went hog wild buying. BUT today I got an e-mail informing me that the Parcour, the brush I especially wanted, is on back order, with warnings about a possible long wait due to Covid-19 and the related shipping problems. Bummer! Patience is often needed in our wonderful new world of just in time deliveries, it does not work all the time, does it.

I will have to just work around the lack of this one brush. Will MJ accept the Cavaliere, Military Damen, Lippizaner, the Go4Gold brush or the Grundy’s Finest brushes? Will he accept a Haas curry comb? Will my riding teacher like these brushes? Can I figure out the “correct” sequence? Why in the world do a chestnut Appendix-QH gelding and a black Arab gelding have just as sensitive skins as many chestnut TB mares?

At least I am well practiced in listening to the horse. The horses realize this so they politely increase their slightly more vehement objections since they also realize that in many ways I am slower mentally than they are. So far a horse has not punished me physically for ignoring their valid objections and their knowledge that even a “soft” brush can be an instrument of torture to a horse, mainly because my first horse taught me well the ever increasing escalation of the horse’s “WTF are you DOING to me? This is simply HORRIBLE! Stop it NOW!!!”

[Scribbler]

So this mare has permitted me to use a horse hair body brush. Since her winter coat has been coming in I switched to a basic synthetic Dandy brush I had on hand. She has seemed fine with it the past couple of weeks, and she’s very expressive if she’s bothered. Nothing yesterday was different in our routine, grooming her loose as she ate some hay. Within the first minute she had a chunk out of me, no warning. After I chased her out into the runout and made her stand out in the rain a few minutes and then let her back in, she was very very polite the rest of the day.

[Hippolyta]

Which HAAS brush do you find brings up dust/dirt from a winter coat, specifically?

Do you find that one is better at getting rid of what you bring up from said winter coat than others?