Horse brushes are the ultimate grooming tools and are a necessity for any horse owner/rider. A good grooming can do more for your horse’s coat than any supplement could. Grooming removes dirt, grime, mud, dandruff, and excess hair, allowing oils to rise to the surface and get distributed evenly over the horse’s coat.
How often do you clean your brushes? I used to never clean mine, but now make it a monthly habit. I have noticed my brushes are lasting longer and my horses are cleaner, because let’s face it, dirty brushes don’t make for clean horses!
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If you want your horsey care items to last longer, a good cleaning will help. Cleaning the horse brushes helps prevent the spread of any skin ailments or fungal issues. If you have more than one horse, keep your horse at a boarding stable, or let anyone use or borrow your equipment, it is a good, preventative measure to clean your brushes (and any other tack or grooming tools) to help ward off potential skin or health problems that could be contagious.
So how do you clean your brushes?
Cleaning your items is simple and only requires a few items:
A bucket or tub/container of sorts to put your brushes in
Warm water
Dish Soap (I use Dawn Dish Soap)
Listerine (optional
Fill your bucket or tub with enough water to submerge the brushes and add a few squirts of the dish soap as the bucket fills. Before getting any brushes wet, rub the bristles of the brushes back and forth against another brush to help remove excess dirt and hair.
Place all your items in the water and let them soak for a few minutes. The dirtier the brushes are, the longer they need to soak. You can also place a capful (or two depending on how big your bucket or tub is) of Listerine in the water. Listerine helps kill any bacteria that are present.
Scrub the brushes back and forth under the water against each other, bristle to bristle to help get the caked dirt and hair off. Rinse well with clean water and place bristles down in a sunny area to let them dry. I place mine bristles down because I have a few with wooden handles, and I don’t want the water lingering or drying into the wood any more than necessary.
That’s it! You’re done! Once they are completely dry, you can put them back. I do this monthly, and I also try not to share brushes between my two horses. You can repeat as often as you need. I worked for a dressage barn that had over 15 horses, and I had to do this weekly, so frequency might depend on how many horses there are and how many brushes you have and if you share brushes.
Happy cleaning!
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