Horse owners and carers will have to learn how to clean horse brushes properly at some point. Cleaning your brushes is pretty simple and straightforward, but you do need to remember that there is a difference between natural bristles and synthetic bristles.
What do you need to clean horse brushes?
Blue Dawn Dish Detergent
Dawn is used on animals when they have been in an oil spill, so it doesn’t seem to harm the animal if you happen to not rinse the brushes well enough.
It is the best thing for cutting through oil and grease that isn’t harmful to animals.
If you don’t have Dawn on hand then you can use your horse’s shampoo or whatever soap that you happen to have on hand.
A large bucket
If you have a lot of brushes, you will need a bigger bucket. If you only have a few brushes then a smaller bucket will do fine.
How to clean horse brushes – step by step guide
(Synthetic Bristles)
- Get out as much of the loose hair and dirt as you possibly can from your brushes. A curry comb works great for this, or you can even brush them together or brush them on a firm, hard surface.
- Mix together your soap or shampoo with water. I advise using really warm water, it helps to get the oil and grease out quicker and easier.
- Place your horse’s brushes in the bucket and agitate each one against the bottom of the bucket to make sure they get completely wet.
- Let the brushes sit in the warm water for fifteen – to – thirty minutes. Agitate them again and then rinse extremely well. You need to get out as much of the soap as you possibly can.
- Find a clean place in the sun where you can stand the brushes up on their bristles so they can dry straight. After the bristles are completely dry then turn the brushes over onto their backs so that the wood can dry thoroughly (usually for a few hours in the sun).
(Natural Bristles)
Your natural bristles on the brush are much more fragile and sensitive to being wet for a long time. This causes them to be damaged much more easily.
To clean your natural bristled brush, follow the steps below.As with synthetic brushes, make sure to get as much of the dirt and hair out as you possibly can.
1.Rinse brushes with clean, clear water.
2. Add the soap or shampoo to the brush and with your fingers carefully work through the bristles.
3. Rinse the brush thoroughly until the water runs completely clear.
4. If your brushes are extremely dirty, repeat the entire process.
5.Put the brushes out to dry just as you would do with the synthetic brushes.
*Notice that the natural bristle brushes were not submerged in the water like the synthetic brushes are. This is to minimize how much water comes in contact with the base.
How often should you clean your horse brushes
The best thing to do is make a routine out of cleaning your horses’ brushes. If you use them on more than one horse, they should be cleaned more often.
If you have a large stable and use the same brush on many different horses then I would make sure to clean them once a month.
However, if you are using the brushes on only one horse, believe it or not, cleaning the brushes once every six months is enough.
Disinfecting your horse’s brushes
There are many different reasons for wanting to disinfect your horse brushes. These can include if your horse has been unwell or has a skin condition – anything from having strangles to girth itch.
Regardless of the reason, disinfecting your horse brushes needs to be done at every stable.
There are many various solutions that can be made, it all depends on the ingredients that you have.
Bleach is the chemical that is normally used on horse brushes. It’s great for synthetic bristles but when it comes to the natural bristles it can and will eventually dry them out.
If you are going to use a bleach mixture, you need to mix one-quarter cup of bleach in a gallon of cool water. Make sure that you wear gloves when doing this or handling bleach for any reason.
Place brushes into the mixture and submerge them for five – to – ten minutes. Rinse the brushes thoroughly two – to – three times to make sure that you get all of the bleach out of the bristles.
Place them on a clean surface in the sun to dry.
Other options – Lysol
We all know that Lysol is a great disinfectant, but did you know that it also comes in a concentrated liquid form?
On the back of the Lysol package are the directions for making the disinfectant solution. Follow the directions exactly. I think it is two – and – a – half tablespoons per gallon of water.
With Lysol, submerge the brushes for thirty minutes at least.
Since natural bristle brushes should never be submerged and you need to submerge brushes to disinfect them, I suggest that you only use synthetic brushes on a horse with skin issues or on a sick horse.
If for whatever reason you need to disinfect the natural bristle ones, think about the treason why you need to disinfect them. If you are doing it out of a precautionary measure, I would suggest not submerging the brush. Just wipe the bristles down or spray the solution on the bristles so it doesn’t come in contact with the wooden base.
If you know that the natural bristle brush has come in contact with a horse that has had an infection or skin issue, you can submerge the brush, but it may cause damage to it. My suggestion would be to throw it away and buy a new one. It’s much easier, safer, and cheaper to buy a new one than to pass the infection onto another horse.
Conclusion
Learning how to clean horse brushes is so easy to do and not something that you have to do every day or even every week. Make a routine of doing it every six months for one horse or every month for multiple horses. Also, anytime that you think the brushes have come in contact with a sick horse.