How to clean your cleaning kit properly

In addition to saddle and bridle, which are used almost every day and are usually cleaned properly, the cleaning kit is the everyday tool of a horse owner. With the cleaning kit, the horse is cleaned, freed from dirt and massaged, but now lets be honest: How often do you clean your kit? We give you the best tips and tricks to clean your kit properly.

The cleaning supplies - a colorful selection

The choice of cleaning supplies is ultimately a matter of taste. But some utensils are almost always an integral part.

- The Hoof Scraper

MWith the hoof scraper you remove the dirt from the grooves and you brush off the horn. Horses stand all day in dirt, therefore the hoof scratch is probably the object that comes into contact with most bacteria. However, it is stored together with the other brushes, which among other things clean the head of the horse.

- The Harrow

Whether made of rubber, metal or plastic - with the harrow comb one removes and loosens the coarse dirt in the coat and uses it at the same time to brush out the other brushes. Due to the material, harrows are very easy to clean

- The Brushes

Without listing the individual brush variants, all brushes have one thing in common: the bristles. This not only makes it easy to brush the dirt and dust out of the fur, it also keeps the dirt in the bristles very well. Brushing out with the harrow removes the coarsest dirt, but hair and sebum still remains. From a hygienic point of view, it is therefore better to have one too many brushes than to have too few brushes to use. At least one brush should be used separately for the head, one for the legs and two for the rest of the body.

- The Comb

Whether comb or hairbrush depends entirely on the mane of our four-legged friends. The classic sports cut is best tamed with a simple comb, while a full and long tail should rather be maintained with the brush. Due to the material brushes and combs are just as easy to clean as harrows.

- The Sponge

Sponges are mostly used to cleanse the genital area, the nostrils and the eyes. For this reason, be sure to use several sponges (!!!) and to mark them well, so that they are always used only for the same body region. While the cleaning kit does not need to be cleaned after each use, it is essential for sponges.

- The cleaning glove or fur glove

The fur glove is normally used for "fine-tuning" after brushing. It takes the last dust out of the fur and gives it a silky shine. But even the plushiest coat will eventually become dull and sebaceous and must be washed.

The Cleaning of the Cleaning Kit

As described above, some cleaning utensils, such as harrow or hairbrush, can be easily cleaned with warm water and a brush. Unfortunately, with cleaning brushes and root brushes, cleaning is not that easy. Depending on the manufacturer, certain brushes can be washed in the washing machine. First of all, that's pretty loud and secondly most brushes suffer from it. Straight brushes made of wood or natural bristles need special care. It is best to wash by hand. For this, the brushes are first freed of hair and dirt with a harrow and by hand. Then you fill a bucket with warm water and add some shampoo. Shampoo is unfortunately essential, because otherwise the sebum - the skin fat of the horse - does not dissolve from the bristles. If possible, brushes with a wooden handle should not be completely submerged in the water, as this can cause the wood to become brittle. Then you let the brushes dry well and put them back into the cleaning box.

Sponges are thoroughly washed, dried and stowed after each use. Best suited for this purpose are sponges that have different colors, so you know immediately which sponge is used for which body region. Otherwise, it is also possible to resort to wet wipes, which are of course disposed of after each use.

Cleaning or fur gloves should be washed at regular intervals according to the manufacturer's instructions in the washing machine. For this please use appropriate detergent.

Skin Diseases - What can I do?

If the horse has a skin disease in the sense of mites, hair lice or fungus, the cleaning materials should be cleaned immediately after the first treatment of the horse. It is best to use the shampoo that the horse is also treated with. This way you can be sure that there are no more lice, mites or fungal spores caught in the bristles of the cleaning utensils. Otherwise the treatment of the horse has no success. Depending on the severity of the infestation, it is recommended to wash the brushes with a special disinfectant in the washing machine. Otherwise, such a disease is well suited as justification to buy new cleaning supplies. After a skin diseases, please remember to clean the cleaning box or the cleaning bag. Again, you can and should work with disinfectants.

The right storage

The cleaning supplies must also be kept reasonable. It is best to use a stable cleaning box here. This protects the cleaning utensil against rain and moisture, keeps order, can be transported better and depending on the material and stability also used as a climbing aid. While the correct cleaning of the cleaning tool has already been described above, it is of course essential that the cleaning box itself will be cleaned. A large proportion of dust and dirt fall into them during transport, during inserting and removing of the brushes - as well as bacteria. From the outside, the cleaning box can be easily wiped with a damp cloth. Before the inner part is cleaned, the partitions should be removed and the loose dirt shaken out. Then you can brush out the remaining hair with a brush. Depending on the material, the box can also be cleaned from the inside with water. Then leave it open, so that everything can dry well. Finally, just spray some disinfectant spray into it (especially after a horse's skin condition) and put everything back in.