Implements of shedding?!

[Mellifluous]

What is/are your favorite tools/methods for helping a shedding horse get free of the hair. I have some major furballs and would love to learn some skills/methods beyond the shedding blade.

[lisa l aka marci]

VACUUM!!!!!!

There is nothing like taking a swipe on a furball and leaving behind a nice CLEAN streak!!!!

[pasorider]

I love a grooming block ( also known as stink rock). It really pulls that dead hair out

[CarolU]

I use a shedding blade and a good old fashioned curry comb. I've never tried a vacume, but I fill bags with hair with just the blade and comb. I think I'd be filling/emptying a vacume every few minutes. Hmmmm, wonder about a shop vac.???

[SandyMM]

Besides the rubber,pebbled gloves, I like to use an inexpensive generic wet/dry vacuum - I turn it on in the barn and let it run, bring the horses up to the cross-ties, and start vacuuming.... never had one that spooked or 'complained'. It sure helps get the hair off the horse _and_ keeps it off of me!

No barn yet at the new place, so I may have the horses up on the carport.... :lol:

[pnalley]

When the hair is super long & thick I like a Grooma Groomer and a metal curry comb (the round kind you only swipe in the direction of the coat)

[Terry Wallace]

A bath will remove a lot of hair....

[Heidi]

I have a rubber grooma with pointy little fingers that I use to ruffle up the fur and stimulate the skin, then I swipe with a shedding blade to remove the loosened hair. I do this every morning during shedding season and find Q sheds out in around three weeks if I groom her daily.

[CarolU]

Sandy, I have a question, since you also have asthma.

Does the exhaust bother your asthma? Or does your vacume have a HEPA filter also?

I just wonder. Vacumes are not normally my friends. :-?

[Terry Wallace]

Sandy...be sure to post pics of the horses on the carpet!! :D

When I was a kid in New Mexico..it was a hot summer day when I brought the Shetland into the living room to be by the air conditioner......
Mom was at work!

[SandyMM]

No barn yet at the new place, so I may have the horses up on the carport....
LOL CARPORT, Terry, CARPORT..... LOL

Carol - no filter other than what comes with the shop vac... exhaust doesn't bother me at all... It's very cheap alternative to horse vacs! I guess I could add an extension to the hose and move the actual vac farther away from me if it caused a problem - but it hasn't so far....

[Terry Wallace]

Oh darn! Time for Terry to get new glasses!!

Just can't quite afford the $600 at the moment!

[pasorider]

I got a small shop vac at Lowes several years ago for less than $30. My husband put a shoulder strap on it so I can walk all around the horses carrying the vac (it is really small and light weight) it works really good and the horses seem to really like it..

[Abejita]

ok does anyone else who uses a shop vac ( learned to use them for sales prep) get shocked..like a static electricty snap from the hose when getting lots of dirt and hair off the horse? ALWAYS happens to me ..and the vac is on the ground..I have taken to wearing rubber gloves..doesnt always work..never seems to get the horses.This has happened with different vacs..years apart..

I also love the little jelly scrubbers that have different sized 'nubs' on either side.I do admit they can be a pain to actually hold/wear but I like how they work and they shake out the loose hair quicker than the groomas/which I also use

[motorgypsy]

We use the oval large single blade strippers and sometimes we body clip. Especially the mini who is a regular buffalo in winter. Once I've used the stripper I use the technique we used on cats - wet the hands and start wiping the horse in the direction of the hair growth. As the hands and hair dry the dead hair pulls off with the friction and it comes off in very large quantities and leaves the coat very smooth. I also like the stripping blocks but not for the the woollies. Only after they've shed and just have a bit left to come out. But most of ours are blanketed for the winter so don't have a lot to shed. One reason we blanket.

[appyday]

4 HP Master Blaster

[CarolU]

Sheri, static electricity is caused by the charge differences in two surfaces and is really bad when the humidity is low. I'm not sure what you can do to stop it. I dampen the ground in my grooming area or I shock the horses just brushing them. You might try grounding yourself with some metal to eleminate the shock. When removing Bien's polorfleece blanket this winter, I'd hold one hand on the metal barn or panel and take it off her with the other. Otherwise it shocked the #$% out of her...and she got to where she did NOT like the process! :shock:

[motorgypsy]

If the wand you are vacuuming with is plastic you are actually transferring electrons from the hair to the plastic or the reverse which builds up a charge which will discharge when it gets large enough.

Switch to a metal wand and cloth tube or wrap a metal wire around the wand and hose and stick it in the ground to remove the charge before it can build up and shock you. You can also wrap a metal wire around your leg and stick it in the ground but i wouldn't do it because it might trip you up.