Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Do you clean...

Do you clean your brushes?



If so how often and with what?



After I am done grooming, I try to get all the dust out and fluff them against the wall or another brush.

I have never cleaned them with water or soap.. maybe that is something I should look into. I am interested to hear if any of you do that and with what so I can try!

Does anyone have a set of the custom brushes? I have always wanted them but worry that I would be scared to use and ruin them ha!



What are your favorite brishes to use? I have a variety... Oster are my main go to though :)

23 comments:

  1. I've cleaned brushes a handful of times in my 20+ years of riding. Probably should be doing it way more often. I don't share brushes between horses ever. I have a custom set, they're awesome! It's fun to customize the design, however I really only use a soft brush on Pongo so the majority of my set sits unused!

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  2. When I worked at a therapeutic riding center, we cleaned the brushes about twice a year. I filled a big sink with hot water and added a little bit of dish soap to it, then soaked the brushes for a while and rinsed them until they weren't soapy any more! All of the soft brushes took a long time to dry, but they were definitely cleaner!

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  3. I clean mine about twice a year. I just use a little shampoo and let them sosk then rinse them out. They do look a lot nicer and cleaner after.

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  4. I clean the brushes every time i bathe the horses (which is probably a few times a year). I use the horse shampoo and soak in a bucket.

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  5. I definitely clean my brushes periodically, as well as Roger's Eskadrons if they're looking particularly dirty or dusty. To clean my brushes, I usually do a pea-sized drop of blue Dawn (because blue Dawn cleans everything) in a bucket, dunk the brushes in and let them soak for a bit. Then, I take them out and dunk them in a bucket of clean water to remove all the suds, and let them air dry. Same process for the Eskadrons.

    I'm intrigued that your go-to brushes are Oster; I have a set of Oster brushes, and more and more I find myself not liking them haha. To each their own :)

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  6. I clean mine once or twice a year, soak in a bucket with dish soap and a splash of bleach, then rinse and set in the sun to dry. Easy but takes some time!

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  7. I clean mine with a little bleach in a bucket of warm water but probably should clean them more often! Favorite brushes are definitely Oster, my horses and I love the Oster curry comb and body brush!

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  8. I love the winners circle brushes. I try to clean mine once a year. Usually in the summer so that I can leave them out to dry. I fill a bucket with water and whatever shampoo I have for Tucker and then rub two brush together until clean and then rinse. I never soak. I worry that it'll ruin them.

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  9. I try to clean mine every couple months. Probably not enough. I just bought new brushes though... Can't remember if they are winners circle or another comparable brand. Beka gave me a painted brush for a wedding present and I've used it some. I'll probably use it until I am worried I'll ruin it and then retire it to a shelf :)

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  10. Mine get washed when my daughter decides they are disgusting :) About 4 times a year - in a bucket with Dawn dish soap. Let them soak, them lay out to dry. I only have an Oyster mane/tail brush but would love to have more. Rest of my grooming tools are a mix of brands.

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  11. I actually cleaned mine yesterday - I have two horses with rain rot (they each have separate brushes of course) but to help keep it from spreading, I threw them in a bucket with Pinesol and water and let them soak for 1+ hour during my lesson. Usually I use Dawn Dish Soap but my trainer recommended Pinesol. Seemed to work just fine!

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  12. I have and try to do so regularly - rinse them with water to get the dust/dirt out, then soak them bristles down in a bucket or pan of 1:10 bleach water overnight. Keeps the scratches fungus beat down!

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  13. I'm pretty lazy and don't clean them. Whoops.

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    Replies
    1. Ha - me, neither. I think about it occasionally :)

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  14. I always clean mine right before a show. I dump them in a bucket with some dish soap to soak while I clean all my tack.

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  15. I frequently leave mine outside, where they get rained on and exposed to UV rays. That's good enough, right? ;)

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  16. I normally do twice a year in a quick soak of soapy water and rinse

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  17. I do it every 2 months or so. I have a small dish I fill with water and some white vinegar. I dunk the brush bristle-side down into the dish, then I fling the water off it (imagine Indiana Jones whipping his lion whip - that kinda motion), repeat dunk and fling, dunk and fling, until all the water in the dish is gone. I comb out the bristles with a mane comb, then I let it dry bristle-side down on a towel. This prevents mold growing at the wooden base of the brush.

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  18. At this point I'm totally mooching off all the barn brushes and procrastinating buying my own, but I used to wash mine when the stars aligned with Jupiter and there was a full moon. Which is to say, very rarely. Maybe once every few years? Probably not great... I've been seeing more and more custom brushes on Insta/Etsy and I'm totally coveting them!

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  19. ehhh i just try to keep them free of hair and clumps of dirt, but haven't actually washed anything with soap, tho i have barn mates that do

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  20. This post was made for me, I swear! I prep yearlings for sales several months out of the year as my full time job so I love me some good brushes.

    As for cleaning, yes yes and yes. Since I groom around 6 horses for 30-45 minutes each every day and we are not allowed to bathe the horses so they are very dirty when they come in from the field originally, I clean my work brushes once a week. I use water to rinse them and then use dish soap (blue Dawn). Let air dry. I have also used bleach (diluted) to help with fungus if we've got some of that going on. Digby's brushes only get cleaned once or twice a year.

    As far as brands go, it really depends on what your horse likes. Digby is Mr. Sensitive TB Skin so I can't use a lot of the brushes on him that I use on my yearlings. For Digby, I use a rubber mitt, a Shed Flower (if necessary, he doesn't really like it but doesn't hate it), and then various wood backed medium to soft brushes. For my yearlings, I use the hardest regular black rubber curries I can find, Shed Flower's, Grooma Original Groomers (the hard ones, not the Soft Touch ones. I usually wear the rubber down on these before my yearlings leave so I need two per year), and have a very stiff hard brush, a medium brush and a soft brush. All brushes are wood backed, as that helps with oil in their coats and keeping/making them shiny.

    Currying really helps with the shine but honestly, buying good quality wood backed brushes (like custom ones!) if you can is really great too. They last for years and years. No need to worry about ruining them. Those suckers are built to last!! I'd LOVE a set of nice custom brushes. I vote you get some so I can live vicariously through you!

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  21. I clean mine 3-4 times per year. I soak them in a bucket of bleach water & dish soap overnight, then rinse and air dry.

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  22. I don't clean mine often at all. I really should. I have a nice custom set by Saucy Piaffe so I really should clean them more.

    https://adventuresofarerider.wordpress.com/

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