Faves Around The Stables with Whitney Hurst

This article is from the February 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

Whitney Hurst is the main groom for Brook and Angela Dobbin at Glenwood Park Showjumping Stables. She has worked for Brook and Angela on and off for 15 years and amongst this has worked in the racing industry, evented her own horses and casually groomed for other top-level event riders. She shares with us some handy groom items that might just help you around the stables.

Heiniger Saphir Clippers with T10 blades
The most amazing and durable clippers ever. Handy, small and quiet, they manage the tricky areas like the bridle path and ears, yet with the T10 or T84 blades on, they easily clip a whole horse. This makes clipping touchy showjumpers and first-time two-year-old racehorses much easier and safer.

Baby Wipes
These are a quick easy way to clean dirty noses and faces at shows, wipe saliva and grass/hay off bits and wipe dust off bridles and boots as a quick fix.

Oversized Bum Bag
The best thing for plaiting! Get one with separate spaces inside and separate your cotton, needles, elastics, scissors and combs. It will make plaiting a dream.

Envirosafe Fly Trap
Summertime in horse tie-up areas brings a tonne of flies. These traps are absolutely amazing. They attract, trap and kill the flies keeping them away from the horses and riders.

Royal Mane Serum
When the winter rugs have rubbed patches of mane out, and plaiting becomes almost impossible, rubbing Royal Mane serum into their manes daily rapidly improves the health of the hair and increases the rate of regrowth.

Haas Mustang Brass Bristle Grooming Brush
This brush has really firm bristles so I don’t use it to brush the whole horse, but it is handy to get the hard dirt and hair out of the rump and perfect for making patterns on the rump.

Roma Magnetic Stud Bowl
Losing studs is expensive and painful! Having a magnetic bowl significantly decreases the chance of losing studs in sawdust.

Hair Wax
There are plenty of good hair products on the market to help keep plaits tame, especially when they need to be in for a few days. My choice of styling help is Schwarzkopf Taft Modelling Wax, Extreme Hold 5. $8 at any supermarket!

World Champion Pepi Coat Conditioner
I think this is every groom’s favourite shiny finishing spray. Not only does it de-knot tails and make tails and coats ultra-shiny, but it also smells delicious.

Busse Bridle Hook
Working a variety of different horses with different needs and shape and sized heads generally means at the end of the day there is a tonne of bridles to clean. Hanging one of these bad boys from the roof in the middle of the tack room (or thereabouts) means that once the bridle is done with, it can be hung there for easy cleaning.

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