I did not have enough to do this week..........
I let Misty and Kola out in the pasture for a few hours and.............
THIS is what I saw when they came in. Oh yeah! If there is a burr on this God's green earth, my horses will suck them up like magnets! Go ahead and enlarge this pic to see the state of her, halter and all!
So this morning I gathered my tools...........Cooking spray, corn oil, and comb. And of course my smokes and a Diet Coke. I knew this project would take me at least an hour and a half!
And here I am, hard at work............
And still hard at work................Boy, I'm attractive in grunge garb!
The end result...........Two burr free and very shiny, oily mares.............
Clean tails and manes. A quick brush with the curry and soft brush.
And yes a bucket of burrs! Next project today, besides cleaning a tip of a house which includes a damned dog turd, I must bleach all troughs and scrub and add the heater to one of them. My fingers are stinging with microscopic burr needles, even though I wore gloves!
23 comments:
Holy smokes! I couldn't believe that tail!! Just a couple hours?? Wow.
You did a good job getting them out!! But dang, that's crazy!!!
My fingers sting, Mikey, my fingers sting! Corn oil is a beautiful thing, LOL. Of course the mare is pissed because her legs are soaked as well.
WOW. :o
I mean really, WOW.
I wonder if coating their tails & manes with something like Show Sheen would help prevent the burrs? Or at least make it easier to get them out?
Corn oil, I never thought of using that, how clever. I use a product called Cowboy Magic and it works for knots & tangles,thank goodness I haven't had
burrs up here. On our old place we had so many that we had to pull them by hand and burn the piles to get rid of them. When I come across them here I RUN to the jeep for the spray rig that has the KILLSALL and dowse them. We got smarter on how to keep them in hand! Hope your girls stay out of the burrs and give your fingers a chance to get well.
Even the cats have brought some in this year. Luckily the horses have been bur free thus far. (knocking on fake computer desk wood)
CDN, Kola isn't bad because she has the silky mane and tail. Misty, however, has the thick wavy dread locks.
Becca, I poured half a bottle of corn oil on Misty's tail. The hair seperates easily and then I can retrieve the burrs. I use the cooking spray on their manes.
Kathy, The dogs have had their fair share of burrs, but the cats have been clean, thankfully!
I must admit, short of my fingers stinging, it was somewhat theraputic getting them so clean.
Lol .... woah! maybe if her tail was in a tailbag, then only the tailbag would need the burs removed from it? lol, I think it would be easier to de-bur a tail bag then all that tail! lol. I couldn't believe how jampacked her tail was with burs! I just tried brush my horses tail today because I wanted to, and there was no dirt in it.. though I didn't use anything but a brush, but it didn't hurt because I was only brushing small parts of it at a time and holding onto it so it didn't hurt his tail.
Wow - the tail, I can't believe. Devils! My guys have been coming in with tangles and burrs too all of a sudden, but not yet up to that level. Crossing fingers.
It seems if there is a burr to be found my herd will find every last one of them too. I'll have to try your method, we usually use show sheen to help get them out. Sounds like you had a lovely day.
Kim, I swear by the corn oil and cooking spray, swear by it!
Ranchette, I too was in shock over what I saw! LOL
Arlene, the oil and spray really make short work of it and after a few hours it is soaked in and conditioned. You can't really tell that there is oil on there. If you have a hot wash rack, it would easily come out with a bath.
Corn oil eh? Never have tried that, just always used Show Sheen to make those little suckers slippery. Will have to try the oil next time, and there will be a next time, mine seem to find them too!!! Buddy got them in his forelock so many times that he only had a few spears of hair left and it never grew back!!
Scissors. I love scissors. Sure you end up with a roached mane or two...but hey, it may come back in fashion! The retro look is hot :)
Midlife Mom, I hardly lost but a few hairs!
LOL, Tracey, Did you see the top of Misty's mane. She's got a mohawk!
Ahhhh-The many attributes of corn oil and cooking spray!! I've used baby oil too(but it doesn't seem to condition the same way corn or olive oil does). You just can't beat liquid oils for burr detail.
Holy cow! In a couple hours! UGH! Glad we don't have burrs like that here! I have heard of oil and cooking spray. Never used it though! I use Cowboy Magic or Show Sheen works great!
Great job on getting them all out!
Here it's the same. When it is the season, the horses get burs. At the ckub, we use combs to put them away. Of course, it takes time but it is so nice to be with the horses. And as we are numerous, we help each other to comb the horses.
I'm happy that your putting your burrs in a bucket instead of re-planting them:)
See, BECS, Oil is great!
KDW, Thanks, Generic corn oil is cheaper, LOL. I do have real horse shampoo for them, though. But Browneyed is right, the oil really conditions!
Le Cheval, A comb was used indeed, but the oil helps to persuade the burrs to come out. LOL
Yep, Jess, I learn from the best. ;)
I actually said "GOODNESS" outloud when I zoomed in on that photo of Misty. Good grief, what a MESS. I am amazed at how smart some of you are! I am a new horse owner (got a horse and pony almost 2 weeks ago!). I would have NEVER thought of corn oil. Good to know. :o)
Tracey's comment was so funny about the scissors. I almost spit my drink out on the computer screen laughing so hard. :o)
Glad your horses are all beautified again. Good job Callie! :o)
When my horses were on pasture- about a thousand years ago when I was a girl and there was actually free land in the Crazyness of California- I found that WD-40 is great to get the burrs out. It isn't toxic and it really works. Of course I'd wash the tails afterwares, but you might give it a try.
I'll have to keep the WD40 in mind, Vaquerogirl, I have a boat load of it in the garage! LOL
Great tip. I had no idea that corn oil and cooking spray would work so well.
I always use Show Sheen on my mare, but of course, we don't have burrs around here. I'd probably go through two bottles of Show Sheen with a mass of burrs that huge! gah!
And it's so pricey and doesn't condition as well as I'm sure the oils do.
What did they do, lie down in a patch of burrs?
We do have cholla cacti in our area, so we really have to watch out while trail riding, especially if we back up. Those tiny thorns are the worst!
Good job on those manes and tails.
I'm going to use some corn oil on my girl next time I brush out her tail, for sure. :)
~Lisa
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