# Brushes for the sensitive horse



## My Beau (Jan 2, 2009)

My TB mare is has sensitive/thin skin, so she doesn't neccessarily enjoy being groomed. I use the softest brushes I can find for her and don't brush hard but she still makes her "ugly faces". 

So, I was just wondering what you guys use on your sensitive horses... maybe there's a nice brush I could pick up for her.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

We have a TB and a QH and they are convinced that grooming = horsie torture. So far a rubber currycomb seems to be their favorite of all hated brushes. I follow that with soft finishing brush and both seem to do better than if I just started with a brush. 

I didn't get any black looks yesterday from my QH about the rubber currycomb, it seems she starting to enjoy it. She was so filthy and full of loose hair that I ended up using a medium brush on her afterwards and she pitched a fit.


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## eventerdrew (Mar 13, 2009)

The jelly type curry comb with the two sides on it is REALLY good for my two sensitive horses. And instead of using a stiff bristled finishing brush, get one of the softer ones. They mind those much less.


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## My Beau (Jan 2, 2009)

Right now I curry her with this epona curry, using the side with the long "nubs"-
<b><i> Epona Gummy Scrubby </i></b>

For body brushes, I have some pretty soft ones... maybe it's because she just doesn't like being groomed, not because she's sensitive (although I'm sure that's atleast a small part). She's not a "oh oh oh, pet _me_, not them" type horse.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

My coach's horse hates being groomed. There are teeth and hooves flying whenever you get near him and he cringes like no other. 
What he objects to the least is those black rubber curry combs and you have to put MORE pressure on the curry, not less. And then he has a long bristled synthetic brush to get the dust off and for his face - a microfiber mitt.


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## CharliGirl (Nov 16, 2009)

I use the jelly scrubbers for currying, and a really soft dandy brush. I think it was intended to be a face/lower leg brush, but it works everywhere too. Since one of my horses has very sensitive skin, I like to try brushes out on my bare arms. If it feels rough, I don't use it. It takes a bit longer to groom using more delicate brushes, but if my horse is more comfortable, I'm all for it!


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## Skutterbotch (Dec 1, 2009)

I just saw a brush at the store that was for horse faces, it was AMAZINGLY soft! it felt so nice, maybe something like that would help?


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## Pidge (Sep 5, 2009)

As weird as it sounds a large fine bristled paint brush is good...it will clean up like a finishing brush but is so soft that the horses hardly notice...just takes more time to brush a horse with one...and a good currying needs to be done first...


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## Bakkir (Mar 3, 2010)

I use a jelly curry too. I have others but try to use the brushes he favors to make grooming a good thing. I have a really baby soft peanut face brush that is really good for nothing but I brush his face with it cause he likes it - lol!


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Vida can occsionally be sensitive, especially when the air is dry and the static is bad. Like everyone has stated use a rubber curry or jelly. I then finish with a very long soft bristled brush to flick the dirt off. 
I have this long brush by LamiCell and love it


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## NittanyEquestrian (Mar 3, 2009)

I have one of those hand shaped mitts with the little nubs on both sides for my sensitive TB mare. She also likes those metal shedder blades/sweat scraper things. Something I've noticed too is that if you continually do big strokes in the downward direction they do better than if you curry vigorously in a small circle. But that's just what I've noticed on sensitive horses.


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## Mustangg (Dec 15, 2009)

I have a sensitive horse too, all I use is a soft curry brush and a lot of our other brushes are nice and soft.


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## RoyalsRebel (Sep 24, 2009)

My guy's an Oldenburg/TB - and I think the TB in him has sensitive skin lol so he HATES grooming.... the only thing he enjoys is the hard curries or his favourite is actually an old human hair brush! It goes against logic - you'd think that softer would be better - but he likes 'scratches' as opposed to brushes. I use a little 'shedding flower' I bought at a show once that he likes too - it's got more like teeth than bristles and his upper lip starts squirming. But as soon as you use the dandy brush the ears go back and he starts to fidget. Weird, but I just go with what he likes and make the 'icky' part as quick as possible.


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