Eyes, Dock and Nose, Cleaning

newforest

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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I remember being taught you should always wipe these. Two different cloths.
Who does and who doesn't. What else were you taught. But don't do.

I only check her eyes, which I wipe. She tends to wipe her nose on me anyway so don't touch that.
 
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Neala has her dock washed every few days as she gets a bit yuck there. Warm water and a sponge does the job just fine. Eyes and nose I do with fragrance free sensitive baby wipes.

I do plenty the non bhs way as I cannot be doing with most of their mumbo jumbo.
 
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Like Mystiquemalaika I use baby wipes for eyes and nose - I don't delve deep into the nose, just get the crusty bits round the inside of the nostrils - Raf likes it. Also use a baby wipe for bum and underside of the dock, but only tend to do these if they look dirty or if we are going out. I had no idea there was a 'correct' BHS way to do these things!
 
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Bad me - I never clean bum or dock etc. Every morning I wipe the sleepies out of their eyes though. I know there are a few things we are meant to do. When we first got J I studied so many horse manuals and thought I would never remember half of the cleaning apparatus!
 
Don't touch them unless I need to. Belle rarely gets yucky unless the grass is growing and her poop goes a bit loose, as for eyes and nose, occasionally I have to wipe the sleep from her eyes but it is rare and I never touch her nose, I do however give her teeth and gums a bit of a scrub with a sponge after we have ridden, mostly because her dentist told me to periodically brush her teeth with mouthwash, it's just easier to scrub with the sponge and she likes to play with it too! Bet that's not in any BHS rule book.
 
I just clean eyes, nose, ears and bum when they look gooky, not on a set schedule. I use baby wipes too. Jess's dock is awful, she doesn't have bare skin like most under there, she has tail hair right to the top so it gets really manky as she is in season constantly, thats pretty hard to keep on top of as needs a full tail wash almost, ive been waiting for it to warm up properly to do it.
 
Kite_Rider said:
Don't touch them unless I need to. Belle rarely gets yucky unless the grass is growing and her poop goes a bit loose, as for eyes and nose, occasionally I have to wipe the sleep from her eyes but it is rare and I never touch her nose, I do however give her teeth and gums a bit of a scrub with a sponge after we have ridden, mostly because her dentist told me to periodically brush her teeth with mouthwash, it's just easier to scrub with the sponge and she likes to play with it too! Bet that's not in any BHS rule book.
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Was she okay with the sponge right from the word go? Reason I ask is I am thinking of trying to get Storm used to having similar done. She has gaps that fill between her teeth and vet comes and picks them clean every three months (as she's getting older - we used to go six). He did say if I could get her used to having a gag on I could do a lot of good between visits. I have heard using a brush helps? Trouble is, she is awful with anything near her head - even tho she trusts me, she is very wary. She has always had to be sedated for her teeth doing (don't blame her as this last few years she has needed a lot of work).
 
Yes she was fine Trewsers, Belle dosn't mind anything in her mouth at all (she thinks it may be food).
It definately works as well as brushing though because last dentist visit he thought I'd been cleaning her teeth with the brush as he'd suggested and he said there was a definite improvement in her gums.
What is she like with you touching her mouth? Maybe you could offer a wet sponge and see how she reacts to it without you actually venturing into her mouth to start with?
 
She's not too bad with me touching her mouth, so yes maybe a starting point would be to just hold the sponge there and see what happens. She soon gives me a very worried eye with stuff around her head:(
 
Blue sponge for the bum end , pink for the head. No set regime just when grooming as needed. Wipes for eyes also. She's a little fussy around her head but lets me do it. Back end no fuss, I put it down to using warm water not cold . Also shes had 2 foals so shes used to being prodded and poked around the back end. [emoji6]
 
I once cleaned all around Cherry's ladybits under her tail with a wet wipe and then put said wipe in my pocket for putting in a bin when I was near one. Of course I completely forgot to find a bin and about half an hour, blew my nose on the first screwed up tissue I reached for in my pocket....... You can guess what I blew my nose on :oops:
 
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I clean eyes with cool baby wipes . She loves it ! Do both eyes at same time and she just totally relaxes. Then nose , not too keen. Then inside her ears . Loves it. Eyes twitch and lip jumps ! Then her dock and lady bits , no problem . I do this about two or three times a week and I'm sure she feels better for it .
 
When I'm bathing mine get a full clean. In summer Kias eyes get weepy if the flies are annoying him but we have a fly net so this stops now. Never really has dirty nostrils :)

Kia cleans his own winky playing with the girls :rolleyes: but he has never been a dirty horse this way.
 
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