Horse Mane Rubbing: How to Stop It

Having a nice mane on their horse is important for most people, unfortunately a lot of times this doesn't happen. A common reason is that the horse rubs his mane up against a tree or the stable wall or anything else that is nearby. Not only does often result in the hair in the area thinning but it is usually the sign of a bigger problem. If you see your horse rubbing his mane you are going to want to take steps to address it.

The most common reason that a horse rubs his mane is that he is being bothered by bugs. In some cases these are small bugs that actually live in the hair and in other cases it is mosquitoes. Either way you are going to have to get rid of the bugs in order to solve the problem. To do this you will want to make sure that you stable the horse at night as this is when the bugs are at their worst. You will also want to make sure that you are cleaning up any manure as this attracts mosquitoes.

The next thing that you are going to have to do is to try to soothe the irritation that your horse is experiencing. There are shampoos that are designed specifically to do this. The ones that you are going to want to look for are oatmeal based as that is the most effective way to soothe the skin. If you find that this is not enough and that your horse still seems to have sensitive skin you will need to get your vet to come and give him a shot to relieve the discomfort.

Once you have gotten rid of the bugs and the discomfort the last step is to keep the bugs away. This can be done with an insect repellent, you are going to want to get a type that you can spray right on to your horse. There are also repellents that come as lotions that you can put right in the hair which is often more effective.

One last thing that you can do if your horse has a problem with rubbing his mane is to braid it. This will help to keep the bugs out of his hair and make it less likely that he will get bitten. It will also help to keep the hair from falling out if he does rub it.

Braiding a horse mane is one of the best ways to take care of it. There are a variety of types of horse mane braiding that you may want to try.

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