Hair, oh hair! Where art thou, hair?

Oh right. On my tack. It's major shedding season, as I'm sure you lovely horse owners know- and having a ranch with 22 miniature horses, shetlands and ponies- it's like winter all over again. Except while you guys would have snow, we have hair. All over the ground. And our clothes. And...worst of all- the tack!

Clipping isn't really an option. Our horses are 24/7 pasture residents, so they need their coats for any chilly days that happen to come upon us. But what to do about all of the hair on our tack? The worst part is the girths, which ar nylon and cotton. And then there's the saddlepads. By the time I'm done working a pony, their pad and girth are so covered in hair that it looks like it's alive and trying to grow its own winter coat!

I'm sure atleast some of you have this problem. So what I want to know is...

I find brushing them with a soft body brush works good :) Or you could get a sticky roller LOL

I just ignore all the hair all over the place, except my mouth & eyes, I keep baby wipes for me. The rest of it, it stays until shedding season is over, futile battle otherwise. I have a fleece coat that I usually wear, looks like a horse hair coat come shedding season.

I might try a soft body brush :P the sticky roller though is a no-go! I got more loose cotton on that thing than I did hair. That stuff is industrial! O.O

Its way too hot here (85 today) for me to wear a coat, so my t-shirts get covered in hair. Add that to snot, drool, and mud that the horses fling at me all day, and I'm sure that I look like the perfect example of a professional equestrian when rider's parents come to talk to me. Rainbow-pony hair and all.

We have always used a metal round curry to clean the pads and girths after a ride during shedding season. Pulls the hair right off and the brush is easy to clean (tap against bottom of shoe.) Just don't use it on a Tacky pad.... bad mojo-jojo. Tackys just rinse off though.

I'm not sure if this would work with your kind of saddle pad, but my Dad threw mine in the mashing machine and drier. Before, the bottom especially looked orange from my lease's chestnut fur. After, both sides were white and looked like new! I think he just used some old towels to balance the load so that our clothes weren't in the same load as my saddle pad .

Have you tried those metal curry combs?

As for saddles and stuff, I have no idea!

Good luck! I feel your pain!