Winter Mane Care Tips

Maintaining manes in winter doesn’t need to be tricky.

There are a combination of a few things you can do to keep your horses manes in good condition over winter:

Only rug the neck during the day if the weather is absolutely revolting.

Taking the neck rug off each day does a couple of things – it allows the hair and skin to breath each day and it means that you’ll check the mane & rug each day so you can tell when they need to be washed.

Good quality thick polar fleece neck rugs with a slippery lining are amazing because they’re light, they’re pretty much waterproof and they’re warm. Plus they’re easy to wash regularly.

Clean rugs are a MUST. Dirty rugs will grip the hair rather than slip over it, meaning that rubbed manes are more likely.

NEVER put more than one layer on the neck (unless it’s the night before an event, they’re plaited and using a skinny hood as well.

Avoid cotton combo rugs where possible. In my experience, combo rugs are notorious for rubbing out manes. They tend to slip down the neck, bunch up and tighten, which causes rubbed manes.

Wash and deep condition the mane every 1-2 weeks or as needed, you can feel when the hair needs to be washed.

The HSE Intensify deep conditioning mask is amazing! Leave it in for 20 mins before rinsing out and your horse’s hair will feel like human hair (and yep, you can use it on your own hair as well!!)!

Also use the HSE liquid silk detangling and shine serum to keep the hair knot free, smooth and slippery which also helps stop it being rubbed out. Use this after washing and then a couple of times a week between washes.

Damage can be done to manes in a day. If all else fails and you do get some rubbing, get onto it as quickly as you can. To be honest the best product to help regrow healthy hair (as long as the hair follicles haven’t been permanently damaged, if that’s the case then nothing will help) is the HSE HG Serum.