Winter Approaches ❄️🧤
As equestrians we all dread the winter months and now that the clocks have gone back we all count the days to 21st December when we can start counting the days to spring!
Winter months bring many challenges, to rug or not to rug, to clip or not to clip, keeping hooves healthy, protecting legs from mud and bacterial infections. Here at Well Gel we have been developing products to help your horse’s skin cope with challenging conditions and aid the skin’s own healing abilities.
Well Gel The Shampoo is made especially to suit the natural ph of our horse’s skin, it doesn’t contain sulphate and is low suds making it ideal for use during winter months as it requires less or no rinsing which is a great help when removing mud from legs and softening any mud fever scabs. The Shampoo contains organic aloe, essential oils and macadamia nut oil to leave the skin soothed and coat conditioned without stripping natural protective oils, making it a helpful addition to your winter essentials.
When considering clipping we have to take into account how much work our horses are getting, reduced daylight often leads to less time for exercise and even though a thicker coat may lead to more sweating does this make clipping essential. Most of us use rugs to help protect our horses from the wind and rain and inevitable mud that our horses seem to always enjoy rolling in, so do we really need to clip? Maybe we can compromise and consider a partial clip or waiting a bit longer before removing their natural protection. Whether we clip or not, grooming can certainly take more time during the winter months but we are sure you will find Well Gel’s Reem Gleam the perfect solution. Reem Gleam really does what it says on the bottle, with added organic aloe, calendula, ginger, rosemary, mandarin and yarrow essential oils it leaves the skin soothed and the coat gleaming and smelling reem! Add a few capfuls to a bucket of warm water to use as a no rinse wash after exercise or before clipping or just ‘hot cloth’ the entire coat post clip and a few times a week to maintain a shiny, conditioned coat.
Lastly, we need to take extra care of our horse’s hooves and legs when affected by wetter muddy conditions we have incorporated 2 useful essential oils, tea tree and myrrh, in our Foot Spa and Aloe Hoof Winter Edition to help maintain healthy conditioned hooves, with regular use spraying cleansed frogs and soles and not forgetting feeding the hoof wall with conditioning organic aloe, macerated carrot, macadamia nut, carrot seed & grapefruit contained in the Aloe Hoof. You may consider protecting the legs with mud boots or topical applications, we recommend a ‘mud powder’, as apposed to a grease or oil, as it is easily brushed or washed off which makes checking for the first signs of and redness or sores easier. At the first signs of sores or scabs mud must be removed either by brushing or washing with a warm solution of The Shampoo, just a small squirt, wearing gloves and using clean cotton wool wash the area gently softening any scabs, no rinsing required, towel dry and apply Well Gel Original. Use a small amount of Well Gel gently massaging into the affected area to aid the skin’s own healing abilities, if the condition does not respond within a few days then you may need to contact your vet as antibiotics may be required to deal with the bacterial infection which requires vigilant attention in your treatment protocol, such as wearing gloves, using clean cotton wool for each application and using a separate pot of Well Gel original.
Lets hope the weather stays kind to us this winter and please keep us updated on your own experiences using Well Gel products.
