Horse Care

Horse Care

71 products

71 products


All the horse grooming products you need for daily grooming, competition days, and to enhance well-being. Pamper your horse with our range of grooming brushes, natural skin care, shampoos, and daily essentials for perfect turnout.

What is Horse Grooming?

Horse grooming is the process of cleaning and caring for your horse. Brushing the coat in the direction that the hair lies will remove excess mud, dust, and dander. Regular grooming will encourage healthy skin and fur, and this will create a soft, well cared for coat. Not only is horse grooming important for the health and care of your horse, it’s also an important bonding exercise between you and your horse. There are lots of different ways to groom a horse, all dependant on the requirements of your horse, or the activities you’ll be doing together.

How to Groom Your Horse

Part of the daily routine of keeping a horse is the grooming. We’ve written a complete guide on this in our blog, but here are the highlights:

  • Start with the feet. Pick out hooves and brush the hoof walls clean. Check for any nasty smells or problems with the hoof itself. If all is well, moisturise or polish the hooves with Hoof Shine - this contains Beeswax and repels too much moisture as well as conditions and strengthens the hooves.
  • If your horse is muddy and has thick hair, use a coarse brush first. For sensitive or fine coated horses, use the Super Groomer to remove thick mud. The next stage is to go over the entire horse’s body with a medium grade of brush such as the Borstiq Mex Fibre. This brush with its natural fibre bristles will really get into the hair.  Then move onto a closer bristled brush such as a traditional Body Brush.  With this brush you will be able to groom even further into the coat but remember to clean your brush every other stroke with a metal curry comb.  Whilst going through the grooming routine, you will be able feel for any lumps or bumps or new injuries.   Moving on to the head and sensitive areas, use a soft brush, such as a Goat Hair.  This is a super soft natural grooming brush and will give a gentle feel to the vulnerable areas as well as being an enjoying part of the grooming process.  For the final finish to the body area, use the Borstiq Mex Soft or Borstiq Soft Finishing Brush, these will polish the fur to give a soft sheen.  Use a damp cloth for wiping over the eyes and nose and under the tail.  For added condition and shine, spray in Coat Sheen and polish in with our Black fleece mitt.  For a high show shine finish use Gloss n Go and polish in with the fleece mitt.
  • Groom the mane and tail with either a comb or brush depending on thickness. Applying a conditioning and de-tangling spray such as Xtreme Detangle will keep manes and tails in tip top condition as well as making it quick and easy to brush through each day.

How to Groom Your Horse for Shows and Events

When you’re off to a show or event your daily grooming routine can go one step further. It’s likely you’ll need to start with washing or bathing your horse, and if you have a grey or white horse you may be thinking about whitening or stain removal. The key difference between everyday grooming and grooming your horse for shows and events is the level of turnout. Perfect turnout for shows includes a high level of shine with the horse looking their absolute best, and most likely a plaited mane and tail as well. We’ve put lots of handy hints and tips here in our blog so be sure to have a look.

What is a Horse Grooming Kit? 

Horse Grooming kits are a collection of products ideally suited to everyday and competition horse grooming.   

A grooming kit contains the brushes, sprays, shampoos and tools you need to groom your horse. Grooming is important for the health and turnout of your horse, as well as a lovely activity to do together!

Why use a Grooming Kit?

Our horse grooming sets have been carefully put together so that each set meets a particular aspect of grooming. Do you have to plait for your upcoming event? Try our plaiting apron set – everything you need for professional plaits. Do you have a white horse that loves to cover himself in stable stains? Try our whitening grooming kit – you’ll be amazed at the results!

What is in a Grooming Kit?

Grooming kits vary from horse to horse – a native pony with a lot of hair will have a very different grooming kit to a thoroughbred. If you have a grey or white horse then there are specialist products available to keep them clean, Polar White Stain Remover will be an essential if this is the case! We have compiled a list of a few other key grooming products to make up a grooming kit for daily care. For us, this means:

  • Super Groomer: Invaluable for removing dried mud, stable and sweat stains, as well as massaging in shampoo
  • Coarse Brush: Borstiq Banana Dandy (natural plant Bassine bristles) or the Borstiq Arenga (another natural fibre bristle)
  • Medium Brush: Bostiq Shaped Medium (polypropylene bristle) or the Mex Fibre Brush (fibre bristle)
  • Flick brush: Borstiq Mex Fibre Flick: made from long fine polypropylene bristles, excellent for getting into soft coats for dust removal.
  • Soft Brush: Borstiq Mex Soft (Mix of Mex fibre and soft horse hair) or the Borstiq Finishing brush made entirely of horse hair.
  • Hoof Pick/ Hoof Brush: Used for picking out stones and mud, while the brush is helpful to scrub the hoof clean. The Borstiq Stubby Hoof pick has a pick and a stiff little brush – a perfect arrangement picking out the mud and brushing off the grit and dirt.
  • Mane Comb: Used gently to untangle the mane. If it’s particularly long or thick a tail brush may be more appropriate.
  • Tail Brush and Detangler: Used to detangle and brush those lovely tails. If your horse has a very delicate tail that is prone to breaking use the Borstiq Mane and tail brush, which has gentle rounded wooden pegs and won’t tear the hair.
  • Quarter Marking Brush – our Smart Grooming Quarter Marking brush has short firm bristles that create precise lines for sharp marking.
  • Water Brush – handy for scrubby muddy feet and legs. Smart Grooming’s Water Brush has sturdy polypropylene bristles and works effortlessly on thick mud and wet legs.

What is the best grooming kit to buy for my horse?

Every horse is different, but we have a huge selection of Grooming Kits to suit any horse and rider. Choosing a Grooming Kit will depend on what colour and breed your horse is, alongside whether you compete your horse or not. Our Plaiting Kits are brilliant for showjumping, dressage and showing. Our Horse Whitening Kit is brilliant for white horses who are attracted to mud and stains and our Every Day Essentials Kit is a great choice for most horses and riders to use before and after riding.

We recommend taking the time to assess you and your horse’s needs, and building a very tailored grooming set. For example, if you plait regularly a clever tool like our perfect plaits comb can take the place of three other tools – keeping your grooming kit easier to pack on show days. We have everything you need for your grooming kit at smart grooming. Feel free to reach out to us if you have a question!

Grooming Kits from Smart Grooming

We spend a lot of time testing every single one of our horse grooming products and have taken our experience of showing and turnout to make the very best brushes, tools and lotions for you and your horse. Follow our social channels for tips and advice, and don’t forget we’ve got all sort of helpful how to’s in our blog!

What are the advantages of Smart Grooming and Borstiq grooming kits?

Smart Grooming and Borstiq grooming kits have been specially curated for specific equestrian needs which will suit individual horses and riders. From everyday horse grooming kits to horse plaiting kits and ultimate horse grooming kits for new riders. We have something for every equestrian. The Borstiq brush kits are made from natural materials and are a luxurious addition to any grooming kit. Not sure which is right for you? Read our Grooming Kit Guide here.