Quick Pick Equine Poo Picking Tool Review; Speeding up your mucking out time!

Quick Pick Poo Picking Tool Review

With the lack of daylight hours over winter being a real problem with riders trying to cram in all their chores and keeping their horse ridden and fit with the few hours of sunlight we get a day (especially those that work full time and go to work in practical darkness and leave in darkness I don't get a lot of time in natural daylight to look after Erik!) why not use something that can save you time and effort?

The new, recently launched, Quick Pick mucker is the tool for you! 

First Impressions

I got sent a beautiful Red Quick Pick by Gary and his team and to say it's beautiful, for a mucker, is accurate because it's so well designed and very sleek; you can tell a lot of thought has gone in to the design.
One of the first things to strike me was just how different they look to a 'normal' mucker that have been around for years; obviously they still have the same overall shape but the little things that bug you about the old style muckers have been added or taken away.

Another wonderful thing to note is that the Quick Pick is fully recyclable so years down the line and your trusty Quick Pick finally gives out after years of use, you can put it in the recycling knowing that it can be broken down and will be used for something else. As someone who is very plastic conscious I love this this! 

Design

I love that those little things that aren't quite right or annoying with the old styling poo picking muckers have been thought of and removed or improved here. For example there is no more bending over at 90 degrees to scrape up the poo nuggets with a not very efficient rake. The Quick Pick has been designed so that you can stand with one leg either side of the muckers bucket, put your feet on strategically placed foot holds that keep the bucket in place, so that you can stand upright and with the normal length rake can scope the poop in to the mucker. 
Brilliant for back injuries or just not putting undue stress on the muscles and joints round the lumber area of the back. It's also good for your core as, as when you're scooping the poop you're pulling them in to the back and thus 'engaging' your core and giving it a work out which is even better for your riding. Who knew doing a chore could help your riding?! 

No stooping or bending to pick up!

Photo by Quick Pick

Securely place your feet either side and then scoop 

Little things like a clip on the handle (pictured above) so you can easily keep your rake and Quick Pick together so they don't get lost or separated from each other. Doesn't seem like a big problem but when it's dark and you're searching around in your store room at 6am for the rake because it wasn't kept together and now you can't find it would be a total pain in the bottom.

Use

Another part that I love about the Quick Pick is that you can pick up and tip out it's contents without having to strain your wrists. The handle tips on a pivot and has a hand slot at the back so you can easily tip out the contents of the mucker bucket without having to awkwardly twist anything in your wrist, arm, shoulder or back! In the photo below it's so easy to see how it tips!

Plus as the mucker bucket pivots the poo and other junk in the mucker bucket falls to the back so you're far far less likely to drop or spill anything while carrying the Quick Pick back to your wheel barrow or muck heap! 

I think this ergonomic design is my favourite feature overall, as some will know that when I broke my wrist I have had some problems since with broken tendons and pain so by not having to twist the mucker to put the contents away I won't be hurting my already compromised wrist. This is a big plus for me because I cannot be 'off my game' when riding!

No twisting, an easy handle on the back and the main handle pivoting the bucket for easy emptying! 

Photo by Quick Pick

While the Quick Pick is certainly made for field poo picking I've also found it's dramatically reduced the amount of time it takes me to muck Erik's stable each morning! When you're on a tight schedule like me with trying to get mucked out and the yard clean before work it's been a wonder with picking up so much more muck! 
As the bucket is quite a size larger than traditional muckers you can fit in 3 poos in instead of the normal 1 or 2, meaning less stopping and walking over to the wheel barrow! And as I mentioned above, with the tipping of the bucket, is that you don't drop any muck and find stray nuggets all over the stable later! 

Regularly readers will also know that we teamed up with HorseDialog a few weeks ago to highlight the importants of Spring Summer #SSTimeItRight which is their campaign to time the worming of your horse at the right to reduce the risk of picking up worm eggs in the summer months so horses didn't head in to winter with a worm burden and now we're in to the winter months its time for #ESRWTimeItRight which is the Encysted Small Red Worm which affects horses in the autumn and winter months as the worms become encysted in the gut wall and then come spring they mass emerge after winter.  By regularly picking up droppings in your paddocks you'll significantly reduce the likelihood of your horse(s) getting worms and other parasites that can be transmitted by the grass they eat in their paddocks. It's something I am very conscious of so with the proper worming cycle worming and paddock poo picking you'll help in keeping your horse healthy and happy! Therefore anything to make poo picking in your paddock easier and therefore something you're more likely to do, the better for your horse! 

Thoughts 
Overall I've been using the Quick Pick Equine poo mucker for around 3 weeks and I genuinely love it! With everything in my life whether equine or otherwise I like tools and items to reduce the workload/time/stress of having to do a chore and I have really found that the Quick Pick has certainly done that for me. 
I also love it when the annoying little things that make a chore more difficult or problematic to have had real thought put in to them and the design to reflect the overcoming of those problems and this I have also found with the Quick Pick, it's been designed to speed up the amount of time doing a chore so you can spend more time riding your horse, it's also been designed to put less physical stress on joints and the body which is great! Repetitive strain is a real issue so to make steps to reduce that is a great and a real plus point in my thought process if I was buying one of these.

I can find nothing, if not very little, to fault the Quick Pick in that maybe with the foot slots make it a little too wide for some slimmer wheel barrows to go in face down but nothing that turning it on it's side or at a side angle wouldn't fix. They really are fabulous!

Cost 
You can buy all of the items separately or in a bundle all together so you're not locking in to buying part of the Quick Pick if you already have something similar.
To buy the Quick Pick bucket and Quick Rake together it's £49.99. To buy the Quick Pick only is £35 and the Quick Rake only is £25.
Some may scoff at the prices but these items are so hardy and well made. No thin plastic that cracks or splits after only a few uses or if you drop it. I've actually dropped the Quick Pick a couple of times from my wheelbarrow on to concrete and it's not even put a scratch on it!
They're extremely well made and are actually manufactured here in the United Kingdom, which I absolutely love! It's supporting local business and our economy, so none of the cheap imports!

You can buy a Quick Pick online via their website (which is easy to navigate and use, plus it looks beautiful too) https://quickpickequine.co.uk/ or if you're heading over to Olympia in December then they will be at stand H287 so if you'd prefer to 'Try Before You Buy' then head over to their stand and have a go scooping in their 'poo potatoes' and get it from them directly! 

Would I recommend the Quick Pick.... a resounding yes, very much so!




*If you read this blog and think you'd like me to try out a product and give it a rigorous test then drop me a message https://www.facebook.com/horsiness

Smart Grooming Review - Smart Mane &Tail thinner, the Multi use tool

It's been rather a long time since I did a smart grooming review, naughty me!

Then again the Tattersalls sales have started and horse aren't going to transport themselves, that's my excuse anyway!

So where was I? Oh yes, my very favourite horsey company Smart Grooming. Georgie and I aren't brand ambassadors for nothing, we genuinely do believe in these unsung heroes and their wonder products. Showing season may have ended but I well remember getting up at 4am to plait, wash and spruce and their wonderful products make it quicker and easier to get your horse show ring ready. 

A little while back they sent me a couple of mane and tail 'Smart Tails'. Sadly I haven't been able to try it on Beanies tail yet but I will - Georgie keeps beating me to it and I'm not there to take any photos. Saying that, in the mean time I have had to thin out his name, so rather than pull his mane (which often makes horses head shy, or reluctant to be plaited because they always think you're going to yank their hair out) I'd see how the Smart Tail worked. 

You what I'm talking about, you're mid-way through the perfect plait, but you have to pull it tight to get it to stay in..only for your horse to have other ideas and shake their head, or fidget. So, I tried to Smart Tail on thinning out his rather thick mane, which has a tendency to get pretty heavy in the middle.

First of all it was given a good wash and shampoo. Then conditioner was put in and that was brushed through, making sure to remove all the tangles. Now it was nice, soft and tangle free it was towel dried to remove most of the water, then I brushed the mane onto the 'wrong side' so the underside of his mane was now on the outside. Then with a Medium thickness Smart Tail I brushed it lightly through the mane to remove some of the thickness.

By doing so I wasn't removing big lumps of hair from the root like I would do if I was pulling the mane, which could leave you with a patchy thin mane. And that is absolutely not what you want! It took out some of the weight and thickness, without taking too much out. That's the beauty of having the different teeth and blade strengths.

Without taking too much hair out, I evened out the entire mane until it was one uniform thickness, thus eliminating a thick middle mane and the subsequent golf ball plaits that would have resulted if I didn't thin it.

All the while not pulling the hair from the root, and not damaging the hair follical - It's all very well in the summer when you horse has lovely thick aerated hair follicals, but come mid-winter when you horse has a neck cover on 24/7 and you've got suffocated hair frolics (making the hair more likely to die and fall out) and rubbed patches, then you'll wish you hadn't pulled it so vigorously all summer!

The result, a nice even thickness, and because you're not hurting your horse it means they're less likely to fidget and pull away from you every time you come to plait, and when you do need to plait up, your plaits are even and uniform in size.

To finish, take your thinning scissors and give the ends a trim to make your mane all one length, without it being dead straight.

The Standard Smart Tails come in course, medium and fine and are £15 each 

I even spotted Smart Tails in my local tack shop - Gibsons Saddlers in Newmarket. Oh and some whisker trimmers too!

The 'yellow handle range' (above) Smart Tails are £22 and come in course, medium, fine and super fine.

Or if you're feeling like splurging then the wooden handle 'professional range' of Smart Tails are £30 and also come in course, medium, fine and super fine.

All can be found in the new Smart Grooming Site - Totallysmart.com

Smart Grooming Product Review - Leg and Body Whitening Powder

A couple of weeks ago the lovely people over at Smart Grooming and Clippersharp sent me some things to try out. Obviously I've been dying to try them but until today we've been jumping in the mud, but I finally got to try them yesterday. 

The first thing I tried was this pot of Leg and Body Whitening Powder. B has 3 white socks that we wash before competitions, and usually use chalk to finish them off before going into the show ring.

I must admit that I have used other leg whiteners before but wasn't all that impressed. I've used spray on whiteners but that was just very sticky and clumped all the hair together which didn't look natural. We usually use chalk which works well but covers you, the horse and everything else in a thin layer of dust! Not what you want with a nice clean horse now covered in fine chalk dust. So with an open mind I was keen to try this powder out. 

Firstly I off washed B's legs with whitening shampoo to remove the ingrained dirt and mud (B does love to wade in muddy puddles) and start with a 'blank canvas' as it were. His nice clean legs below -

I then dampened a sponge as suggested and lightly dipped one end into the powder. I wasn't quite sure how much to use so I just covered about a quarter of the sponge with a thin layer of powder. I then began gently rubbing it over B's white legs. He has quite a straight transition into his chestnut fur into his white socks so I used a square sponge so that I could really make sure I accurately covered only the white sock and didn't get any of the powder onto the rest of his legs. Its good to use the corners of the sponge to get into corners and little edges accurately without smudging.

The powder goes a long way so use sparingly to avoid caking the fur. It will stick together a little, but don't worry that will go once it's dry.

B's legs after applying the powder to slightly dam legs.

I then left it to dry out slightly, then put clean travel boots over the top to avoid getting any dirt, poo or anything else on his now immaculate white socks. This saved time at the show as this job was already done!

Once at the show and B was unloaded and his boots taken off, his legs had completely dried. I brushed the excess powder off, which will also de-clump the hair making it look nice and natural, and slightly fluffy.

Ta Dah! Look how white they are! I was honestly really shocked with how good the results are.

Unlike chalk which goes EVERYWHERE, this whitening powder doesn't at all. Because you dampen the sponge slightly and apply it, it creates a very light paste which easily and thinly spreads over the horses coat.

Well I am absolutely converted and will loath to use chalk ever again. This pot will last for ages as you only have to use a small amount, a little goes a long way. It also slightly coats the skin under the coat lightly making the area looks super white! 

This product does exactly what it says on the tin (well tub, but you know what I mean) and the instructions are spot on. It's easy to accurately apply so you can get it exactly where you need to without making the dark fur stained with white. It makes the coat 'dazzling' white, and doesn't become cakey and sticky.

It also won't break the bank, at only £11.95 for a 1KG tub!  (Now at a special price of £9.95 on 22/4/15) Compared to other high end showing products this is really reasonable! 

If you have a horse who is either a white grey, has white socks or any other white patches you want to whiten for competitions then stop what you're doing and buy some! Link above

I have another Smart Grooming product to review when we have B's full summer coat we watch out for that! 

Really pleased with yesterdays result and qualified for Thoroughbred and Retired Racehorse Championship at Aintree Racecourse. Thanks for the help on making B look gorgeous Smart Grooming 

Sophie x