Horse Shave Review

• Review Of: Horse Shave for the removal of bot eggs.

• The Short Version: It works for removing bot eggs but it was unhandy to maneuver and clogged up every few strokes. We like our pocket knife or the Slick 'N Easy Grooming Block better.
• Disclosure: Here at CowboyWay.com we purchased the product reviewed on this page with our own money. The opinions expressed here are our own.

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Review

Here at CowboyWay.com we wanted to know if the Horse Shave would be helpful in removing bot eggs from horse hair. In the past we had mostly used a pocket knife or the Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block (Slick 'N Easy review) for removing bot eggs, and wanted to know how the Horse Shave would compare.

About Bot Eggs: If you're a horse owner you probably know that bot flies lay their eggs on a horse's hair (commonly on the legs but in other locations as well) in the late summer and fall.

When a horse rubs its nose on the eggs they are transferred to the mouth and ingested, which results in internal parasite infestation for the horse.

While a horse can be given a "boticide" to kill the parasites, it's a good idea to remove bot eggs from the horse's hair to minimize the amount of eggs they ingest in the first place.

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The Horse Shave - General Info

The Horse Shave is a thin razor blade in an easy-to-hold plastic handle.

Its main purpose is for shaving unwanted hair and whiskers from a horse's face and muzzle, but, when slightly dulled, it is also commonly used for shaving bot eggs off horse hair.

Note: We'd like to mention that we purchased the Horse Shave for bot eggs and bot eggs only. In other words, we don't like to trim our horses' whiskers. If you'd like to read about horse whisker you might enjoy this article: "What Are Horse Whiskers?"

Below: The Horse Shave, front of the package. There were two Horse Shaves inside, but it also comes in a package of six.

 

Below: The Horse Shave, back of the package. Notice that the package says "HORSESHAVE when slightly dulled by use, is a very effective tool for removing bot fly eggs."

 

Below: The Horse Shave, out of the plastic package, but with a small cardboard cover still in place.

 

Below: The Horse Shave, out of the plastic package and with the small cardboard cover removed. The arrow is pointing to the thin razor blade that cannot be seen in the photo.

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Using The Horse Shave

Before we used the Horse Shave to remove bot eggs, we followed the package directions and dulled it slightly by first using it to shave some long hairs from underneath our horse's jaw. When we noticed it had dulled slightly, we used it on his legs to remove bot eggs.

The Horse Shave worked well for us. We used it the way the package instructed it to be used for whiskers: We pulled downward with little or no pressure, and it removed a noticeable amount of bot eggs with each stroke. In fact, the Horse Shave removed approximately twice as many bot eggs per stroke than the Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block.

However, the shaving surface of the Horse Shave is considerably wider than the edges of the Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block, and we had more trouble maneuvering the Horse Shave into the grooves and contours of the horse's leg. Every few strokes the razor blade clogged with hair and we had to rub it backwards on our jeans to get rid of the the clog. The horse stood comfortably while we were removing the eggs.

One thing that was somewhat noticeable about the Horse Shave is that, even with careful use, the razor cut a few minor grooves into the horse's leg hair. This didn't bother us; we considered the grooves hardly noticeably and probably wouldn't have seen them at all if we weren't being extra picky because of this review and the close-up photos we were taking.

However, what may seem minor to us might be a bigger issue for someone else, so we thought we'd mention it. Also, since we're not picky about a few grooves, we feel like we could have simply used our pocket knife to remove the bot eggs without purchasing a special product like the Horse Shave.

Below: Bot eggs on our horse before using the Horse Shave.

 

Below: After a few strokes of the Horse Shave - no more bot eggs.

 

Below: This is the same photo as the one immediately above, with the addition of blue arrows pointing to minor grooves cut into the hair after using the Horse Shave. The grooves don't bother us, but they might some people.

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The Horse Shave - Our Opinion

We thought this was merely an ok product. It did work, but it was more difficult to maneuver around our horse's legs than the Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block or our pocket knife.

We might have liked it better if we had also wanted to use it for grooming delicate areas around our horses' face or muzzles, but we were just interested in it for removing bot eggs.

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Summary

• While the Horse Shave removed approximately twice as many bot fly eggs per stroke than the Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block, the Horse Shave was more difficult to maneuver into tight areas.
• Even with careful use the Horse Shave cut a few minor grooves into our horse's hair. This is not a big deal for us - the grooves are small and we don't hardly notice them - but they could be an annoyance for someone wanting their horse to appear perfectly groomed.
• All in all, we prefer to use the Slick 'N Easy Horse Grooming Block or our pocket knife to remove bot eggs.

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