Clay after work: the right technique

After a hard session or a day of competition, putting clay on the legs is one of the habits of the stable. You still need to know what clay is, how to apply it and when to leave things to the vet.

Clays, not one clay

The word covers a family of rocks, the clay minerals, whose composition varies: aluminium silicates with, depending on the deposit, magnesium, calcium, iron and many other elements. The colour depends mainly on the iron: little iron gives a whitish shade, ferrous iron a green one, ferric iron a reddish one.

Kaolinites, smectites (montmorillonite is one of them) and attapulgites: each family has its own layered structure, which holds more or less water. Mixed with water, they all form a paste that is easy to work. Commercial clays come as a powder to mix or as a ready-to-use paste. Our Iodised Marine Clay is a ready-hydrated paste, based on marine silt, with glycerine that stops it drying out in the tub and a little sage essential oil.

These families do not behave the same way in contact with water. The IFCE gives some orders of magnitude: attapulgite can absorb up to 40% of its weight in liquid, illite and montmorillonite around 20%, while kaolinite takes up little water and hardly swells. For use on the skin, the IFCE says kaolinites and attapulgites are the most suitable.

On the skin, not in the feed

This article is about external use only. Clay is also given by mouth in some situations, but that is a matter for the vet: the IFCE advises against adding it routinely to a healthy horse’s feed, and points out that it can interfere with the absorption of medicines given by mouth. Natural does not mean harmless.

The technique, step by step

1. Wait until the horse has calmed down, then hose or sponge the area: the skin should be clean and slightly damp.
2. Spread the paste against the lie of the hair, so that it is in good contact with the skin, in a thick layer: the IFCE mentions about one centimetre.
3. If you wish, smooth it in the direction of the hair, then let it dry completely. With our clay, leave the leg in the open air, with no bandage over it.
4. Once dry, the clay no longer works: hose it off, without scraping.

As it dries, the water evaporates slowly and gives a feeling of coolness. That is why thickness matters: a layer that is too thin dries in a few minutes and loses this benefit.

Mistakes to avoid

• Adding clay over an old poultice: always remove the old one first.
• Reusing clay that has already been applied: throw it away.
• Preparing powdered clay with a metal utensil or in a metal container.
• Applying clay to a wound, a scab or irritated skin: intact skin only.
• Applying it too often: with our clay, two applications per 24 hours at most; with prolonged use, skip the second daily application one day in four.

And the gel?

Another post-exercise routine: Tendon Gel, with eucalyptus and sweet almond oil, is massaged lightly against the lie of the hair on a clean leg, with no rinsing, or spread on cotton padding placed along the tendon, under a stable bandage applied without pulling tight. If you are new to it, have someone show you how to bandage. Do not apply it just before tacking up or putting on boots.

Mares, and the vet

Marine clay and the gel contain an essential oil: for an in-foal mare or a mare with a foal at foot, ask your vet and keep the product away from the udder. Above all, these stable routines are for healthy horses after exercise. A leg that stays hot or swollen after the clay is removed, or a lame horse, must be examined by the vet. The full leg routine is on our The Right Technique page.

Sources: IFCE équipédia (in French), “Les vertus de l’argile” (I. Barrier-Battut, 2018); directions for use of Iodised Marine Clay and Tendon Gel.

Gamme du Maréchal