Spurred by 'Fraidy Cat Eventing's
post about transformative grooming, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Horze body brush to compare to my beloved Leistner brushes from Teddy's Tack Trunk (reviewed
here). My decision was
totally not at all swayed by the fact that the brush handle is decked out with crystals. Nope. Not a factor at all. And at least since I have several full grooming kits (one at ACS, several at home), it wasn't a wasteful purchase! (Never mind DH over in the corner shaking his head disapprovingly at me)
Yesterday was the perfect day to test it out, as we had quite a bit of rain Wednesday (with more drizzle yesterday) so Ruby was nice and disgustingly muddy.
Here are the brush models:
Horze Deluxe Classic Body Brush
Cost: $13.95 plus applicable taxes/shipping (I got mine locally, so no shipping)
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| Stock photo from Horze website. |
Leistner Natural Brisle "Prinz" Body Brush
Cost: $21.25 plus applicable taxes/shipping
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| Stock photo from Teddy's Tack Trunk website. |
I threw her in the cross-ties and got to work. I started by photographing her on both sides. Close to equal amounts of mud.
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| Left side pre-brushing. |
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| Right side pre-brushing. |
Then, I attacked the clumps of mud with my trusty rubber curry.
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| Left side (don't know why flash didn't go off this time). |
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| Right side. |
After getting as much of the mud off as I could with the curry, I
started with the Horze brush (left side), and then the Prinz brush
(right side). I did my best to give equal attention to both sides, annnnnnnd
then I took more photos!
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| Left side (Horze brush). |
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| Right side (Prinz brush). |
Aside from DH, there were two other unbiased
people standing around, so I asked their opinion as well. One said they
both looked about equal, one preferred the side with the Horze brush,
and DH made a face at me... haha. I'll let the pictures tell the story!
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| I mean, it certainly raised some dust! Haha |
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| In the arena post-ride: Horze brush |
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| In the arena post-ride: Prinz brush |
In terms of craftsmanship, the Leistner brush wins hands down. It looks nicer, fits my hand better, and is obviously higher quality. The Horze brush had some loose bristles, some that weren't attached evenly, and the handle isn't nearly as nice (even with the sparkly crystals, wah). Don't get me wrong -- they're both nice brushes, but the Leistner is nicer. Is it 52.3297% nicer? (Yes I did the math lol). Ehhhh.
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| Ruby wanted some snuggles! (Don't mind me, I'm a train wreck) |
Ultimately, like with 90% of horse tack, it all comes down to personal preference! And that's a nice thing :) either treat yo'self and buy the fancy Leistner brush, or treat yo'self in a different way and buy the Horze brush. Both of them will remove dirt from your pony ;)
Update 1/28/18: After a little over a year of
very light use, the handle of the Horze brush is coming off. Which is fairly disappointing to me -- I have much cheaper brushes that are still kicking 5+ years later. The Horze brush was in my grooming kit at the house (and my Leistner brush was in the kit I kept at the barn with Ruby) so it saw WAYYYYY less use. No surprise, the Leistner still looks basically brand new. I guess you get what you pay for? (although again, I have $5 brushes that held up better, ugh).
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| It looks like the other side is about ready to break too. |
ha i am SO HAPPY that you did this comparison!!!! bc i think you're spot on - it really does boil down to personal preferences.
ReplyDeleteseems like there are two major areas of assessment: 1. quality of the prodct; and 2. utility of the product. personally i am basically 100% focused on utility and functionality above all else. if the horze brush works as well as something twice as expensive (mine was cheaper bc no crystals, wah), then the horze brush will win every time.
tho i know there are plenty of folks out there who feel equally strongly about quality and craftsmanship, in which case this comparison would totally justify the additional cost of the leistner. you get what you pay for, right?
anyway awesome comparison, thanks for satisfying my curiosity!
It was fun! (For me anyway, DH was not amused 😂). I need to try it again on a day where I have daylight and can do outside photos, inside the barn with my phone photos kind of suck.
DeleteBut yes, you hit the nail on the head. It just depends on your personal preferences -- I used to be 100% strictly utilitarian, but now that I'm trying out new (aka more expensive haha) brands, I'm finding myself more interested in the craftsmanship, even if it means paying more.
Either way, there's no right or wrong answer. Just fun things for me to blog about....lol.
Mine totally depends on stress level. When stress is high must have all fancy things. When stress is low if it works great.
ReplyDeleteThis is also my aesthetic. And we're in a stressful month at work. And Riding Warehouse has teal breeches on clearance..... Ummm.......
DeleteI'll be interested to see an analysis of how long they each last before starting to come apart/lose bristles and then a price per day based on that. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat could be a follow up post wayyyy down the line! Because you'll have to pry my Prinz brush from my cold, dead fingers....lol. But alas, since I currently cannot justify two full sets of Leistner brushes, the Horze one can live at home with the no-show ponies.
DeleteI'll be interested to see your experiences there too. My brush shows no signs of wear (loose bristles or otherwise) after months of constant use so I'm inclined to think it holds up over time.
DeleteI will make a mental note to report back after I've used it much harder! Or just stick a reminder in my drafts folder or something, haha.
DeleteI guess for me I see the fact that early on the Horze is losing bristles is not a good sign of longevity. I would rather invest more up front for something that will last 4-5 times as long. Before I stopped and then re stared riding I had brushes that were years and years old bc I cleaned and took care of them. My cheap brushes get tossed if they don't hold up because why waste the time.
ReplyDeleteFor me in person my prinz brush specifically knocks it out of the park over any other brush. I have like 5 liestner now though so I'm kinda heavily in that camp.
Oh I'm 100% in the Leistner camp too (thanks a lot Amanda!), but I had commented on Emma's post and we thought it would be a fun comparison. Plus I had credit at my tack store so it didn't actually really "cost" me anything, lol. And with four horses, brushes never go to waste around here! 😀
DeleteI don't mind paying more for better quality- the jewels are a bit much though. :D
ReplyDeleteThey're so tacky and I love them so much hahaha.
ReplyDelete