HI! I'm new to the horse world,and I have a problem. We have22 horses on our farm. I have four of my own three of them are paints and one big brown monster.

they have gotten into a cocklebur bush and are covered in burrs can anyone tell me how to get the burrs out. Ive brushed till my arms hurt and picking them out isnt working either. Please help let me know what works for others THANKS-Elane

That happened to a bunch of our school horses last summer... Our haflinger got so many in his luscious forelock that the entire thing was a big round beehive-like mound on top of his head! Have you tried ShowSheen? You can get it at almost any place that sells horse stuff in the grooming department. It's a great product! Spray (very liberally), let it dry a couple of minutes, and make sure you have a long afternoon and a patient attitude. Good luck!

Some of the "thugs" at my barn tend to get covered in burs. If I see any, I will take a comb (like the picture below) to liff the burs off of the hair. If any get in the main and forlock, I try to flick them away from me.

Cowboy Magic, or baby oil. As another poster said, apply liberaly, and then have patience. If you want to save mane, tail, etc. go slow. 

Good luck!

I hate cockleburs. Cowboy Magic detangler or Show Sheen work well, also you can buy olive oil spray (grocerystore ) and use that.

 Baby oil, let it soak in, get out what you can, soak with more oil. It's very time consuming. In the big balls it helps to cut into the mess and soak the smaller balls but you lose some mane, tail, fetlock. Good luck.

 Round up, or something similar on those nasty plants, next spring!
 

Don't laugh at me....WD40....and I leave a coating of it in tails prevent more burrs after I'm done.

LIBERALLY pour it on, let is set for an hour, pour more on, work from bottom up....

DO check a 'spot' first to make sure your horse won't have an sensitivity to the stuff. you can 'clean' it off with Dawn or a grease cutting Ivory dish soap.

I second Babelanger's vote for WD40.  Since it is silicone based it makes the hair slick and the burrs will slide right out.  I used to have a horse that had a very long tail that I kept braided and up off the ground.  In the summer, it would be soooo matted from swishing flies and WD40 worked wonders.  I would definitely wash the mane and tail afterwards though as it can have a drying effect making the hair brittle.

Good luck!

I too have those burrs in one of my pastures, and when my horses start coming in from that pasture with burrs in their manes and tails, I clear them out while they eat and do mane and tail checks at every feeding while they have acess to that pasture.  By checking and taking out at every feeding, I only have small amounts to take out. 

To get the burrs out, if a big clump, I break up the clump into smaller clumps.  Then I pull the hair out of the clump, not out of the horse.  Maybe 10 strands at a time until the burr is only caught in a few strands and can be finger combed out.  Then repeat until all burrs are out.  I lose very little mane and tail hair this way. 

If the mane and tail is really packed full, you may need to soak the mane and tail in baby oil or some other product that will make the hair slippery.  Then break the clumps up and work the burrs out.  Though if the it is really matted and tangled, your only choice may be to cut everything off and let it grow out, and resolve to catch it when there are only a few burrs at a time and not let it get that bad again.

Good luck.

Spotted Pony