How to Clean Wax From a Horse's Ear

Caring for horses can be more challenging than most people anticipate. There are many aspects of care taking that people do not even think of as necessary. In most cases, horses do not have a buildup of wax or other dirt in their ears. With their heads constantly down as they graze, ability to swivel their heads and manipulate their ears well, horses are usually capable of keeping their own ears clear. In some cases, however, a build up of wax may occur that can be seen and will need to be removed to avoid infection.

Things You'll Need

• Sedation drugs or twitch
• Tweezers
• Rags
• Ear cleaning solution
• Scissors
• Stool to stand on
• Flashlight

Instructions

1. Begin by sedating or restraining your horse with a twitch. You cannot properly clean a horse's ears unless they are sedated or restrained. A horse's ears are far too sensitive to tolerate the cleaning process without restraint, no matter how well the horse behaves normally. Stand on your stool and shine your flashlight into the horse's ear so you can see exactly what you are doing. You can either have a helper hold the flashlight, or use one of the head-mounted flashlights for this step.

2. Use your fingers and pinch off the base of the ear down by the body. You must pinch it tightly to avoid getting fluid, hair or debris into the horse's ear, as this can cause infection. Using your scissors and tweezers, cut out the hair surrounding the wax and remove as much of the wax as you can manually. Take care to make sure that the debris you are removing falls out of the ear. If necessary, gather it up in your hands as you remove it.

3. Once you have removed the loose wax and dirt, flush the ear with the cleaning solution. It will loosen the remaining built-up wax and allow you to remove it as well. Squirt the solution onto the hardened wax and use your other hand to massage the solution into the ear. Keep the base of the ear pinched at all times to keep the fluid from draining into the ear.

4. Use your tweezers to pull as much of the remaining wax out as you can, and then use your rag to swab out as much of the fluid and loosened debris as you can. Start at the bottom of the ear as low down near your pinching fingers as you can, and move the rag up and out. You need to get as much of the fluid soaked up as you can.

5. When you are done, remove your pinching fingers and step back, as the horse is likely to sling his head to try and fling out any remaining fluid. Dry his ear with a towel, and praise him.

Tips & Warnings

• An ear-cleaning solution can be purchased from a pet store or a vet supply company.

• Never attempt to clean a horse's ears without proper restraint.