Horse IQ

If you’ve got a new horse, you’ve probably been overwhelmed by all of the maintenance he requires. And while those routine chores are essential to keeping your horse healthy, they shouldn’t make you cringe with dread. All you need are a few simple tools and 20 minutes to keep your horse up to snuff after a ride. Here’s how…
You may be preoccupied with tasks such as settling your new horse into his home, making sure your horse is fed, or dealing with behavioral issues and specific health concerns.

Although some new horse owners may assume horse grooming is too complicated or even unnecessary, the reality is that horse grooming is an essential component of your horse’s care in order to make sure he is clean, happy, and above all, healthy.

If everything you’ve ever heard or read about horse grooming sounds overwhelming, read on. All you need are a few basic supplies and an understanding of the steps involved with horse grooming to get a grasp of the process and be able to incorporate it into your regular horse care routine.

The first thing you need to do is acquire a horse grooming kit. While you don’t need to spend a fortune for the most top-of-the-line kit you can find, it’s definitely worthwhile to invest in some good quality horse grooming tools—a hoof pick, tail brush, curry comb, stiff brush, and finishing brush—so they do a better job and last a longer time.

Make sure that the grooming tools you select fit your hand, and that the brushes suit your horse’s coat and sensitivity level.

When grooming your horse, it’s important to develop a routine and pattern, so both you and your horse become accustomed to it. The three basic steps involved in grooming your horse are brushing through the tail and mane, cleaning the hooves, and brushing/cleaning the horse’s coat.

Now it’s time to focus on the coat. Loosen the dirt, debris, and dead skin from your horse’s coat using the curry comb in a smooth, massaging, circular motion. Use the stiff brush from the horse grooming kit to get rid of the loosened particles and to make your horse’s coat soft and smooth. The finishing brush is used to remove the fine dusty and scurf particles left behind by the stiff brush.

Then you can move on to the hooves. This is where you use the hoof pick from your grooming kit. Going slowly and gently, and using one hoof at a time, clean out all the dirt, mud, hay, gravel, and other debris from each hoof. You can check out my recent article on horse hoof care, where you’ll find some photos on how and where to pick his hooves.

After the hooves are debris-free, you can comb through the tail and the mane using your tail brush. Brush slowly, and work through it in smaller sections, working from the bottom up, rather than attacking all of it at once from top to bottom.

Should you brush out their tails? It depends on who you ask. I’ve heard mixed advice on this one. Some say you’ll want to at least detangle your horse’s tail because it can get fairly knotted and tangled after a hard ride, especially if the tail is long and thick.

However, tail hairs aren’t very strong and excessive brushing can rip them out quickly if you’re not careful. My advice? If you’re going to compete in shows where your horse needs to look good for judges, then yes, brush his tail. Otherwise, I wouldn’t. Tails make good fly-swatters and your horse needs to keep as many hairs back there as he can.

Last, but certainly not least, make sure to take good care of your horse grooming kit and to treat it well. You want the tools to remain in good condition so they continue to do their job, and to last you a long time.

How long this takes depends largely on how experienced you are. New horse owners can take as long as 30-40 minutes to do all this. But after you’ve been doing it for a while and are used to it, you can knock it out in 15-20. 25, at the most.

Horse grooming may seem like a daunting task. And even though it must be done often, horse grooming doesn’t have to be drudgery. Quite the opposite, in fact. All you need are a few basic tools and a little know how. And the benefit to you will be a beautiful, healthy horse that loves you very much…and looks good doing it!

Yours For Better Horse Health,

Sierra Lynch

Tags: Horse Tack

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