7 Steps To Grooming Your Horse

Grooming is definitely an activity that is pleasant for you and your horse. It is also a good venture to search for injuries and irritations. Make sure to make grooming a daily routine. It is, in fact, a must before riding your horse. Have your grooming tools set up in a safe handy location. A large pail may be most cost effective and least difficult to place your brushes in, but there are various grooming boxes available on the market that keep your tools arranged and nifty.

The following are the stuff you need for grooming your horse a curry comb or grooming mitt, a body brush preferably with pretty stiff bristles, mane and tail comb preferably plastic for it causes much less mane breakage than metal ones, a fine soft bristled finishing brush, a hoof pick and a clean sponge or soft cloth. It would also be great if you have grooming spray, which can provide protection from the sun as well as add shine to your horse’s coat. Hoof cream if advised by your farrier and scissors or clippers.

1) Clean out all four hooves and check for signs or symptoms of injury or illness. Draw the hoof pick back to front to clean out round the frog. Take note of any cracks in the wall of the hoof so you can check with your farrier as to what should be done. Delicately place the foot down on the floor and continue on right up until all 4 feet are done.

2) Make use of the curry comb or grooming mitt to dislodge the dirt in your horse’s hair coat. Apply vigorous round sweeps, being gentle over bony parts like shoulders, hips and legs. Most horses are very sensitive about having their stomachs and between the back legs brushed. Be careful over these parts to use a light contact. Some horses are much more sensitive skinned than other horses thus adjust the pressure on the brush based on what they seem to take pleasure in. If your horse responds by laying back his ears, or swishing his tail in disappointment, he is telling you that the brushing is too brisk. As well as currying you will also be looking for any kind of skin lesions or wounds.

3) Hold your position to the side while lightly brushing or combing through your horse’s tail. Brush section by section, working your way up from the bottom, brushing downwards a couple of inches each time. A grooming spray that detangles hair would be nice to have, and helps brushing out the long stands easier while cleaning, shining and protecting the hair.

4) Whisk away the dirt and grime left during currying with a inflexible bristled dandy or body brush. The body brush is more ideal for clearing the dirt off the legs than the curry comb. Take this as an excellent time to pay attention to lesions and also skin irritations on the knees, pasterns and legs.

5) The finishing brush can make your horse’s coat smooth and also glossy. It additionally strips the last traces of dirt and dust. Use long sweeping brushes over the entire body as well as broad areas of the face.

6) Check the eyes of your horse. A bit of tears at the corner of the eye is absolutely not rare, but take note of excess tearing, redness, or lump. Clean around the dock and tail head. Check the ears for lodged seed heads or debris.

7) To finish, use hoof cream to guard and hydrate your horse’s hooves when it is urged by your farrier. Apply fly spray or perhaps sun screen if situations call for.

Get more tips on how to groom your horse, ways to set up stable matting and finding the perfect stall mats for your stables at http://stallmats.org.

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