Grooming means taking care of the physical maintenance of the horse. The sight of a well-groomed horse gives immense pleasure to true horse lovers. The process of grooming also brings the owner close to the horse, who in turn gets the feeling of being taken care of. The horse is an incredible creature, and if it looks good, there’s nothing like it!
Naturally, horses have a tendency to groom themselves. They do it by their tongue, by scratching, rubbing against trees etc. However, no matter how well a horse self-grooms itself, we as owners have to take care of them, and additional grooming is required from our part as well.
Not only from the beauty point of view, grooming also helps in detecting any physical injuries, or diseases related to the skin. Moreover, a dirty horse would be more prone to diseases and infections than a clean one.
Grooming is not an easy task. It is also time consuming. Grooming involves a series of things to be done including cleaning, taking care of the feet, brushing and so on and so forth.
Before starting to groom your horse, some things need to be collected. These include brushes, hoovepick, sponge, water
Start grooming the horse by the feet. Whether it is a working horse, or a racehorse, healthy legs and feet are very important. Before cleaning the feet, you should be familiar with what a horse’s feet should look like. Cleaning the hooves is important. A hoof pick is the answer to this. A hoof pick is used to remove dirt from the hooves. Clean each and every hoof very carefully starting from the heel, and gently bringing it to the front, at the toe. Clean around the triangular frog. After the cleaning process is over, apply hoof oil to the hooves. Taking care of the feet also involves checking the condition of the shoe. Do that on a regular basis.
The coat of the horse is the main ‘to-be-groomed’ part in the process. To some people, their horse’s shining coat means a symbol of status and pride. A number of brushes are available which serve different purposes.
Polishing is very important if you want to make the horse look good. After cleaning and brushing the horse, polishing is the job to be done. Use a stable rubber to remove additional dust. Use horse grooming mitts to remove the leftover unwanted, loose hair from the body, and then to polish it. Use a wisp to tone muscles of the horse. Use it on thighs, neck, and any other muscular area of the horse.
After this is done, use a damp sponge or cotton to clean the eyes and nose of the horse. Use a separate sponge to clean the rest of the face. Use water to remove any stains that were not possible to remove by normal brushing. Water brushes are available, which do this job very easily. Any stained parts on the body can be cleaned very easily using these brushes.
Special combs are available for the mane and tail. Use these for finishing touches to your horse.
The whole process should take around thirty to forty minutes.
Warning: Proper care should be taken prior to starting to groom a horse. Make sure that the horse is tied up properly. If you do not know the horse’s behavior, be very careful while cleaning the facial parts; the horse might react in an unwanted manner, causing injury to you.
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