Brushing

Beyond basic brushing, the horse’s head, mane, coat, tail, legs, and hooves are cleaned, trimmed, tidied, and brightened to enhance a horse’s natural good looks.


Head

Routine head maintenance, requires fuzz-free ears. Pinch the ears together and trim the hair edges with an electric trimmer. Apply a waterproof, sunscreen or zinc-oxide cream to protect un-pigmented muzzle from a painful sunburn. To give the horse a trimmed clean look, use an electric trimmer to trim the whiskers under the chin as well as the muzzle whiskers.

Mane

To care for the mane of a horse you need a trimmer, wide-toothed comb, dandy brush, and tar-based shampoo. Show standards in America require the horse’s mane to fall on the right side of the neck. Starting at the end of the mane, brush the hair until knots are smoothed and repeat a little higher up the mane until you reach the root of the hair brushing downward. Brush unruly hair by wetting the dandy brush with water and brushing the mane from bottom to root. Further, braiding the mane for up to a day or two will tuck loose hair on the right side of the horse. The length of the mane should be trimmed to avoid bridle interference. Remove biting insects at the roots with a wide toothed comb and separating the strands by hand. If upon inspection, a greasy dandruff crusts the mane, the horse could have seborrhea. In this case, wash the mane with a tar-based shampoo every 2-3 days for a month until it clears. Otherwise contact a Vet.

Coat

Stock up on a baby wipes, shop vacuum, pump-spray bottle, alcohol, towel, brush, loofah sponge or cactus cloth, vegetable oil, rice bran, biotin, currycomb, silicone spray, and commercial spot removers for a shiny, healthy, horse coat. Using the baby wipes or a shop vacuum on a dusty or muddy horse to loosen and lift mud or dust off the coat.  If the horse has sweat marks try removing them with rubbing alcohol in a pump-spray bottle followed by rubbing the area with a towel and brush until dry. Try loosening dried sweat stains with a damp, loofah sponge or cactus cloth. Avoid stripping away a horses’ natural oils with frequent shampoo baths. Instead rinse the horse using only plain water. Add supplements to horse feed such as vegetable oil, rice bran, and biotin. Clean and massage a horse daily with a currycomb. Give a coat a quick shine with silicone spray but avoid the saddle area.

Tail

Stock up on sharp scissors, silicone spray, brush, or comb, torn bedsheets, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and petroleum jelly or mineral oil for maintaining a beautiful, full horse tail. Not all horse tails are created equal. With thin tails use your hand to separate strands to achieve a thicker, fuller horse tail naturally. For, snarly tails braiding with long strips of torn bedsheet produces a cleaner tail and prevents breakage. Also, spritz silicone spray on the tail to untangle snarls before combing or brushing. Regular trimming with sharp scissors to remove an inch or less gives a fuller look. Light colored tails with manure stains should be spritzed with 50-50 water vinegar to remove stains. Itchy tails apply petroleum jelly or mineral oil to remove any signs of parasite infestation and prevent itching.

Legs

Use silicone spray to repel dirt from hair around the legs. Use purple shampoo made for brightening white hair on gray horses. Use currycomb and soapy water to remove urine splash on a gelding’s hind legs and petroleum jelly to protect scabs. Use an electric trimmer for fuzzy hairs.

Hooves

Use an electric trimmer to trim furry hair around the top of the hoof. Rub an onion on a clean horse hoof or apply baby oil then buff with a dry rag.

Bathing tips

Remove shampoo from a horse and use a fingered currycomb to work suds into the coat and lift off dirt. Use a damp, warm washcloth instead of a hose or a soapy sponge to bathe the horse head, rinsing periodically. Remove soap residue with a solution of one-half cup of vinegar in a bucket of water then rinse the horse in plain water. If frequent washing is stripping natural oils, rinse with water mixed with olive oil, wait 10 minutes, and rinse again.

References
“Beyond Brushing”, EQUUS Magazine, June 2003, pp 53-58

No Horse on a Handshake

In researching intelligent horse ownership the other day, I ran across an excellent and relevant article called "Horse on a Handshake" in Horse and Rider magazine, June 2000 issue [1]. It covered major pros and cons of leasing a horse for people in the decision-making process. The author brought to bear the legal issues such as budgeting, flexibility, the type of horse, veterinarian fees, liability, and care that should be fully arranged between the prospective lessee and leeser for a smooth experience.

Another rider's parent passed along an 8-question true-false quiz to test and rate a reader's knowledge of intelligent horse ownership [2]. As we go through the questions, I will answer them with as much knowledge as I can glean from the horsemanship magazines that were graciously donated to me.

Question 1: Do horses need a lot of care. True or False

Answer: True

If you want your horse to respond to the bit properly in Dressage practice, it’s very important to have a healthy set of teeth. Horses do get cavities and can be born with crooked teeth. Teeth also deteriorate as a horse gets old. Regular dental visits, adjustments, and filing are also needed to digest and extract all of the vitamins from food for a healthy horse inside and out. Symptoms like swollen gums, drool, half-eaten food, mouth or nostril odor, and tooth grinding are clues of dental problems. Also, use common sense if a horse has any other signs or appears uncomfortable chewing food.

The adult horse normally has 36 to 44 adult teeth. Baby horses have 24 baby teeth that they lose to their permanent teeth. The set of 12 teeth in the front of the horse’s mouth are termed incisors. Proceeding away from the incisors a little ways up the horses jaw are the 4 teeth, termed canines. A little further up from the canine teeth, is the wolf tooth followed by 12 premolars, and finally 12 molars at the back of the jaw.

A common term used in horse teeth maintenance is called “floating” or “float”.  This means the teeth are unevenly worn due to diets consisting of grain, and hay. To read more about these please refer to “Don’t Forget To Float” article in EQUUS magazine [3].

References

1.) “Horse on a Handshake” by Elaine Pascoe, Horse & Rider Magazine, June 2000.
2.) “Heavenly Horses” by Healthy Pet, Summer 2006
3.) “Don’t Forget To Float” by Joanne Meszoly, EQUUS, September 2001, pp 38-46.