Girls Horse T Shirts Website About Ponies Photos Of Horses Pictures Coloring Pages

Tools- Names and Descriptions

Rubber Curry Brush:  Is shaped like an oval or circle and has soft rubber "teeth".                              Dandy Brush: A stiff bristled brush.                                                                                               Body Brush:  A soft bristled brush that's usually made of horse hair.                                                  Hoof Pick/Brush:  A combo of a pick for cleaning hooves and brushing them out.                               Mane Comb:  Used for combing the mane, plastic is recommended so as not to break the hair            Polishing Towel:  A cloth that helps remove sweat marks and makes the coat shiny after brushing.     

Grooming- Make sure the horse is safely tied then start at the top of it's nect on one side and work your way to the rear, repeating on the other side.

     1.  Begin with the Rubber Curry brush.  It should be used in a circular motion so it will loosen the dirt under the horses hair.  Be sure to be careful around bony areas of the body like the back and shoulders.  The Rubber Curry isn't meant to be used on it's legs unless you're extremely gentle with it.  Don't ever use it or any other stiff bristled brush on your horses face because you can easily hurt his eye.  Eye injuries usually require immediate veterinary attention because they are often serious.                                                         2. Now use the Dandy Brush in the same motion as you would sweep the floor.  "Flick" the brush up a away from the coat so that the dirt comes off.  A slight cloud of dust should come off the horse's coat unless it's already extremely clean.  If you don't see a cloud of dust you need to use more flicking action or the dirt will get pushed back under the hair and can cause irritation.  Make sure to be thorough.                          3.  Next use the Body Brush, which is meant to get rid of any left over dirt and smooth down the hair.  Just smooth it over the horses coat to flatten the hair and give it a shiny clean appearance, when the brushes are used in this order.                                                                                                                                              4.  After that comes the Mane Comb.  Use it only for the horses mane and use the Dandy Brush for the tail.  If you want him to grow a long flowing tail, the Dandy brush doesn't break the hair as easily as a comb.  You can also choose not to brush the tail at all and just use warm water to rinse it.  To keep it from tangling or getting knots, apply a tail conditioner or "Show Sheen".                                                                              5.  For the Hoof Pick/Brush, you must know how to get your horse to lift his leg.  For safety, ask an instructor how to properly do this, but you can usually run your hand down the horse's leg and squeeze his fetlock (ankle).  The horse may loose his balance if you pick his foot up too high, so be careful.  Always scrape away from you when using the pick, just like you would with a potato peeler, so that you don't cut yourself or the horse if it moves suddenly or tries to pull it's foot away from you.  Be very thorough cleaning out the hollow areas on both sides of the frog and around the sole of the foot.                                                          6.  Last, use the Polishing Towel.  It doesn't have to be a special kind of towel, any plain cloth or rag will work to wipe over the horses coat and make it shine.  Lightly spray the towel with a hair conditioner like "Show Sheen" to make it shine even more.  Products like that are very slippery under a saddle, so if you apply it before a ride, don't use it on the horse's back or girth area.

     There are two more tools that can be used to groom a horse-a Mud Brush and a Shedding Blade.  The Mud Brush has very stiff bristles used for horses that have been rolling around in mud.  It's important that the mud be dry before brushing it or it will only smear all over the horses coat and get rubbed under the hair.  The Shedding Blade is used in the spring when horses begin to shed to help loosen and get rid of that extra hair.  The edges are very sharp, so it's important to be very careful when using this tool.  It's not recommended for use on the face and legs.