Horses are large animals that require daily care and upkeep to have a healthy horse. Whether you are learning to horseback ride or just want to enjoy being around horses, learning how to provide quality care is the first step to becoming a knowledgeable and successful horse person.
The basics of horse care are:
- Knowing your horses body
- Grooming
- Bathing
- Farrier Hoof Care
- Veterinarian Care
- Horse diet and supplements
Building a solid foundation of quality care to a horse will allow the horse and rider to excel in the future at whatever they decide to explore; whether it be going to horse shows, training, learning new skills, teaching others, or just enjoying each others company.
Knowing Your Horses Body
The first step in learning to care for a horse is to become familiar with the horses body. Recognizing the horses overall body condition will help distinguish in the long run if the horse has developed anything that needs attention.
Learn about horse anatomy to learn the different equine body parts and what a healthy horse looks like. Identify parts of the horse on the horse that you are caring for and see if those parts appear healthy.
Things to look for on the horses body:
- Old scars
- Odd bumps, bug bites, or sores
- New cuts or scrapes
- Condition of the coat (shining or dull, thick or thin)
- Condition of the main and tail (thick or thin, patchy or full)
- Hooves (cracks, long or short, shoes or no shoes, dry or moist)
- Back, neck, and haunches (muscles, spine location, boney spots, thick muscle spots, bulges)
Take a few pictures too to keep record of the horses condition to see how it changes overtime. Anything that is out of the ordinary will need extra attention in the grooming process or professional help. Inspecting and grooming go hand in hand and can be done at the same time.
Horse Grooming Tips
Grooming a horse is the process of brushing the horses body, main, tail, legs, and picking the hooves clean of dirt and rocks. Grooming can be done once a day, sometimes even twice a day if you wish! Horses are social animals and naturally groom each other, so they loved to be groomed by people.
Steps of grooming a horses full body:
Brushing the horses body helps keep their coat shining, clean, growing, and overall healthy. There are a variety of different types of brushes to use such as a hard brush, curry comb, soft brush and main and tail brush.
- Use a hoof pick to clean the horses hooves: Learning to pick a horses feet requires an instructor or some videos and a patient horse. Always face the horses rump and stand closely to the horses leg, slide your hand down the inside of their leg down to the horses hoof. A well trained horse will pick up their leg and let you pick out the dirt from the underside of the hoof.
Pick out all of the dirt, any rocks, and avoid picking at the frog which is the V shape growth in the hoof. Hoof picking should be done everyday to avoid bacteria growing in the hoof from dirt or rocks from bruising the soft pad of the hoof.
- Use a hard brush or curry comb: These brushes work great to remove mud, dirt, thick hair, and help stimulate the horses skin like a massage. Hard brushes and curry combs should only be used on thick spots of the horses coat. Avoid the face and legs as these brushes are too rough for the soft spots of a horse.
Curry combs are used in a circular massage motion to help increase circulation on the horses body and pull up loose dirt and sweat. This will help prepare the horse to be saddled for a ride.
- Use a soft brush: A soft brush can be used on the horses whole body to shine the coat and flatten the hair before saddling up.
- Use a mane and tail brush: The mane and tail should only be brushed once a week or so as over brushing can cause thinning of the hair. Using a leave in conditioner can help soften the hair and give it more shine and moisturize it.
- Use a wet clean cloth: Gently wipe clean any minor cuts, scrapes, or boogers on the horses nose or eyes.
Grooming must be done before every ride and at least once a week. Your horse will bond with you, love being groomed, and it is good training for a horse to be groomed and touched on all of their body. Bathing a horse can be done less frequently and some horses love to be bathed, especially on a hot summer day!
Bathing A Horse
Horses accumulate sweat in their coat that cannot be removed with the daily grooming practice. To get all the dirt and sweat out from deep within their coat, a horse will need a bath. Bathing at least once a month is good for the horses coat to encourage shine and coat health, and they look great after a bath!
What you need to bathe a horse:
- Bathing Rack: Most barns have a place to bathe a horse. Ensure the horse is tied up properly or someone is holding the horse. Bathing also requires a solid hose as the horse will most likely step on it.
- Bucket: Pour horse shampoo in the bucket and fill it up like you are washing a car. Put the curry comb and sponge in the bucket to prepare to scrub the horse.
- Horse Shampoo: This is different from human shampoo, as the horse hair has a different PH.
- Curry Comb: Lather the shampoo into the horses coat by massaging with a curry comb. Only use the curry comb on the horses neck, barrel, and haunches. Avoid sensitive areas.
- Large Sponge: Use a sponge to scrub the more sensitive areas such as the flank, legs, and face. Avoid the horses eyes and nose. Most horses do not like their head getting wet, so you may have to avoid the entire head.
- Sweat Scraper: Use a sweat scraper to wipe off excess water and encourage the coat to dry faster.
Once you have everything you need, you can get to it! Some horses love being bathed, others do not. So when a person is learning, it’s important to have a patient horse that enjoys the bath.
First off wet the horses body starting from their legs first, then move up slowly to their rump, body, shoulder, and then neck. Once their body is fully wet you can begin scrubbing!
Next, wash the mane and tail. Apply some shampoo in your hand and scrub the mane and tail as you would your own hair.
Lastly, rinse out ALL of the shampoo. Wash the horses body starting from the top of the neck, top of the back and rump, and mane, tail, then work your way down to the legs. This is very important or else the horse will get irritated skin.
After a bath, horses naturally want to roll in dirt to mask the fresh clean smell. To keep your horse from rolling, let them graze on some grass while leading them to distract them while they dry off.
Grooming and bathing your horse ensures the horse LOOKS healthy, but to make sure the inside of the horse is actually healthy you will need a farrier and vet.
Farrier Care
A farrier is responsible for trimming the horses feet and putting shoes on. Keeping up with hoof trimming is key to having a horse that is sound (not limping and sore). Farrier’s attend farrier school and are trained to evaluate and give the horse what they need to have solid healthy feet.
Horses do not need shoes, but most working riding horses do have shoes. Horses hooves grow very fast as they are the same thing as human fingernails. Horses need new shoes, and, or a trim every 4-6 weeks.
Horse Veterinary Care
Having a vet that knows the horse is important to maintaining the horses health. Horses are sensitive prey animals that can get injured, have stomach gut problems, or back issues just as humans have.
A vet will help assess what the horse needs from diet and supplements, exercise, vaccinations, and anything else the vet may suggest to keep the horse healthy. Talking to a vet and telling them about the horse and what you want to do with it is the first step towards a healthy horse.
Horse Diet and Supplements
Choosing a diet is an important element to keeping a healthy horse. Just like humans, the food and nutrients greatly affects their overall health. Horses need foliage such as hay or grass most of the day to graze on. When the hay and grass do not provide enough nutrients in most working horses cases, horses require extra supplements such as minerals, joint supplements, coat, mane and tail supplements, or energy supplements.
What supplements they receive is dependent on the level of activity the horse is doing. For example, racehorses are typically fed high energy grains and oats to give them lots of energy to run fast. Whereas an older horse used for walking therapy rides may only be given minerals to supply basic nutrients their grass hay is providing them. Talking with a vet will help determine what the horse needs in their diet.
Horse Care 101 In A Wrap
Caring for a horse can be fun, rewarding, and therapeutic for both horse and human. The activity of grooming a horse has been proven to be a stress relieving activity. Horses love being taken care of and pampered and it is vital to their wellbeing in a domesticated horses life. A well taken care of horse will appear healthier, stronger, happier, and is very rewarding for the caregiver.