How to Groom a Horse

This was another post requested by someone who reads my blog. Now that I think about it, I probably should have done these types of posts when I started my blog - teaching the basics and everything - but it never occurred to me. So I'm doing it now.

Grooming is something I do before every ride. It's a simple routine, that involves only four basic steps. I'm going to go through my routine, step by step, and teach you the way I was taught.

I also posted a picture of grooming tools so you can see. I'll put in parentheses where each tool is on the picture.

1. Curry Comb (top left) - This is used to bring up all the dirt and loose hair on your horse. You use it by brushing in circles on the horse's neck, back, shoulders. You shouldn't use it on the horse's face or legs because the rubber points would really hurt the horse.

2. Hard Brush (top right) - After the curry comb comes the hard brush. The name pretty much says it all. It's a brush with rough bristles and it's used to flick off the dirt and hair that you brought up with the curry comb. You use it by brushing in a flicking motion to sweep the loose hair and dirt away from the horse, always going in the direction of the horse's hair. As with the curry comb, you can't use it on the horse's legs or face.

Note: Some people like to do the curry comb and then the hard brush, one after the other, because when you're done you can clean out the brush with the curry comb and vice versa, but I like to do each separately so I can place my hand on the horse. This is what my instructor taught me to do, and I like it because I can feel my horse as I brush. That sounds weird, but I feel safer if my one hand is on my horse for some reason.

3. Soft Brush (bottom left) - After the hard brush, I use the soft brush. It's used to get the remaining hair and dirt off the horse, and it has softer bristles so you can use this on the horse's face and legs. Basically all you do is brush with long strokes all along the horse, going with the direction of the horse's hair.

4. Hoof Pick (bottom right) - This is the last step I do. Some people brush their horse's mane and tail with a comb, but I usually don't do that. A hoof pick is used to get the mud, dirt, and manure (fun stuff, I know) out of the horse's hooves. The first thing I do is stand next to my horse's leg, facing backwards towards their tail. Then I run my hand down their leg, because it lets my horse know what I'm asking them to do. If all goes well, my horse will pick up its foot for me to grab with one hand. If that doesn't work for me I will lean into my horse's shoulders, which forces them to shift their weight and pick up their hoof.

If you look at the picture below you can see that in the middle of the hoof there is a triangle shaped thing. That is called the 'frog'. Once I have my horse's hoof in my hand I take the hoof pick and start picking out dirt along the frog. You should never try to clean the frog with a hoof pick, because it's pretty sensitive and the horse probably won't like it. Then you do the same thing for each hoof. (Often when I try to pick up the back hooves on my horse they will bring it up really far to stretch it out, which can be annoying. It's also annoying when I'm picking the back hooves and my horse will swish their tail on my head - and sometimes it gets caught in my hair clips!)

That's pretty much all there is to grooming. After grooming I tack up (meaning I put on the saddle and bridle). Again, sorry if I make this confusing to everyone and I hope you learned something!