How do you groom your horse? and do they like it (following the article in H&H today)

[tristar]

ve ave vays of making you look clean before riding you.

i have never known a horse that did not love being groomed, so i always use grooming as one of the first things i do when starting to break in a horse, leading and grooming, grooming in close physical proximity, waiting for that soft look to appear in the eye and the horse to relax.

 

[Bellaboo18]

I love grooming. They get groomed everyday and enjoy it. I like clean and shiny horses which causes me great stress in winter 😂

 

[Ceifer]

I really wanted to be one of those people with a super clean shiny horse.
But discovered there’s more to life than grooming.
My mare is indifferent to it. I knock the mud off (there’s always mud of some sort) check her over, pick out feet. Then I’m done. Some days she’ll enjoy me scratching her itchy bits. Other days she’ll look at me as if I’m mad.

When I was a groom I had a client insist her horse had a ‘proper’ full groom every evening. Curry comb, body brush and metal curry comb, then use a strapping pad, finally hot cloth and rug.

Poor horse absolutely hated the strapping pad. Owner didn’t believe me.
So I never used to do it. Always made me giggle when she used to comment about how his muscle tone was improving with the daily strapping.

 

[cindars]

My Welsh has quite a fine coat winter and summer so only use soft body brush but she doesn't like her mane being brushed so have to use loads of detangler.

 

[tiahatti]

One of my old girls loves a face brush all over the face, particularly around the ears and above her eyes. She would have me standing doing that all day if she could.

 

[The-Bookworm]

Mine prefers a head to hoof itch. The harder the better, grab that shedding blade and get stuck in! She asks for her bottom to be itched.

Only tolerates her face being brushed if she's shedding and you are useful, otherwise, I just use my hands to remove any dried bits of mud.

This will sound bad probably, she lives out and needs the dust and oils, therfore my brushing is minimul all year round. However she loves her itches and will hold out a back leg, so technically that's groomed.

 

[windand rain]

Mine all love being groomed it means they are getting individual attention which they all love. They dont ofen get groomed so it is a treat. Bring a brush out they all come running

 

[Red-1]

Mine hates it first thing in the morning when she is due to go out in the field. To be fair, she hates any delay in getting out there. I think she does not eat as much hay as she could, as she anticipates the green grass being nicer, so despite ad lib hay she is hungry.

But, if she is worked or if she has come in because the weather is bad, if I am grooming just because, rather than because of a reason, she likes it.

 

[Antw23uk]

Mine love being groomed and since watching that fly on the wall doc about the Queens horseman guards I have been rubber curry combing her pretty much daily and she loves it, her coat has gone super oily .. and thick which is a pain as she is naturally a hot horse but good lord, rubber curry comb over the back and bum .. horsey heaven, she practically falls over sometimes she is leaning into me so much, lol! I then just flick off the debris with a body brush.

 

[catkin]

Mine love being groomed and since watching that fly on the wall doc about the Queens horseman guards I have been rubber curry combing her pretty much daily and she loves it, her coat has gone super oily .. and thick which is a pain as she is naturally a hot horse but good lord, rubber curry comb over the back and bum .. horsey heaven, she practically falls over sometimes she is leaning into me so much, lol! I then just flick off the debris with a body brush.

I didn't see that programme.
Out of interest, how do you curry-comb her? rub in circles, or comb in direction of hair or other? and is that the oval curry comb with the points?

 

[Griffin]

One of my old girls loves a face brush all over the face, particularly around the ears and above her eyes. She would have me standing doing that all day if she could.

My mare is the same! She has a Haas face brush and just loves it. To be fair, she likes being groomed and particularly likes a very soft goat hair brush used all over to finish off.

 

[Antw23uk]

I didn't see that programme.
Out of interest, how do you curry-comb her? rub in circles, or comb in direction of hair or other? and is that the oval curry comb with the points?

Its likely on iplayer, well worth a watch. I use a cheap and cheerful oval rubber curry comb and just do circles all over her regardless of direction of hair but you get into a rhythm which is mostly in the direction of the hair (you'll know what i mean when you start) I've been so impressed with how its brought the oils out in her coat and i guess distributed it around her body, also it warms her muscles up so good for before exercise and after if you have time but thats normally massage and body stretching time

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Mine prefers to groom my husband.

 

[nikkimariet]

Quickly and to keep/get them cleaned for training.

If in from the field:

Leg/foot wash
Pick feet
Purple spray/hoof grease
Coat shine (yes, daily! It helps avoid the need to wash so often, brush for so long, stops your tack getting filthy and stops brushes snagging on hairs which irritates the horse and breaks the hairs themselves)
Brush out mane, I only shake out their tails and I'll leave them plaited if I'm not intending to use any footage/pictures from the session
Body brush followed by fleece mitt/brush

Rooni has a longer coat so I use a stiffer brush followed by my fleece mitt/brush whereas Fig has a short coat and is sensitive so a soft brush followed by my fleece mitt/brush.

If straight from the stable I just scrap washing legs as no need!

Neither of mine pull a face or display any dislike but perhaps that's because I don't use hard brushes and I don't faff? The only bit they don't like is Fig resents having his ears trimmed and Rooni hates being trimmed at all, but tough luck boys!

Fig loves a good scratch with my nails but I don't add that into my grooming or I'd literally be there for hours!

 

[maya2008]

Mine live out, and I have a little herd so there's not a lot of time. Grooming = brushing off the mud with a dandy brush and/or plastic curry comb. If the mud is wet, it gets washed off. I only groom the bits the tack goes on, unless we're going to a show. They are only going to roll again when I get off! Most of them are hardy native ponies so they don't wear rugs, roll in the mud liberally and groom each other with their teeth. It works for them!

 

[DD]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=957244984410177

 

[Gleeful Imp]

This is really interesting. My 3 year old loves any form of grooming - particularly enjoys a really hard groom / massage with a brush with rubber prongs! He would stand for hours. But hasn’t worked out how to enjoy being brushed and still be able to enjoy kissing his human. Or any human to be honest. Not grooming them, proper big slobbery kisses.
My mare it depends, she never objects, and if she did I’d investigate immediately as would be a red flag. But some times I get the distinct impression she’d just like to get on with it thank you very much. Other times she loves a really good pamper. She loves being plaited up - sends her to sleep.

 

[Templebar]

The only one of mine (there are 5) who i would out and out say enjoys being groomed is a very itchy scratchy sort and now when i think more about it she is one of three that is not in regular work and so i think the actual relaxation and enjoyment is a result of attention not necessarily the grooming. She loves her ears (particularly the inside) and around her rump being scratched but the main body she will stand and let you do it but i'm not so sure now that she enjoys it. My cob who gets hot and sweaty hates being groomed thankfully she is the right colour to get the worst off and go.

I would say none of them particularly like manes and tails being brushed but each one has improved their behaviour with me. As a person with long usually knotty hair i can understand it if people just brush it with those big brushes like a hair brush or curry combs, as it must pull and be quite sore so i always use a conditioner spray and do use one of those hair brush type brushes but hold the hair in my other hand rather than just pulling on the tail.

Have discovered though that they all seemed to quite like being hot clothed.

 

[milliepops]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=957244984410177

this would be Salty.
She would stand like that all day When she was stabled on the yard she would stop me mid-muckout and insist I give her a good scratch with the shavings fork

anyone seen those automatic cow groomer brushes? I think she would be in heaven with one of them. have to see if you can run them off solar cos then we could rig one up in the field shelter, hehe

 

[rosiesowner]

I use a magic brush in circles to loosen dirt, a stiff dandy brush to get it out, a flick brush to get any last bits of dust out and then a very expensive stübben brush which was a gift to finish off. Mane and tail are done with a comb I nabbed from a hotel! I also like to put coconut oil in both once a week as it keeps chilli's hair all lovely and soft but not slippery.

Chilli's favourite bit is definitely the scratchy first bit. Tapir noses all round when I'm scrubbing her shoulders. She also loves it when I scrub the sides of the top of her tail when I wash it!

 

[Nasicus]

Older mare doesn't particularly hate it or enioy it, occasionally she'll allow herself to relax and enjoy it a little bit. Likes the stifle scratches she gets during it though.

4yo loves to be groomed and fussed, just got to know where to be gentle and where to be rougher (too gentle in places can be far too tickly, rougher in just the right places is her idea of heaven!).

New unhandled 4yo companion absolutely adores being groomed, it's all new to her and her opinion so far is that she very much loves the attention.

Summer coats I usually just go over with a dandy brush, followed by a body brush, maybe a flick brush if I'm being thorough. Rubber curry comb if shedding or muddy.
Winter coats usually metal shedding blade or metal round curry comb (they all grow the thickest winter coats known to man!) to remove hair and chunks of mud, a go over with a dandy brush.

Manes and tails get brushed with whatever comb or hairbrush I have hanging around, but slowly from the bottom up and with plenty of detangler. I usually heft the end of the tail up onto their bums and brush it against that, so they get a bum scratch at the same time haha

Not often I do a full on, proper clean groom. I usually just give them a quick go over a couple times a week whilst I give them a thorough check over.

 

[Skib]

When horses mutually groom each other there is mutual benefit - I watched two horses in a meadow in France standing alongside each other and grooming each other's hind leg feathers.
However when one learns to ride, Grooming is a daunting task. My BHS education included lessons in how to groom and studying page after page in the PC handbook with unfamiliar names of kit, so one arrived at the horse terrified of forgetting the names or doing things wrong. Tense human and tense horse perhaps, except I was given an easy horse and the horse relaxed me. So that grooming livery horses became a pleasure for me but still a duty for the horses.
Then I came across Western where the brushes were easier and grooming re-appeared as NH horse training - Could one touch every square inch of the horse?
If being groomed is training and increases compliance, it is not hard to see that some horses will resent it or be stressed. When I met my share I did indeed touch her all over - her ears which she likes and her matted tail which she hates. And having done that I felt safe to hack her.
To me it feels both instinctive and irrational. I know the feel and material and relative softness of every one of my brushes but I still cant remember what a body brush or dandy brush really is. Nor why the rubber pads we rub the horses with are called curry combs.

 

[criso]

Nor why the rubber pads we rub the horses with are called curry combs.

The verb to Curry (as in to groom) is from Old French and I think came before the tools. The word for Curry for Indian food evolved independently. And favour as in curry favour is from Fauvel, a chestnut horse from a story.

 

[Horse2018]

My mare hates being brushed everyday so only do it a few times a week. But she loves getting her hair done and her face cleaned and her nails done

 

[rjohnson]

My pony definitely isn't a fan of being groomed, he is the lovelisit pony but as soon as i bring out some brushes the ears go back and his head turns away 😂! For just schooling and hacking at home i just use big a flick brush to get off any dust and then get a body brush for around his girth and just to flip his mane over (I've given up trying to train it😂)! However, we showjump BS so I do have to scrub him up a bit when we compete I bath him the night before (Lukewarm water for him😂) with fairy liquid as it's so much cheaper than all these brands that claim to do wonders, he's black with 2 white socks so I'm fairly lucky on that too! But with bathing he just stands in the wash bay and pulls a face

 

[Keith_Beef]

The verb to Curry (as in to groom) is from Old French and I think came before the tools. The word for Curry for Indian food evolved independently. And favour as in curry favour is from Fauvel, a chestnut horse from a story.

Currying your horse:

From Middle English currayen, from Old French correer (“to prepare”), presumably from Vulgar Latin *conredare, from Latin com- (a form of con- (“with; together”)) + a verb derived from Proto-Germanic *raidaz. More at ready.

Indian food:
1747 (as currey, first published recipe for the dish in English[1][2]), from Tamil கறி (kaṟi), influenced by existing Middle English cury (“cooking”),[2] from Middle French cuyre (“to cook”) (from which also cuisine), from Vulgar Latin cocere, from Latin coquere, present active infinitive of coquō.

There's also a verb "corroyer" in French, used for a certain operation in the preparation of hides and leather, that I think must be related to the noun "courroie" that means a strap or belt. Wiktionary thinks that "corroyer" means "to corrode"... though I suppose that the action of chemicals on some substance may be considered corrosion.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I pay attention when I groom to what the individual seems to prefer-and if they don't seem to love it I keep it to a minimum.

Me too.

I don't have my own horse, so tend to ride two or three that are suitable to my weight and level, and sometimes help out other riders with their horses, and have got to know what they prefer or tolerate.

I make a point of presenting the brush, hoof pick, sponge or other tool to the horse so that it can have a look at it and a sniff at it, before I use it on the horse's body.

I don't really know for certain that it makes much of a difference, but I imagine that anything that reduces the surprise of having a strange object suddenly make contact with the animal can't do any harm.

 

[criso]

I make a point of presenting the brush, hoof pick, sponge or other tool to the horse so that it can have a look at it and a sniff at it, before I use it on the horse's body.

I don't really know for certain that it makes much of a difference, but I imagine that anything that reduces the surprise of having a strange object suddenly make contact with the animal can't do any harm.

Both my tbs like to check and approve everything before use though I suspect they are also checking for food quality too.

 

[Lyle]

My WB will enjoy a rubber curry comb/shedding blade on the withers, with lip wobbles and mutual grooming back. Doesn't like a body brush, will tolerate a sheepskin mitt to get the dust off. I can carefully do a rubber curry and then a quick flick over the whole body with a long bristled body brush (not a dandy brush). He's perfectly happy to be fussed with, i.e. clippers, washed, plaited. Just doesn't like being brushed! He's a thin-skinned chestnut. Lucky he's a very clean horse, barely gets mud anywhere.

Welsh Cob seems totally indifferent. Again, enjoys a wither scratch, but no obvious signs of not enjoying the brushing process. He's a grub too, so I do have to get vigorous with the brushing!

 

[honetpot]

I have an older pony that hates being groomed. It spent most of its early life doing showing so I think it’s got fed up with it and just associates it with work . His mane is a particular no go area and he will try a get away so he gets a good groom once a season and the rest of the time just a wither rub with my fingers.