My poor pony has not taken well to the texas heat and needs some help gaining weight back. With a little help from all his friends and lesson students we hope to buy extra grain, hay and supplements so that Cody can return to the fat version of himself. Making Cody fat will do more than just make us feel better. Cody will become easier to ride (more energy, more strength so he won't stumble as much). Cody will also become shinier and more muscled so that he will look better at shows and be easier to groom. The bigger riders will also feel less like they are going to hurt him by riding him. As a team i know we can make this happen!!!
Everyone grooms their horse before they ride. Most grooming is done in the saddle area to keep burs, sand, and hair from causing pain or rubbing under the saddle while riding. While this is definitely an important benefit of grooming, there are many other reasons to groom your horse before riding, after riding, and even on days when you don’t ride.
Grooming steps:
To get all the potential benefits from grooming, there are several key steps in the grooming process that need to happen.
Curry Comb: there are several types of curry comb each work on different hair coats and serve slightly different purposes. These should be used in a circular motion all over the body to loosen hair, dirt, and other debris from the skin. This is an essential part of creating a healthy, shiny coat for you horse. Using the curry comb before riding will ensure there are no clumps or hair or dirt causing discomfort while riding. Using the curry after riding will allow you to remove much more of the dead loose hair, and help encourage the oils in your horses coat to lubricate the skin and hair which will create that shiny coat. Stimulating the hair follicles will also help healthier hair to grow.
Metal curry combs are great for removing mud and long hair, but can damage the hair and do not encourage the natural oils of the skin to flow and soften the hair. These should be used sparingly, only for extra dirty horses and maybe the first day of starting a grooming regimen.
Rubber spiky curry combs are great for long hair and horses with less sensitive skin. The spikes can dig into sore muscles and sensitive skin and cause discomfort for the horse. If the horse has longer hair, the spikes can be great for getting down to the skin to encourage the natural oils to lubricate the skin and encourage healthy hair growth. They are also great for loosening hair closer to the skin that other curry combs will not reach.
Rubber round curry combs are a great general curry comb for any horse. They are great at loosening hair and dirt from the skin; they generally do not irritate more sensitive horses; and they are easy for anyone to use. These can also be used like a shedding blade by cupping the comb in your hand and using fast firm strokes with grain the hair this will help warm the skin a bit and pull loose hair from the body.
Body brush: this is generally a stiff bristle brush used for removing all the hair and dirt loosened by the curry comb. These should be used all over the body with special attention paid to the saddle areas. This brush should be used with the flow of the hair to flatten out the hair and get it ready for the saddle.
Finishing brush: this brush is similar to the body brush but has longer bristles used for flicking excess dust and hair off the body and creating a shiny coat. Like the body brush this is used all over the body and with the flow of the hair.
Hoof pick: Possibly the most important part of a grooming kit. As the saying goes: No hoof, no horse. Hooves need to be cleaned both before and after riding. A thoroughly cleaned hoof prevents fungus build up which can lead to lameness. It gives the rider a chance to check for rocks or other injuries to the hoof. It also makes the horse more comfortable for riding or going out to his stall or pasture.
Mane comb: a metal comb for the mane allows the rider to brush out the hair and do basic maintenance on the mane such as pulling long sections to keep it even and ready for show. Using a metal comb on a regular basis makes the horse less difficult to deal with when mane pulling is done before a horse show.
Tail brush: tails break easily, so brushing should be done gently. For daily maintenance, your body brush can be used on the tail to brush out debris. This brush is not going to tear the hair or remove tangles. A hair brush style brush can be used weekly or bimonthly to remove tangles and thoroughly brush out the tail. When brushing out the tail, start at the ends and slowly work your way up in small sections. Grooming in small sections will create more body in the tail and make it less likely for you to pull out large chunks of hair.
Face brushes: a smaller, softer version of the rubber curry comb and body brush should be used on the face. You can curry and brush the face just like the rest of the body with these brushes, remembering to be gentle as the face is more sensitive. If your horse has sensitive legs, you can use these on their legs as well rather than the body brushes. Legs should be groomed regularly as fungus and skin issues can develop especially if you live in a wet climate or use boots or wraps on their legs.
Regular grooming will keep your horse healthier, sounder, and looking its best. Grooming is also a great way to bond with your horse, and get to know its body. Knowing the normal skin, lumps, and issues with your horse will make it much easier to detect when problems arise and may keep your horse from expensive vet bills.
Interscholastic equestrian competitions are a unique challenge that few horse people ever get the chance to participate in. This type of riding challenges a rider to get good at not just riding one horse like in regular competition, but at riding any horse in a competitive environment. The riders must be brave enough to get on the unknown horse, strong enough to survive intense equitation competition, and versatile enough to compete in several different disciplines.
Many people have heard of college equestrian teams, the IHSA and Varsity Equestrian, but few are familiar with that style of competition or know that there are several organizations that allow riders of any age to compete in those style competitions.
Interscholastic and Intercollegiate equestrian competitions are fairly unique in what they ask of riders and horses. These competitions are a test of equitation unlike most others in the horse show world. Though a random draw, riders are assigned an often unknown horse, on which they have to compete in their given class against riders of similar experience. These classes can involve riding complex reining patters, jumping 3ft courses, or doing complex dressage tests, without any prior experience on the horse or on the course. The riders are judged on how they handle the unknown horse and their equitation. Riders are divided into experience levels so that each rider competes on horses and do courses that are appropriate for their riding level and every rider has a chance to win in the competition. Riders earn points for their placements in classes that add up to a team score which determines which team wins the competition.
The IHSA and Varsity Equestrian are structured slightly differently. The IHSA has riders competing in large groups and compete on different horses for the same level. Varsity equestrian, part of the NCAA, pairs riders and has each pair ride the same horse so that the test is entirely of the rider and not about whether the horse is behaving well that day.
These type of competitions are also available for middle school and high school students to compete on school teams. The IEA and RIFNA have programs that help students get teams started and track points to earn awards and move up in levels. RIFNA offers this type of competition without teams for all ages and experience levels of riders. RIFNA offers classes in Western, Hunt Seat, and Dressage. IEA offers classes in Western, Hunt Seat, and Saddle Seat. RIFNA is available for all ages, elementary school though adult, with team competition available for middle school and high school students. IEA offers classes for middle school and high school students.
Because these competition are separated into ability levels, even novice riders can compete and win. Novice riders are especially valued in college programs because most people who get involved with horses do so before college and therefore don’t qualify for the lowest levels of competition. So if you are a college student interested in riding with little experience, contact your school’s equestrian coach as they may have the perfect spot for you on the team.
This type of competition also allows riders that do not own a horse or that cannot afford to pay the large amounts of money involved in showing a personal horse to ride and compete and improve their riding without a large investment.
In light of Hurricane Sandy and winter looming for us in Colorado, its time to look at how horse owners should prepare when rough weather is predicted for their area.
Barn Preparation
Keeping your horses in the barn has both pros and cons. It will keep the horses dry, and out of mud, away from falling trees and lightning, and other hazardous conditions that may cause injury. However it may end up trapping the horses in hazardous conditions if the barn floods or collapses. This choice is dependent on the horses, the barn, and outdoor conditions that need to be evaluated by an experienced professional.
If you are going to keep your horses in the barn, make sure you have easy to open doors and that the barn is not prone to fires or flooding. If you are going to keep your horses outdoors, have some sort of identification on the horses so that if your horses escape, they can be returned to you.
If possible, you should have any horse trailers on the property attached to a truck and ready to evacuate horses in case evacuations become mandatory. You may also want to pack extra hay and grain for the horses, water, buckets, supplements, and other daily supplies.
Horse Preparation
To prepare your horses for an emergency you need to attach contact information to your horses in case they get loose to end up in a large herd of horses at a rescue facility
Ways to identify your horses include:
Halters with contact info written on halter or tied to halter
Tying a plastic bag with contact info into the mane
Shaving a contact phone number into the hair
Tying an ID tag with contact info around the horse’s neck
Where ever you keep your horses, they should be easy to catch in case staying at your barn becomes a non-viable option. Your horses should be trained to load into a trailer and your trailer should be ready for the horses.
You should also have an emergency vet kit on hand.
Included in this kit should be:
Basic first aid stuff for treating wounds and small injuries
Banamine and Bute
Contact info for several vets in the area
Evacuation procedures
If the authorities have declared mandatory evacuations, get your horses out as quickly as possible. You don’t want to be in the way if emergency services are entering the area and mandatory evacuations mean that your area will be in danger. If evacuations are voluntary, then you need to asses the situation. Is your barn and property in an area that will be prone to issues, low ground, lots of trees, or hard to get out of? Or is it in a defensible area where your horses are likely to be safe during the emergency? You should then evaluate what your evacuation options are. Do you have a friends place you can take your animals to? Where are the government evacuation shelters? Is there are safe place to take your horses?
When evacuating your horses, make sure they have contact info attached to them and make sure you have identification and health papers with you.
If you don’t have a horse trailer, there are services available to help you evacuate your horses during an emergency.
Evacuation services:
Horse Evacuations East is for the eastern US but they may have contacts in other parts of the country as well.
The first question to ask when considering body clipping is: is it necessary? The horse’s winter coat provides natural protection and insulation as well as keeping natural oils near the skin which helps keep a healthier shinier coat. If you choose to body clip your horse, you will need to keep him blanketed and provide extra shelter to make up for the loss of hair. If you cannot keep your horse in a stall or do not want to do the extra work of managing blankets, you should not body clip your horse.
There are some legitimate reasons to body clip your horse. If you are working your horse on a regular basis during the winter, they will tend to get sweaty and may overheat or be difficult to cool out and dry off when you are done working. This is especially true for horses that get a very long or fluffy winter coat. If your horse is not in good physical shape, they may also be prone to overheating or excessive sweating and may also be candidates for body clipping especially if you are going to be riding to get the horse into shape.
If you will be showing your horse, you probably want to consider body clipping. The body clip will make the horse look better for the show ring as he will have cleaner lines and sweat less when competing. Also if you are traveling from cold climates to warmer climates to show, the horse will need help adjusting to the warmer weather and body clipping will keep them from overheating.
The reason you are clipping and the condition of your horse will determine what type of clip to do. Clipping patterns range from just small areas of hair removal to clipping the entire body. If you or your horse does not have experience with body clipping, start with a small area and have someone that is experienced help you. There are techniques and procedures that will help your horse have a good experience and look its best. These techniques are best taught by an experienced groomer and through the experience of clipping the horse. As a general rule of thumb, when choosing what type of clip to do, is to remove as little hair as possible for what you are doing with your horse. Also, clipping goes best when the horse has been washed and the hair is dry. This means that unless you have a warm water bathing area, you need to choose a warm day to clip your horses and plan for it to take a few hours.
Types of Clips: ()
While there are many types of clips, these are the basic clips and most types are variations of these. Heartland saddlery has a great page with pictures of these clips. Always consult your trainer or other trusted equine professional before clipping your horse. The chest is the warmest part of the horse and the hardest to keep cool especially when the horse is working, so clips will start in that area and expand to the rest of the body.
Neck and Belly Clip:
Like the name suggests, this clip goes from the neck to under the belly, leaving the neck, chest, and belly free of hair. This clip stays between the legs and does not extend to the face. This is for horses that just need a bit of extra help cooling down after work. Horses with this clip can still be turned out but may need a blanket on colder days.
Irish Clip:
This is an extension of the neck and belly clip where the clip also includes part of the shoulder and barrel. This is for horses with a thicker coat or in poor physical condition who need help cooling down after work. These horses may need a blanket when turned out, this will depend on the horse and the weather.
Trace Clip:
This continues from the irish clip back along the rest of the body. A “high trace” will extend up to remove hair from the jaw and higher up on the rest of the body. Hair will still be left on the legs and back. This is best for horses being put back to work after time off that easily get sweaty. Remember that the more hair that is removed, the heavier a blanket the horse will need to keep warm.
Blanket Clip
This clip leaves hair on the legs, back, and rump. This is for horses that are being worked hard and may have to go to a show or move to a warmer climate. If these horses are in cold areas they will need blankets and possibly hoods to keep warm.
Hunter Clip
For horses that are going to shows, but don’t need a full body clip, this clip will work well. This clip just leaves hair on the legs and saddle area. The hair on the saddle area is for extra padding and comfort when riding. These horses will need to be blanketed if turned out and should be watched closely for signs of chill.
Body Clip
This is where all the hair on the horse is removed. Legs, head, belly, and the rest of the body are completely clipped. This is only for horses that will be showing and are mostly kept inside or with heavy blankets.
Clipped horses need to be groomed to keep the oils on their skin and to help a healthy summer coat grow back. They should be watched carefully for signs of chill and should be brought inside or given extra blankets on especially cold or wet days. Clipping should only be done if absolutely necessary and should be done under the supervision of a trainer or barn manager.
As riders, we know that equitation is important, but we don’t always practice it as often as we should. We focus on the horse and not on ourselves and forget that often how we are sitting on the horse has more effect on the horses actions than anything else we do. Here, though, are a few ideas for exercises to work on either by yourself or with a friend to help improve your riding and build some muscle.
The best way to start to focus on your equitation is with a friend or instructor. The friend should know how your leg should look and from the ground be able to tell you how to fix leg, seat, hand, or other issues. The horse you choose to practice on should be able to lunge, calmly and quietly, and for at least 20 minutes.
Start with the horse in your usual tack, saddle, bridle, etc and bring a lunge line and lunge whip. While you sit on your horse, have your friend or instructor lunge the horse, start at a walk and move through the trot and canter in both directions. Do not move to a faster gait until you have master it at the slower gait. If possible, ride the horse without using the reins, your friend should have control over the horse so reins should not be necessary. Use these exercises to focus on your body position and building strength without worrying about how the horse is moving. All of these exercises should be done for short periods of time at first and time should increase as rider becomes more comfortable with the exercise
Exercises while lunging:
Two-point at all gaits
Two-point without stirrups at all gaits
Sitting without stirrups
Posting trot or canter without stirrups
Sitting or posting with arms outstretched to the side
Add circles with your arms, large and small
Stretching at the walk
Stretch to touch toes
Stretch fingers to poll of horse
Stretch fingers to tail of horse
Stretch to touch toes
Stretch legs: grab ankle and pull toward butt to stretch thigh
Eyes closed
Take off saddle and ride bareback-still keeping proper position
Set up a small cavaletti
Start at the walk, slowly increase speed and height of jump
Start with stirrups then drop stirrups
Bareback after rider is comfortable without stirrups
Add more cavaletti around circle
Practice dropping and picking up stirrups while horse is moving
Exercises in the arena:
Same exercises as on the lunge line, but keep your reins and continue to focus on your position rather than the horse
Gymnastic exercises
Start simple with trot poles then small jumps
Work toward bigger jumps and more complicated rhythms
Drop reins through the exercise
Drop stirrups though the exercise
Bareback through exercise
Jump course without stirrups
Jump course bareback
Equitation patterns
It is best to not work alone when focusing on equitation, your instructor or friend should be helping you find the correct position so that it becomes second nature to you when you are on a horse. Without eyes on the ground, you may end up learning the wrong position that you will have to eventually unlearn. Having better equitation and riding muscles will give you more confidence and make you a better more effective rider which will make both you and your horse happier.
When most kids get started riding, the focus of riding lessons is on equitation. Instructors focus on our bodies, how we sit, where and how we use our legs, hand position, and seat. The first shows for kids are often focused on equitation and not on who has the fanciest horse.
As riders progress in the horse world, the focus moves away from equitation. The focus becomes the horse: Is the horse moving properly, is the horse picking up his feet, is the horse listening? Then, if the horse is not working properly, we ask what can we do to the horse to fix the issue.
Riders often forget that the early focus on equitation had a purpose. Equitation is more than just sitting on the horse, its being in the right position to communicate properly. When you are in the correct equitation position, you are much more effective at communicating what you want the horse today as well as staying balanced with the horse so that the horse can move the way it should. When you move out of that proper equitation position, your weight shifts and can get in the way of the natural movement of the horse causing it to have many of the issues we try to fix as riders.
The value of equitation goes beyond just communicating with the horse and allowing them to do their job. Proper equitation, especially when practiced regularly, can save your life, or at least a hospital bill. Equitation helps build proper muscles and balance which allows a rider to react faster and more effectively when the horse is not behaving. If the horse stumbles, a rider with strong equitation skills will be less likely to be thrown forward because their leg muscles will be strong, their balance will be natural, and their weight will be in their heels in the best position to keep them moving with the horse. As you can see in the video accompanying this article, the riders equitation strength keeps them from falling off when the horse gets bad spot at the jump. Since the ride cannot get his stirrups back in the short distances in the combination, he uses his strong leg muscles and balance to stay with the horse and keep the rhythm going through the jumping combination. The rider is obviously used to jumping without stirrups which helped this go from being a compete disaster to a beautifully ridden combination.
Proper equitation is something riders should always practice when riding and should make a point to work on building strength and balance through equitation exercises as it might just save their life someday.
