You Too Can Learn To
Groom Your Horse Like The PROS
Learning to groom your
horse for a show can be very rewarding. It is a good
idea to go to a horse show and watch how the
professionals clip a horse. The National shows are good
places to see lots of grooming. These shows are held in
late summer. AMHR has theirs in Tulsa, OK in September
and AMHA has theirs in October in Fort Worth, Texas. The
winter coats for these horses will have started coming
in by then. That means the horses that are there showing
over several days, will be clipped many times. Most of
the local shows during the late Spring and Summer
months are just on weekends. These horses were clipped
before the show and will not need clipping there, only
touch ups. So to get a real good opportunity to see how
it's done over and over again, go to the National Shows
and watch.
|
|
Tools You
Need
POWER CLIPPER WITH
SHARP#10, #15, #30, #40 BLADES
POWER BLOW DRYER (OPTIONAL)
COMB AND 2 BRUSHES ( 1 STIFF & 1 SOFT)
SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER
Show Sheen
RUBBER WASH MITT
HOSE WITH GOOD SPRAYER
RAZOR AND SHAVING CREME( FINAL TOUCH FOR FACE )
SAND PAPER ( FINE TO SAND HOOVES)
HOOF POLISH (CLEAR OR BLACK)
TWITCH FOR NOSE (IF HORSE JUMPS AROUND)
HALTER AND LEAD ROPE (TO RESTRAIN HORSE)
(THERE ARE GROOMING SHOOTS MADE FOR GOATS)
(THAT WORK WELL IN KEEPING HORSE RESTRAINED)
GROOMING SMOCK (KEEPS ITCHY HAIR OFF YOU)
RAINCOAT & RUBBER BOOTS OPTIONAL (YOU MAY GET WET)
LOTS OF
PATIENCE & TIME (THESE ARE A MUST)
NOW YOU ARE
READY TO GROOM YOUR HORSE
1) Using your stiff brush, brush your horse thoroughly
all over it's body to remove dirt. Use the soft brush on
the face and legs to do the same.
2) Now you are ready to bathe your horse. Put on your
water gear. Hook up your hose. Warm water is best. With
your horse tied to a wash rack, spray water all over
your horse. Use a jet stream on the body to force dirt
from the skin out. Use a gentle stream of water on the
face or sponge water on face. Now apply a generous
amount of shampoo. Using your rubber mitt, scrub the
horse thoroughly all over. Rinse the horse thoroughly
and repeat the same shampooing process. If you are
washing a horse with a thick coat you may need to repeat
this process of shampooing and rinsing several times
until the hair is SQUEAKY clean. If your horse has a
summer coat or has been shaved recently, then you may
have a squeaky clean coat after only one washing. IF IT
DOES NOT SQUEAK, IT IS NOT CLEAN! 3)Now, apply creme
rinse to the mane and tail and rinse out if so directed.
Next, remove excess water from your horse using a sweat
scraper and towels. Spray your horse with Show Sheen.
This makes the coat very slick allowing the clippers to
glide through the hair when it is dry. You may blow dry
your horse if you desire and have a power dryer. These
are useful in helping remove any remaining grit that you
may have missed. You can lightly spray show sheen again
on your horse if the power blower blew most of the show
sheen off and the hair does not feel "slick". Once your
horse is dry, you may move to the clipping part. PUT
YOUR SMOCK ON NOW. There is nothing in the world more
itchy than HORSE HAIR. Make sure you have a lot of
patience and good lighting. You are ready to shave your
horse.
CLIPPING YOU
HORSE
Take a
deep breath and relax. Go slowly if this is your horses
first time to be clipped. Turn the clippers on and let
him get used to the sound. Rub the clippers on his body
while you talk to him softly. Put a #10 or #15 blade on
your clipper. Clip the body, legs and neck going against
the grain of the hair. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT never
shave across the hair grain. Doing so will leave tracks.
If tracks are showing up, go back over the clipped area
to smooth it out. Keep your blades cool. If you are
still leaving tracks while clipping against the grain of
the hair, then your blade could be dull. Replace it with
another blade and have the original blade sharpened.
Leave hair with an inverted "V" just above the tail
base. This gives the illusion of a much higher tail set.
Now for the face. Clip under the jaws, jaws, forehead,
and outside of ears with a #10 or #15 blade. You may
need to twitch your horse for this part. Take the nose
clamp and pinch his upper lip and place the clamp on it.
This does not hurt your horse. It causes the horse to
have Endorphins released which are like pain killers.
Most horses start to fall asleep with the clamp on. Next
clip the inside of the ears and the muzzle with a #40 or
a #50 and then blend from the #40'd hair to the #10'd
hair with a #30 blade from the muzzle up the bridge of
the nose. The night before your class, put shaving creme
on the muzzle and above the eyes and shave those areas
bald. Just before going into the ring, put baby oil gel
on the balded areas. Now, lightly sand the hooves to
remove the rough groves. The day of the class, put hoof
polish on them. Your horse is now ready for the ring.
Good Luck! It is best to practice clipping your horse
many times before you need to show him, that way you are
not as worried if you mess up. HAIR ALWAYS GROWS BACK
IN.
For any
questions, please e-mail me
AJLEVANS@HOUSTON.RR.COM
Good Luck
Linda Evans
Just Won Training Center
|
