Grooming Equipment

If you could only use 5 grooming tools and you only had 15 minutes...

1. What tools would you choose?

2. What would you do first?

3. Rate the importance of each grooming task (face, body, legs, hooves, mane and tail.)

I am writing a grooming book. I have been working on it for almost a year now. This is for my quick grooming section.

*And there is going to be a section with grooming tips from other people so PM me with tips, your horses name, and the state or country you are from.* Oh and pictures too!!!!!!!! I hope to have it published by 2011! So please help out and see your name in print!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm 5 tools. I normally don't even use that many when I am grooming regularly.

1) Metal curry for the thick winter hair and/or dried on mud on the body.

2) Medium-stiff brush to brush away all the big chunks that were broken free by the curry.

3) Softer brush to finish out all over the body. I usually leave the legs alone since I don't boot my horses and if there is something on the face/head that needs to come off, I use my fingers.

4) Hoof pick, though I really only use one occasionally.

5) Human hair brush that I sometimes use on the mane/tail.

Most important part of the whole thing to me is clearing away the debris from where the saddle and girth will go. Most times, I don't care if they carry a muddy spot on their hip and I only really pick out hooves if there is a large ball in there or if they seem off.

Least important is the mane/tail. While I prefer to keep them knot free, I don't often brush them and even then, I only work out the knots and let the rest of it go.

I thought metal curries were for cleaning the other brushes, not horses?

1) hoof pick, rubber curry, dandy brush, body brush, comb (really works on the body to break up large mud chunks)

2) I tend to start with the face, then do the neck, then back and legs, so im not putting dirt where I've just brushed.

3) Face is quite important because of where headcollars/ bridles sit, you don't want mud there
Body is pretty important because of where the saddle and pad sits, see above. Plus you want your horrse looking clean, you can't miss the body!
Legs- not so important really, I just do mine out of habit
Hooves are pretty important for your horse to be comfy, you don't want things getting stuck in there. Plus its important to check for things like thrush.
Mane and tail aren't as important, I do them out of habit. More regularly for one of my horses but that's because he's an arab and I'm trying to grow his mane to accentuate his gorgeous head (:

My horse is clipped and otherwise has a very short coat - so I'm doing it for that situation. He is also blanketed so mud is not a huge issue.

Hoof pick
Mane/tail brush
Rubber curry mitt
Dandy brush
Rub rag

And that's in order.

For me the most important thing is the legs. Every day I carefully go over them to make sure they are clean and without swelling or heat. This is usually done while I'm picking his feet, and I remove excess dirt with my dandy brush. I also boot and bandage my horse so his legs need to be clean. After that I brush his mane to get all the dirt out, spray detangler into his tail and go through it with my fingers and finally curry his body. To finish off I brush and rub rag him to get his coat to really shine.
On a "normal" day this takes about 10 minutes. If he's dirty I can groom him forever lol :P

1. Soft Body Brush, Hard Brush, Hoof Pick, Mane Comb, and a Curry.

2. I usually go over with the body brushes first thing, and depending upon how dirty they are, I use the hard one first, and then the soft brush.

3. I really focus on their hooves and their bodies. Not so much the face, because I rarely brush their face. I usually only take a damp rag and dab/wipe away goop from their eyes. The reason I focus on the hooves and body is to check for any soreness. When I brush their bodies down, I look for where the horse flinches, and then go back around to those spots to touch and feel them to see if they're sore. It's similar with their hooves as well. I check their hooves for any damage or soreness. Most of the horses I ride will jerk their hoof away or flinch if they're tender/sore.

1. Rubber Curry, hard/dandy brush, a bottle of Satin Sheen, soft/face brush, and a hoof pick with a hoof brush attached.

2. I start with the head and work my way south always working in a downward direction. I would start with a cheap plastic curry, stopping to kick the dirt off of it ever few rubs. I would do the entire body body of the horse with the curry, because it’s made of softer plastic you can even do the legs and jaw of most horses. I always start on the head and work my way down the horse. Then comes the dandy brush with the curry, stopping every brush stroke to swipe it; face brush over the whole body and then a hand rubbed dousing of Satin Sheen to loosen the last little bit of dirt.
3. All are highly important to me, if my horse is willing to lug my butt around for a few hours a day I am more than willing to spend the time to make sure he is clean and fresh. However, if I could only clean one area it would be the back/body as that is where Rain Rot occurs most often or the legs depending on the mud level.

Legs are very close to number 1 on my list, as they are the very first indicators of illness in horses. A little bit of odd swelling can indicate a larger issue.
Also, never comb out the mane or tail with a brush or comb as it actually breaks the hair fibers, using your fingers is much healthier for the hair, though it is time consuming.