When To Wash Your Horse’s
One of the questions that is asked of me most often in the context of horses is: how often do I wash my horses? My own opinion is that horses could do with a load less washes. I see a bias in horse owners to overdo it. They virtually seem to wash their horses because they are bored, with nothing else to do.
Think of a wild pony in his natural setting. How often do you think he gets washed?
In their natural habitat, horses most frequently get washed when it rains. Clearly, then, the frequency of their getting washed would rely on the frequency of the rain. Wild horses also get washed when they’re forced to swim across an area of water. Neither a rain wash nor a river or lake wash is taken by a wild horse out of choice , and they seem to get along quite well whatever their frequency of washes is. I definitely don’t see any way wild horses suffer for absence of washes. The same speculation carries over for tamed horses, too. Folks use cold water to hose down horses that are hot and sweaty after a tough work out. They don’t notice that they might be causing harm to the horse’s health due to the unexpected change in temperature. Think of yourself when you’re actually hot and flustered, and the sweat is pouring down your body and limbs. What kind of water would you ideally like for a bath? You would prefer to begin with luke warm water and move to cold water in progressive steps. That is the healthy way to do it, and that advantageous way applies for horses, too. Quite frequently, when my pony is sweating hard and radiating heat after a tiresome work out, I content myself with hosing his legs down. When he cools off, I may sometimes hose water all over him, if he showed that he liked it when I did that with his legs.
It’s also absolutely needless to use soap or shampoo on a pony every time he’s washed. Soap and shampoo can rob hair and skin of their natural oils.
The best practice is to walk your horse slowly around after a laborious ride. Wait for him to dry off, then groom him a bit. Quite often, I simply unsaddle my pony after a ride and let him loose to roll around in the pasture. I am going off to clean his stall as an alternative. My pony will have cooled off considerably by the point I return to halter him. He gets a good brushing from me then; I ensure I remove all sweat marks on him.
I think the only exception is occasionally when you are showing with your horse. If your season is busy, you wish to keep your horse looking his best at all times, and that’s when you can give him a lot of baths. When you have done with washing him, be totally certain to scrape off all excess water and take him out to dry where it is not cold. If there’s a chill in the air, cover him with a blanket.
Use a lot of elbow grease and go at it hard with a brush and a curry comb to give your horse the absolute best grooming. This type of grooming also allows you to bond closely with your horse, because he is going to be relishing the grooming and will most likely be in an exceedingly receptive mood. Let him have a little bit of additional petting and attention.
Brushing is not normally a lengthy procedure. Ensure your horse is brushed before you saddle him. Things like hay or stickers will need to be brushed off, especially if he’s been rolling around. If they are not taken off, you risk getting thrown off when you get on. Be certain to give your pony some brushing after a ride, too , so that sweat marks are removed. Test to work out if your horse is feeling any tenderness by running your fingers down his spine.
Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about country supply
