The Daily Grooming of Working Horses
| This article, and mainly the video, is presenting the daily grooming of horses that was done in most European countries in the military, and most of the professional stables, as well as the racetracks. It should be pointed out that the "rubdown" segment of the daily grooming took at least 15 minutes to insure good massage, which propagates a good blood circulation in the skin and muscles. |
Most people today, especially the amateurs
and horseshow people, believe that grooming of horses is only about having them
clean, or having them looking nice for some silly clueless horseshow judge,
while the main object of this type of daily grooming is an essential part of
physical conditioning of the horse. In the professional stables in my days, it
was estimated that the daily care for a working horse is about two hours, hence
various states had norms for grooms, which in most cases was about four horses
for a groom, which is then eight-hour day work. If the groom also exercised
horses, like on the racetracks, then the norm in some countries was as little as
two horses per person per day, and at maximum four. Of course in the military
there was often only one horse per a man, and so in peace time one can only
imagine the care these horses used to receive.
In reality
the working horse gets cleaned basically three times per day. There is the
brushing off the horse before tacking up or before the daily exercise, then
there is the appropriate care after riding or work, and finally there is this
daily grooming, which is depicted in the video. In most normal training stables
the daily exercising and training of horses gets done in the morning hours,
while the daily grooming, as seen here, is commonly practiced in the late
afternoon, usually just before feeding. This daily grooming was often referred
to as the second daily exercise, very important in the daily conditioning of the
horse.
In this video there are some technical errors in the
execution of the grooming on the part of the groom, which will be pointed out in
the next video called "The technical and safety aspects of daily grooming". Some
of these are not actual errors but rather some of the tasks are presented in
such way so the viewer receives better angle of what is being done.
Notes
Please do not do this type of grooming on a hot day, lest the poor animal will
overheat and break out in sweat. On very hot days it is best just to brush or
sponge off the horse if needed, or just leave the animal alone. On the other
hand, this daily rubdown is extremely beneficial during the winter, where we
will present other ways of rubdowns suitable for the longer coats during the
winter months. As in all cases, one needs to exercise a sound judgment, and
adjust his handling of the horses to the given situation and environment. Also
keep in mind that this daily rubdown also tends to promote the heat cycle in
mares, hence in such cases it should be limited in working and performance
female horses, especially during the heat.
The shiny coat of
the animal testifies to the animal's good health. If your horse needs some kind
of supplement to have shiny coat, it only testifies to two facts. You don't know
what you are doing and your animal is not healthy, because just like in people
the health of the body reflects in the luster of the hair. Ill people, just like
ill horses, lack this luster in their hair. Of course if you pump up the horse
with oils or other supplements you are only covering up this sad reality. The
use of products like "Show Sheen" only testifies to the horsemanship
incompetence of the user.
Taking care of working horses is
work, this is why in the past only the rich owned horses, who then hired people
to do all this work. As it is today, many people buy horses, thinking they are
just big dogs, hence in most cases they take care of them as dogs, believing
that by providing food, water and shelter is sufficient. There is nothing more
abusive then locking up a life in some limited space and then, leaving it alone
most of its life.
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