Horse grooming

Regular grooming not only keeps your horse clean and healthy looking but also enables you to check the overall condition of your horse and helps the two of you to form a closer bond. Horse grooming should be carried out on a daily basis: doing so can prevent skin conditions such as rain scald, dermatitis and mud fever and encourages the production of natural oils which nourish your horse's hair and skin and retain warmth. You'll be concerned to build vets fees cover into your horse insurance package so that if your horse becomes ill it receives the necessary treatment; but you can greatly reduce the likelihood of the vet having to call by making sure you groom your horse frequently and with the correct equipment.

It's important to make sure you have all appropriate brushes to ensure effective grooming of your horse. Use a rubber curry comb to remove dead skin and mud from your horse's coat and a metal curry comb to remove hair, dust dried mud from the body comb. Be sure to never use the metal comb on your horse though, as it will be too coarse and may cause damage to the coat and skin. A dandy brush can also be used to remove loose mud from the coat, although for horses that have recently been clipped or are 'ticklish' they are not advisable. As the hairs of the mane and tail are very fine and easily broken, separate mane and tail combs are an essential part of grooming equipment. A hoof pick is a vital item of tack too and is used to clean stones from under your horse's shoe. Stable rubbers can also be used to clean dust from the coat and to give it a polished and healthy appearance and two separate sponges should be used – one to clean your horse's eyes and nose and one for the area around the top of the tail.

Always ensure that your horse or pony is properly tied up before you begin grooming and take the time to find out in which areas your horse is particularly sensitive. Take care when grooming these parts of your horse's coat as a sudden shock could result in damage to both you and your horse.

Get horse insurance

Grooming your horse should form part of your maintenance cycle, so is protecting with quality horse insurance. Get a quote today and ensure the long term health of your horse.