Grooming Horses

Budweiser Clydesdale being Groomed 

Several years ago I got to watch the Budweiser Clydesdales being groomed, harnessed, and hitched for a local parade. Wow! That was a treat! Those horses are treated like rock stars. They ride in air conditioned semi trucks and travel with their personal attendants. 

They are beautiful beyond belief, but a far cry from the working horses our Colonial ancestors owned. While the Clydesdale in the photo was getting his "feathers" brushed and whitened to impress the crowd, Colonial horses needed a more practical level of grooming. 

In Full Harness

Horse harness is made of leather straps and metal buckles. These materials lay flat or shift and rub against the horse's hair and hide. While the horse's hair helps protect his hide, too much chafing will cause sore spots. When the farmer brushed his horse, he not only removed dirt and dried sweat, he checked for signs of missing hair or irritated skin. If he found those, he knew he needed to adjust or mend his harness, but he also applied a soothing ointment to the horse if needed.

Long, flowing tails are gorgeous to see flying behind a horse racing across a field. But long, flowing tails could also get caught in the hitch apparatus. The Clydesdales have their tails bobbed incredibly short as a fashion statement. They are bobbed shortly after birth, much as some breeds of dog have their tails bobbed. In Colonial times, a farmer wouldn't cut the actual tail of the horse but kept the hair trimmed so that it didn't get tangled in the hitch. Their horses still had plenty of tail to swat flies with.

Cash Yawning Wide

Saddle horses needed grooming attention as well. Not every saddle fits every horse, much like not every coat fits every human. A poorly-fitted saddle or worn blanket could rub hair off, leave sores, or even cut into a horse. Regular grooming allowed the owner or stableman to inspect for such things. Grooming before the saddle was applied also reduced the risk of trapping dirt or burrs under the blanket, a situation that could result in the rider meeting the road ... so to speak.

Last, but also import to a horse's health and well-being, was to check the horse's teeth at least yearly. Horses teeth, as they age, wear down from grazing. It would be fine if they wore evenly, but they rarely do. Sharp edges often form on the outer cusps of the molars, making grinding food more difficult and even wearing sores on the inside of the horse's cheeks. "Floating" the teeth is a method of using a rasp or a file to grind down the sharp points until they are blunted and even with the rest of the tooth. It's not a painful process, but trust me, horses don't like dental work any better than we do! Still, it needs to be done to keep them healthy, especially in their later years.

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No Hoof - No Horse

Trooper in His Shaggy Winter Coat

Last month Kelly Goshorn asked me to write about caring for horses. That made this month's blog topic an easy pick. I know a few things about horse care. Pictured here is my old horse, Trooper. He's twenty-five years old and needs some extra care in his senior years, but he's worth it.

In Colonial times, horses worked hard. They toiled in the fields, clipped along the roads, and packed goods into places where no roads existed. But they could do little of that if they were neglected.

"No hoof, no horse" was a famous saying back then and it's still well-known today. A horse without four good hooves is in serious trouble. Some people say that a horse has five hearts. In a way that's true. Besides the obvious beating organ in his chest, each of his hooves has a cushioned pad that, when pressed, helps push his blood supply back to his chest. Losing the use of a hoof damages his circulation. Even with today's advances in equine medicine, many horses with hoof injuries can't be saved. Probably the most famous being Barbaro, a racehorse who survived a shattered leg until laminitis, a very serious hoof condition, set in. 

Setting a Horse Shoe

To prevent problems, horses that are used frequently are fitted with horse shoes. The metal shoes are nailed into the hoof wall. There is no pain involved in this process. The hoof wall is like our fingernails, only stronger and much thicker. The shoes prevent the hoof from being chipped, over-worn, or otherwise damaged during hard use. On a regular basis, the shoes are removed so that the hoof walls can be trimmed back - much as we trim our nails - and then the shoes are reset onto the trimmed hooves. Our Colonial ancestors took their horses to a blacksmith or a farrier for shoeing.

Blacksmith Forged Hoof Pick

In between visits to the blacksmith or farrier, the owner or stableman would keep the horse's feet healthy with regular cleaning using a hoof pick to remove dirt, manure, and stones that could collect there. 

And finally, the horse needed somewhere dry to stand when he wasn't working. Damp is another enemy of a healthy hoof. While a horse can work all day in the damp fields, the hooves must be cleaned out and the horse given a dry place to rest afterwards to prevent bacteria from attacking the hoof and causing lameness or even death.

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