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| If you have tips or questions on equipment care, purchases, fit, or anything else to do with equestrian equipment, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
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Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse
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Past articles are all available in the
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Supplements series - in the works
I am compiling information on the feed and supplements as time goes on. What I had hoped to be a simple project has turned into a mammoth task of research! If you have info sheets on ANY type of supplement, please forward me a copy. I'd love to read it, and I am trying really hard to look at lots of different supplements and brand names. Each has their own *claim to fame*, and may or may not produce results as they claim.
So far, I'm hoping to cover the following items:
- regular feed supplements, such as Dr. Reed's (powder and pellets), Colony, and other commercial mineral preparations
- salt licks - blue, red, brown
- alternate therapy supplements, such as glucosamine, MSM, yucca powder, devil's claw, and more (for example, Raime is on Breathe for his dust allergy)
- homeopathic remedies
If you have fact sheets on these types of feed additives, testimonials on their use, and that kid of thing, please send me a copy so I can add it to my files. It may take several months before I can actually get to print, but it will sure be a learning experience on the way!
If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
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Winter bathing
Instead of doing a separate technique column and splitting this one into two weeks, we're printing this one in its entirety and will come back to Equipment next week. In the meantime, is there any piece of equipment you'd like written about? Let me know at kristi@hiway16.com!
In light of how I spent my Sunday, what else to cover this week but how to go about winter bathing your horse? It is not that common to need to bath your horse in the winter, but should you have to, here are some tips on how to get the job done with as little stress to your horse as possible.
Start by organizing everything you will need ahead of time. There is nothing worse than leaving your wet horse standing there shivering while you search for a specific item. You will need all your regular bath accessories - shampoo (and conditioner if used), sponges or clothes for scrubbing (a necessity if bucket-bathing), a curry to scrub with if desired, a sweatscraper or shedder blade (use the straight, dull side to shed water), a comb and braiding elastics if you plan on doing his mane or tail, a bucket, several large towels (don't take your mom's good ones!), a cooler for after the bath, and a blanket (and a hood if you have one). If you have a workplace with a shelf or table to put things on, all the better - they are not as likely to get knocked over by your horse if he is less than enthusiastic about the bath.
If you have access to a hot water tap, by all means use it. Bathing in winter SHOULD be done with warm water. Mix hot and cold hoses by using a special connector that mixes the contents of both hoses, usually at the tap end. If you can't run a warm water hose, pack buckets of hot water for washing the horse with at least. Pour your buckets last thing before you get started - everything else should be ready. Use hot water, not warm, as you can always add cold water to cool it off but you can't add more hot while you're out there!
Consider giving your horse a flake of hay to distract him while you bath. You will need to lift his head to do the front section, but it should keep him happier for the rest of it!
Start at the front and work back. I used the bucket method and poured a bucket of warm water to start with. I used the sponge to wet him down, then added shampoo and worked up a lather. I washed his mane as well, then went around him and washed his neck on the other side. Then you need to rinse really well!
Use the sweatscraper to remove the excess water from both sides of his neck and down the front of his chest. Use one of the towels to towel off more moisture, and re-scrape the lower areas if necessary. If you are going to condition and braid his mane, do that now, then use a dry towel to cover his neck, keeping heat loss to a minimum.
After finishing off the front section, move to the center and do the same thing. Wet down, then shampoo, then rinse, the shoulder, back, barrel, girth and stomach, on both sides. Pay special attention to the area between the forelegs as it often gets missed. Follow the same procedure of scraping the excess water then towel drying the area, and drape another towel over the back. Finish the body by doing the same procedure for the hindquarters.
If you plan on doing his tail, you might want to cover him with the cooler first. If the towels aren?t too damp, just throw the cooler over top of the towels, which let's them absorb more of the wetness.
To wash the tail, first get it wet. The best way to do this is to stick the whole tail in a bucket of water (warm if you still have some). Swish it around until it is really wet, then start adding shampoo. For a thick, long tail like Raime has, you might need quite a bit of shampoo to get it all soapy. The bottom will likely be the dirtiest, so scrub it really well with your hands. You can use the thick suds from the lower tail to add back into the upper tail.
Don't be afraid to add more water and more shampoo. Rinse the tail from the top down, paying special care to get all the soap out from the tailbone. You may need to (especially if your horse has a light coloured tail) go back and rewash the bottom section of the tail.
You can use a bucket for rinsing, for both the body and the tail, but I find it just doesn't get as much soap out as using a hose. It is important to remove all soap residue as it can cause problems with the skin (not the least of which is itching, which will really create complications if he rolls right after his bath!). I usually use the hose to run a steady stream across the area to be rinsed then scrub my hand back and forth under the stream of water until I can no longer see any soap bubbles at all.
You can also condition your horse's tail by adding the product after it is clean (most conditioners are added while still wet and are either rinsed or left in the hair). I do this by adding the conditioner then combing it through the tail, working slowly from the bottom up. Once I have gotten conditioner all through the tail, I braid it . You can also put it in a tail bag, or an old tube sock, if you like.
So there you have it - a clean horse! Blanket him well, and if it is windy out, leave him indoors if you can. It will take quite a while for him to dry completely. Use a hood if you have one, or a large blanket cooler tied to the halter itself will help to keep the neck covered. You may wish to tie him to prevent rolling, but I suggest you don't leave any horse unsupervised wearing a halter, tied or not.
If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
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