[Saddleseat20]

Hi. I wanted to start this thread for horse owners, who want their horse to look like champions. Here, you post secret tips on how you take care of horse. You can also post pictures and helpful hints and tips. I will post some of my tips also. You can post your grooming schedule, how you groom your horse and the products you use.

My daily horse schedule
1. Arrive at barn
2. Take horse out of stall
3. Put my horse in the cross ties
4. Take off leg boots
5. Brush body, legs, and face with a soft bristtled brush
6. Brush mane and tail with a wide-toothed comb (if not braided)
7. Pick out hooves
8. Check legs
9. Wash horse, bathe horse (if going to a horse show)
10. Put absorbine hair polish on coat
11. Apply fly spray to horse (roll on for the face)
12. Apply coconut oil to mane and tail
13. Put aborbine hooflex on hoofs
14. (if going to a horse show) Load horse in the trailer with a haynet, boots, and a blanket).

Sorry this is so long, but i just love typing!

-- Brianna

[MissCriss]

That sounds great . The only thing I would advise...well, if you DID mean to put hoof moisturizer on everyday, that that is probably not the best idea. From what I have been taught, hoof moisturizers are not that great and are kind of unnecessary.

And don't worry about typing too much! I like reading long posts lol. They tend to contain a lot of information.

[Saddleseat20]

Hehe. Thanks, I only put hoof moisturizer on her feet once a week. I sometimes dont even put it on her feet. Does anyone have any good ideas on hoof polish, that doesnt hurt the horses hoof?

[MissCriss]

Oh, then that should be ok. Probably unnecessary aside from moisturizing the coronary band, but I'm guessing it wouldn't hurt to just do it once a week. So long as you aren't hosing your horse off everyday, because that in itself can make your horse's feet mushy if they have feet that are sensitive that way.

As far as hoof polish...just go ahead and by hoof polish . Absorbine sells one. And I'm sure other brands do as well. Hoof polish is different from hoof moisturizer. It also does a better job at what it's supposed to do--create shine. You shouldn't use hoof polish every day, but for shows it is fine. I'm guessing that if you use hoof polish everyday, it could dry out the hoof but I'm not sure.

[Brittany1990]

My mare I just bought doesn't need anything done to her to look flashy.

She's amazing already. She's a blood bay with a dorsal stripe amazing black legs. Only one white spot under her leg. Her mane/tail is full and thick. She has a natural shine even when rolling in the mud. All I have to do, is wash any mud off her hooves, brush her up a little bit. Pick out her hooves and we're all set.

I pretty much stole her for 800 dollars. O.o

[sdawn8806]

ok well here is my daily grooming routine, i can get even a horse that has just rolled in the dirt looking great.

1. curry with round curry comb the whole body minus the face and legs.
2. curry with mitt the whole body including face and legs
3. stiff brush the body using short flicking motions to remove as move dirt as i can
4. soft brush entire body to bring out their natural shine
5. finger comb out tail to get rid of any knots or other stuff that might be caught in it
6. comb mane out completely
7. fly spray
8. pick out hooves and put conditioner on as necessary

its a little more extensive if i have a show, like i would bathe first and completely comb out the tail and put some sort of product in it. but thats about it

[GainingMomento]

Originally Posted by Saddleseat20

Hehe. Thanks, I only put hoof moisturizer on her feet once a week. I sometimes dont even put it on her feet. Does anyone have any good ideas on hoof polish, that doesnt hurt the horses hoof?

If you are looking for a good hoof moisturizer (and coat, mane & tail detangler/conditioner), I have a really good, easy "recipe". It's cheap, safe, and works great!

1) Take a normal 2 liter soda bottle, empty and rinsed out. You can use any size container but I like the 2 liter bottles.

2) Get a bottle of baby oil and a bottle of your favorite human hair conditioner (suave is super cheap and smells great!)

3) Pour whole bottle of conditioner into bottle, add baby oil (as much or as little as you would like, I usually use about half a bottle for a 2 liter bottle).

4) Fill the rest of the bottle with warm or hot water and shake until mixed. You an use cold water is that's all you have, warm water just helps the conditioner mix a little better.

***If you want the mixture thinner, like to put into a spray bottle for mane and tail, just add more water, less conditioner. If you want it thicker, like for a hoof moisturizer to put into a can with a brush, you can just mix the conditioner and oil, with no water (or very little). There is no special mixture, just whatever works for your particular need.

**Try not to use anything that smells too terribly sweet if you're going to use it heavily during the fly season...flys LOVE sweet smells! Just a though. It's a great mixture though, I use it for everything! It's also great for our rough farm girl hands!!

[MissCriss]

Or, as a hoof moisturizer, you can just soak your horse's feet in a puddle of mud . Or rub on some coconut oil. I've never heard of GainingMomento's recipe, but is very interesting and would probably work great. But, like I said, and what most people on this forum would say, hoof moisturizers are kind of pointless to be honest, and usually if your horse has cracked hooves, it's because of what he is walking on and what he is being fed (or not being fed).

[Sterling]

My farrier tells me the same thing, hoof mosturizers are a waste of money in his opinion, he tells me to let my water tub overflow once a week and make mud in front of his water bucket so he will moisturize his feet naturally.