Grooming is an important component of maintaining a healthy horse. A regular, methodical grooming routine helps your horse's natural disease barrier— his skin— to remain healthy. It stimulates his circulation and massages his muscles, while it distributes the oils in his skin to create a gleaming coat.
Proper horse grooming makes you familiar with all aspects of your horse's physical attributes, from his skin to his unique conformation. You then can't help but notice lumps, scrapes, skin irritations, ticks or other abnormalities in a timely way. Grooming is also essential prior to tacking up your horse. If his hair is clean underneath your tack, his skin is less likely to become chaffed from wearing it. Your horse will feel more comfortable working for you, and of course another benefit is that your tack is cleaner at the end of the ride. A fully stocked kit of horse grooming supplies is essential for any rider.
Horse grooming is also a great way to build a trusting relationship with your horse. Most horses appreciate the extra attention and care they receive during time spent in grooming before and after a ride- and even on days when there's no riding.
Suggestions for an Efficient Horse Grooming Routine:
Clean out your horses hooves first with a hoof pick. By tending to the feet first, you can look for problems that require attention or that may prevent you from riding that day- such as a loose or missing shoe. As you run your hand down each leg to lift each hoof, feel for unusual lumps, scrapes or heat that may require treatment.
Tip: When cleaning a horse's feet, your rear end should point toward the front of the horse, and your toes should point straight toward the back.
Next comes currying. Starting at the upper neck and working toward his tail, use a curry comb in circular motions on the fleshiest parts of your horse. Currying offers many benefits:
loosens shedding hair and dirt
stimulates and massages the skin and muscles
spreads natural skin oils that protect hair and produce shine
Curry in circles against the grain of the hair. When you're on the left side of the horse, curry with your right hand; alternatively, on the right side of the horse use your left hand. Avoid currying bony areas with a hard or inflexible curry, and press only as hard as the horse will tolerate. Be careful on ticklish areas such as the flank or belly, as touching these areas can trigger defensive behavior in some sensitive horses. A soft and pliable curry with tiny, flexible fingers or a textured rubber mitt may be used gently on the legs and possibly the face depending on the horse's tolerance.
Some people hold a curry in one hand and a stiff brush in the other to work on one patch of hair at a time, currying and then brushing each area. Others curry one side or the entire horse before using the first body brush. Whichever method is more comfortable for you, be sure to knock the teeth of your curry against the back of a brush occasionally to clear debris.
Tip: Many horses have a favorite area or two that they like to have curried. Try to find a special location on your horse. You'll know it when his upper lip quivers or he leans hard into the curry to scratch an itch.
Follow currying by using a stiff-bristled body brush. Again, start at the head and work toward the tail.
Note: If you have access to a horse vacuum, you could use it in place of the stiff brush. Or, in shedding season, you could run the shedding tool along the horse's coat to remove lots of excess hair with each swipe.
Use the stiff brush in a quick, flicking motion, pushing in the direction of the hair and only as hard as the horse will comfortably tolerate. The firmer your brush stroke, the more you'll accomplish. If you're brushing effectively, you'll see a cloud of dust and hair flip from the horse with each brush stroke. Every few strokes, scrape the tips of the brush bristles against a curry or the teeth of a shedding blade to clear away debris.
Avoid brushing your horse's most sensitive areas with a stiff brush— a mare's udders, a gelding's sheath and possibly your horse's face, depending on his personal preference. Stiff brushes are safe to use on a horse's legs, just be somewhat gentle. Be sure to brush the backs of the pasterns and points of the hocks to remove dirt that collects there. The more elbow grease you use in brushing, the more natural shine you'll bring to your horse's coat.
Tip: When brushing your horse's face, stand slightly to the side rather than directly in front to protect your face from impact if the horse suddenly raises his head.
If your horse is extremely sensitive or thin-skinned and does not tolerate the coarseness of a stiff brush, look for a medium-bristled brush that still provides enough rigidness to pull dried dirt from his coat, but is slightly softer and more comfortable for his skin.
After using the stiff brush (or vacuuming) you could move on to either a medium brush or a soft brush. Medium brushes are often a good interim step to take on a dirty horse between using the stiff and the soft brush. Their bristles are often somewhat closer together than those of a stiff brush, so they can pull another layer of grime from the horse. They are always handy to use after vacuuming a horse. Use it in short, flicking strokes.
The last body brush to be used in the grooming routine is the soft brush. Its very soft, closely-spaced bristles capture the finest particles of dust on the horse's coat, and smooth the hair to leave it lying flat and sleek. Use a soft brush in long, smoothing strokes rather than short flicking action of the stiffer brushes. Remember to clean the tips of the bristles as you work by scraping against a curry or shedding blade.
If your horse is ticklish, a soft brush may be your best tool to clean hard to reach spots such as the under the jaw, under the belly and inside the gaskin. The more elbow grease you use with this soft brush, even on the face, the more natural oil is distributed to the hair and the shinier your horse will appear.
Use your fingers or a wide-toothed mane and tail comb to separate the hairs of your horse's mane and tail without breaking them.
Use a clean, slightly dampened cloth to wipe debris carefully from your horse's eyes and nostrils, and another to wipe off his rectum and under the tail. This will add a soft sheen in these areas. Some horses appreciate having these areas wiped, while others resent the process. Proceed with caution until your horse is accustomed to the procedure.
Tip: Be sure to clean your brush bristles and curries by rubbing them against each other before returning them to your storage box so they're ready for the next session. See How to Care for Your Brushes for more details.
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Shipping to AK, HI, PR and VI
Shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands ship via FedEx where service is available. Free Economy Shipping is not offered to these locations since FedEx charges substantially more to deliver to them. If you have a special situation, or FedEx “Oversize/overweight” items, please call, email us or chat with us for a shipping quote.
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Please allow extra delivery time for monogrammed products.
The Easiest and Best Guarantee in The Business
Shop with 100% confidence at Dover Saddlery. If something doesn’t fit you or your horse, return your original purchase within a year, and we’ll make it right with a refund, exchange or replacement.
Our experience as riders and horse owners ourselves is that in most situations a year’s time is fair enough to evaluate proper fit and function. PLUS: For manufacturer’s defects, we’ll extend the manufacturer’s warranty to a maximum of 24 months, regardless of their individual policies. (AND: Manufacturer warranties longer than 24 months will be honored and supported by us as well up to the length of those warranties).
Exceptions: Safety items such as helmets and protective vests may only be returned within 30 days, with their original tags intact. Saddles and riding boots may be returned within the one year period, but are subject to a prorated refund based on usage. Used saddles may be returned for 30 days only. For everyone’s protection, treats and vet meds which have been opened are not returnable, and returned blankets must clean and free of debris. Click here for our full Return Policy.
Print a Label:
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Step 3: Drop the package in a mailbox, give it to your postal carrier, drop off at the post office or Drop it at a FedEx Location. This service is only available within the contiguous 48 United States.
Your e-gift card will be delivered via email within 24 hours regardless of shipping method selected. If your purchase contains other items, select the ship method you would like the remainder of your order to use and it will arrive in the identified time frame.
Gift Card Number Format: There are no letter O used, only the number 0. For your Gift Card Number:
Please enter your promotional gift card number into the payment information section of checkout, under Gift Card Number.
Dover Saddlery supports USEF Riders! Enjoy 10% OFF from us for being a member of USEF and get everything you need for your next ride.
How To Get Your USEF Member Discount Online:
1. Add items to your cart
2. Proceed to checkout
3. On checkout page, enter CMXUSEF into the promotion code box. Press apply, the discount will be automatically applied.
4. Be sure to enter your USEF # into the comment box.
5. Proceed to payment & place your order!
*Cannot be combined with other offers.
Click here to find out if your store is curbside pick-up, shop by appointment, or fully open.
Make your Curbside order easy and Contactless:
1. Download the Curbside Delivery form
2. Fill out your order. Do NOT include credit card info.
3. Take a picture with your phone or scan it
4. Email the form to your local Dover Saddlery Store
5. We’ll contact you to confirm & get your payment info.
Dear Customers,
We would like to inform you there has been a recall on the 6 lb. German Horse Muffins, manufactured November 29, 2018, lot # 8333, due to a quality control problem. The lot number can be found at the bottom of the bag on a small white sticker. The company believes this is an isolated incident but we want to make you aware as an additional precaution. Please contact us at DoverSaddlery.com/chat or email customerservice@doversaddlery.com with questions.
If your code isn’t producing the expected result, please give us a call at 800-406-8204
or connect with us via Live Chat.
How To Get Your Military Discount Online:
1. Add items to your cart
2. Proceed to checkout
3. On checkout page, enter CMXMILITARY into the promotion code box. Press apply, the discount will be automatically applied.
4. Be sure to enter your Military DoD# into the comment box.
5. Proceed to payment & place your order!
*Cannot be combined with other offers
*Please note: Your refund may take several business days from the time your return is processed until you see the refund in your financial institution*
How it works:
- Your return is shipped back to our warehouse in Massachusetts. It arrives in Massachusetts 2-10 business days after you ship it back depending on your geographic shipping location.
- Once your return is delivered to Dover Saddlery, your request for a refund or exchange is processed in 1-2 business days.
Refunds:
- Your refund is processed, and information is sent from Dover Saddlery to your financial institution.
- Your refund will be accepted by your financial institution and show on your account in 1-4 business days. (This varies depending on your financial institution’s policy and processing time)
Exchanges:
- Your exchange item is processed depending on availability and is shipped from our warehouse within 48 business hours from the time the exchange order is placed. Items shipping from the manufacturer may take a bit longer.
- Your exchange order is shipped to you via standard shipping and should arrive in 2-9 business days depending on your geographic location.