A metal bit can get extremely cold in the winter. Do your horse a favor and warm it up.

Winter riding is exhilarating and fun — but to start your ride of right, you should always warm your horse’s bit before you put it in his mouth. Think about how uncomfortable it is for them to have an ice cold bit in their mouths! When your barn is 20 degrees, so is your metal bit.

There are several ways to take the cold edge off a metal bit.

• Warm the bit in your hands. It doesn’t take long before it’s at least not freezing cold.
• Dunk the bit in a bucket of warm water. I generally heat up water to soak beet pulp and I put the bit in with the dry shreds. The result is a bit that’s warm and tasty!
• Bring the bit into your car and put it in front of the heater.
• Use a hackamore or bitless bridle! I rode bitless for years and it sure made winter riding more comfortable for my horse.
• Choose a rubber or plastic bitting material such as a Happy Mouth bit.
• You can even buy bit warmers, although that seems a “bit” much!

Some horses have beautiful long tails naturally. Others need some help. And no, I’m not talking about tail extensions.

Taking proper care of your horse’s tail can make a big difference.

Instructions:

• Make sure your horse’s nutritional needs are covered. Feeding a complete feed, or adding a multivitamin, can help ensure that your horse has the nutrients he or she needs. Feeding flax seed, or a flax-based supplement, often helps make a horse’s mane, tail and coat shinier because they add Omega 3 fatty acids to their diet.
• Touch the tail as little as possible. Daily brushing is the last thing you should do.
• In fact, put away your combs and brushes! The best way to detangle your horse’s tail is by hand, otherwise you risk breaking the fragile hairs. This is especially true when the tail is dry.
• Use a conditioner or detangler to help get knots out. You can leave it in the tail for added conditioning. Lots of people swear by Shapleys MTG, others like regular conditions or Meka Tek Cell Rebuilder, I’ve even read about some off the wall home treatments such as bacon grease! If you’re looking for something from your medicine cabinet, baby oil isn’t a bad choice. You can use it in the winter to keep the hair from drying out.
• Keep your horse’s dock, sheath or teats clean. If these areas are dirty, they can be itchy. You don’t want your horse to rub its tail.
• Protect your horse’s tail (and the rest of his coat) from the sun by using textaline fly sheets. They cover the top of the dock.
• When you ship your horse, put a tail wrap on. Even horses that don’t normally rub their tails will sometimes do this when trailered, maybe because they end up leaning on the butt bar. A neopene tail wrap can really save his tail from damage.
• Some people braid the tail or put it up with strips of cloth or in a tail bag. I wouldn’t recommend that you try this in the summer, when your horse needs its tail, but lots of people put up their horse’s tails all winter.

A baroque horse with Running braid.

Spanish, or running, braids are used on horse breeds where the manes are left long. This includes Baroque horses like Andalusians and Fresians, and breeds such as Arabians and Morgans who need to keep their manes long for breed shows but might also compete in hunters or dressage.

Whatever the reason, it is a lovely technique for keeping those flowing manes under control!

Instructions:

• Start with a clean mane that has been combed until it’s knot free.
• Dampen the mane to help with the braiding. Sometimes it’s helpful to use a spray on solution such as QuicBraid to help the braids hold better.
• Begin your braid at the top of the horse’s mane near the poll or right behind the bridlepath.
• Take three pieces of mane about 1/2″ wide. The first two passes are like a normal braid.
• When you start to braid in the third strand, add more hair (another 1/2″) to the existing strand and braid it in.
• Continue to add mane ONLY to the left hand strand and you will start to see the braid emerge at the bottom of the mane.
• When you get to the end of your horse’s neck, continue braiding the mane into a “pigtail.”
• Add some yarn into the braid and continue until the hair is too think to hold a secure braid.
• Tie off braid and then fold the braided pigtail under the braid.
• Tie off the braid by bringing one part of the string up through the braid and making a square knot with the bottom string.

Tips

• If you braid too tightly, the braid will stretch when your horse lowers his head. Make the braid a bit loose but still secure.
• Keep your hands close to the horse’s crest and directly below the part of the mane from which you are taking hair. This keeps the braid from stretching out.
• If your horse has a really thick mane you can braid it down both sides.

Video Demonstration

Carrot stretches are an easy and fun way to stretch your horse.

Stretches help keep your horse supple, can prevent injuries and improve performance. “Carrot stretches” are an excellent way to encourage your horse to stretch. After all, most horses can be bribed by food!

Carrot Stretches are easy ways to stretch your horse’s neck and top line. They are something that you can incorporate into your grooming routine because they take just a few minutes.

• Start by asking your horse to stretch sideways by holding the carrot to each side either along his barrel or back toward his hip. To achieve the stretch it’s important that your horse keeps his feet still and doesn’t move his body to get the carrot. He may not be able to reach all that way to his hip at first, so it’s okay if you work up to it. You can subtly adjust this stretch by having your horse reach toward his stifle or elbow as well as his hip. This movement stretches your horse’s neck and shoulder.
• Next ask your horse to bring his head down toward his chest by holding a piece of carrot there. This movement stretches your horse’s poll, crest and neck muscles, and opens the space between the base of the skull and the first vertebra (atlas).
• Finally hold the carrot between your horse’s forelegs near the girth area. This helps stretch his topline, crest and withers.

Tips & Warnings

• It’s better to stretch after your horse is warmed up. It’s not a good idea to stretch cold, tight muscles.
• The best time to stretch is after you’ve warmed down.
• When you start a stretch, first ask your horse for only a part stretch. If he does okay with it then you can extend it.
• Start with easy stretches, then work up to harder ones.
• As your horse gets more flexible, increase the length of the stretches so that they hold the position for 30 seconds.
• Don’t forget to stretch both sides of the horse.

Video Demonstration

Checkerboard patterns are traditional quartermarks.

Quarter marks are the patterns that are back combed into your horse’s hair, generally placed over the hind quarters. They are an elegant addition to your show preparations.

Traditional patterns are checkerboards, diamonds and sharks teeth but there are stencils available that allow a host of different shapes.

Instructions

• Start with a clean horse.
• Spray the hindquarters before you start combing. Some people use water; but the pattern will hold better if you mix in some hair spray, fly spray or something similar.
• Brush the hair on the hind quarters toward the tail with a stiff body brush.
• Take a fine toothed comb, cut to the size of the pattern you want to make downward through the damp hair to make the marks.
• To make Sharks teeth brush the hair downward with a body brush then do sweeping movements toward the tail to create the effect.
• Each new brush stroke is a hatched area, and the diagrams follow on from each other.
• If you use a stencil, place it on your horse. Then take a clean, stiff brush and brush the hair straight up.
• Without moving the stencil, brush the hair backward against the way it naturally lies.
• Remove the stencil and spritz with spray gel again to “set” the mark.
• Finish up by brushing down all the hairs away from the stencil so it doesn’t look framed.

Video demonstration

Dosing your horse with a syringe is an effective way to administer oral meds.

Giving a horse medications is not always as easy as mixing a powder into its feed. Sometimes you need to administer them orally using a syringe.

Of course, squirting a paste into a resisting 1200 pound animal can be a source of great amusement for those watching and frustration for those administering. Here are some tips that can help you succeed.

Instructions:

Practice before you need to make it count. When you give meds “for real” you can’t have them spit half the dose on the ground. It’s a good idea to do a trial run or two using a pleasant tasting substance (like apple sauce) in the syringe.

• If you are right handed, stand on the right side of the horse, facing in the same direction as the horse and holding the syringe in your right hand.
• Once the syringe is loaded, relax your horse by stroking his head and massaging his neck
• Once your horse is calm and relaxed, put your finger in the corner of his mouth and massage gently.
• Next, place the tip of the syringe in the corner of your horse’s mouth.
• Raise your horse’s head slightly
• Move the syringe tip around to stimulate movement of the tongue.
• And inject the apple sauce or medication.

Tips & Warnings

• You can make a palatable paste out of many types of pills or powders by mixing them with either applesauce, molasses, or Kool-Aid
• Cross tie your horse or have someone hold him using a lead rope. Some vets suggest giving oral meds in the horse’s stall where they are more confined.
• Make sure that if your horse spits some of the medication out, that you adjust the dosage and that you clean it up. Some medications, such as Ivermectin de-wormer, can be toxic to certain breeds of dogs.

Video demonstration:

As a horse owner it’s important for you to be able to know how to check your horse’s vital signs.

An adult horse has a resting pulse rate of 28-45 beats per minute (count the double ‘lub dub’ as one full beat). You should check your horse’s pulse rate several times so that you can establish a baseline for what is normal. A pulse rate of 50 bpm or higher at rest is an indicator that a horse is in physical distress, is excited or nervous, in pain or suffering from a disease.

Checking the digital pulse in the fetlock is an excellent way to determine if there is a problem such as laminitis. It’s a good idea to know what your horse’s digital pulse normally feels like so that you have a baseline. When a horse has a stronger than usual digital pulse you should call your vet.

Instructions

There are three ways to check your horse’s pulse.

Place your index finger lightly in front of the left jawbone where you can feel a major artery.

Use a stethoscope to listen to the pulse behind the left elbow.

To check the digital pulse place your fingers on the inside and outside of a leg on the fetlock. When the pulse is normal you can feel it only lightly.

Tips & Warnings

Don’t use your thumb when checking for a pulse under the jawbone. You may inadvertently feel your own pulse.

When checking the digital pulse get a baseline on all four hooves. A normal resting pulse is very light. If you feel a throbbing pulse, call your veterinarian. A strong digital pulse is often a sign of laminitis.

Watch the video

Hoof boots are great products that can help you transition your horse to barefoot, ride barefoot horses on harder terrain,  or protect a horse’s hoof if it’s thrown a shoe.

However, getting the right size and shape hoof boot is highly dependent on measuring your horse’s hoof properly.

How to measure

Where to measure your horse's hoof.

• Measure the width of the hoof across the bottom at the widest point.
• Measure the length of the hoof from the toe to the buttress line of the heel. The buttress line is the farthest weight bearing point of the heel.
• Compare your measurement with the proper size chart for the boot. If you are taking your measurements in inches, use the imperial size chart. If you are taking your measurements in millimeters, use the metric size chart.
• Ideally, the width and length measurement will fit into the same boot size. If the width and length measurements indicate different boot sizes, select the larger boot size.

Tips and warnings

1. Hoof boots generally do not fit hooves with a lot of flair. To address flair you should work with your farrier.
2. Look carefully at your horse’s hoof shape to determine whether a boot is likely to fit. Most hoof boots are made for horse who have hoofs that are longer than they are wide. .
3. Hoof boots often don’t fit horses who have hooves with either very high or very low heels.
4. Don’t include the heel bulbs in your measurements — you’ll end up with boots that are too long.

Here’s a handy video from EasyCare that shows exactly how to measure a hoof.

Applying standing wraps takes practice to get it right.

There are many times when you will want to apply standing wraps on your horse — they are useful for shipping, for supporting a leg after an injury (compression can help reduce swelling) or for protecting a leg that has a wound. However, it’s very important to learn proper techniques for wrapping a horse.

Wrapping correctly takes some practice. If you wrap too tightly, you can create pressure points that can be harmful. It’s even possible to damage a tendon and /or tendon sheath with a bandage if there is a thin area of constriction under the bandage. If you wrap too loosely, the bandage will not provide support, and it can slip down on your horse’s leg and may even unravel.

• Start with clean, dry legs and bandages.
• If there is a wound, make sure it has been properly cleaned, rinsed and dressed according to your veterinarian’s recommendations.
• Use a thickness of an inch or more of soft, clean padding to protect the leg beneath the bandage.
• Apply padding so it lies flat and wrinkle-free against the skin.
• Start the wrap at the inside of the cannon bone above the fetlock joint. Do not begin or end over a joint as movement will tend to loosen the bandage and cause it to come unwrapped.
• Wrap the leg from front to back, outside to inside (counterclockwise in left legs, clockwise in right legs).
• Wrap in a spiral pattern, working down the leg and up again, overlapping the preceding layer by 50 percent.
• Use smooth, uniform pressure on the support bandage to compress the padding. Make sure no lumps or ridges form beneath the bandage.
• Be careful not to wrap the legs too tightly, creating pressure points.
• Avoid applying bandages too loosely. If loose bandages slip, they will not provide proper support and may endanger the horse.
• When used for protection, leg padding and bandages should extend below the coronet band of the hoof to protect the area (especially important when trailering).
• Extend the bandages to within one half inch of the padding at the top and bottom.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t use polo wraps instead of standing wraps. Polos are made from a stretchy material and it is easy to over tighten them and/or cause pressure points.
• Practice, practice and practice some more. Wrapping a horse isn’t difficult but it can take you some time before you can get even tension and a properly applied wrap.
• Ask an experienced equestrian (your trainer, vet, etc.) to check your first attempts and evaluate them. You do NOT want to cause a new problem while trying to help your horse.

If you are someone who learns better by watching, here’s a very good video that demonstrates bandaging techniques. Event better, you can download this video onto your Iphone or Ipod Touch so that you can bring it to the barn to watch it!