Five Tips to Help Your Horse Look Their Best

Every one likes their horse or pony to look its best and I do too so here are five tips to help with keeping your equine looking good.


Tip One, always use a soft brush on your horse’s tail and mane, I suggest a body brush this will help to keep the tail and mane shiny and soft, and will stop a lot of the hair being pulled out as it is when you use a harder brush or comb.

Tip Two, brush your horse after you have worked them, try not to make them sweat but get them so they are nearly breaking into one, this will cause the dirt in the coat to rise to the surface of the coat and make it easy clean off.

Tip Three, give your horse a feed a day it can be very small depending on your horse’s weight, a little bit of good quality feed every day will help keep their coat healthy and shiny, it will also provide them with protein that is important to keeping them healthy.

Tip Four, good quality forage is one of the best ways to keep your horse looking good, haylage is better quality than hay as it is kept very fresh and as a result holds more of the grasses goodness. But can be hard to keep from going off once the bale has been opened, also some horses and ponies will run to fat quickly on a diet of haylage so it’s important to consider if hay is going to be the better choice. A healthy diet is very important to keeping your horse shiny and looking good.

Tip Five, working your horse is also a good way to keep them looking their best, a fit horse with a shiny coat is always going to look better than a fat horse with a shiny coat, fitness will keep your horse healthy and a healthy horse is a shiny horse and a shiny horse looks good.

And there you go five tips to help keep your horse or pony looking good, shiny, and healthy, because a healthy horse is a happy horse, hope it helps any of you that did not already know this.

The Storms Aftermath

Well it wasn’t going to last was it, not really, sadly a clean horse is only a short lasted sight, and now they are all muddy, here’s Madeline at least she hasn’t got it all in her mane.

Oh and here is Niko looking surprisingly clean.

And then you look at his other side, not so clean he normally rolls on both sides and rubs his face in the mud, so I was quite surprised to see he had only rolled on just the one side, still I am not complaining less work for me.

Pip did a good job keeping him self dirt free, he has a little bit of mud on him but nothing that will take long to get off.

Then we have Murphy, not as muddy as I thought he’d be. You can probably see his feet need a trim we are going to try and have him done at the same time as Tipper, but he has never had his feet done that we know of, so it should be interesting.

Tipper’s nice shiny coat covered in mud and dust, oh well so all in all I have a lot of grooming to do, and I didn’t get any done today, so I will have a whole load of grooming to do tomorrow before I can ride.

Thanks for all your nice comments on my last post.

Sherri, I do love to see them looking shiny, and yes it was the blog you linked me to before, and I have been following it ever since thank you for giving me the link in the first place it has proven to be a very nice blog, I did also see the boots they are very nice makes me want to get some for Murphy, for when I take him out on the roads with me.

Abby, no it isn’t anything to do with your eyesight, you are seeing him clearly, he is the most furry pony EVER! I just can’t seem to make him lose his winter coat every one else’s has nearly all gone Murphy has a bit, but I can’t get Pip’s winter coat out if you have any tips on how to I would be happy to hear them. I much prefer equines in summer coat and I have never seen Pip in his, so I really want to get it out, but he just won’t lose it. Oh and as for Tipper we have had a chat over the phone with the farrier and they are sending someone to try and do Tipper, they know what he’s like and if he gets too stressed they say it’s best just to let the shoe fall off by itself.

Debi, yes I do spend quite some time grooming, but I do like to groom, it’s nice to stand back and see them all clean. Who is the one that gives you trouble with their feet, all your horse seem like such well behaved chaps. I hope the rain helps your grass, our grass has shot up over night with the rain, but it doesn’t last with us having so many equines in such a little paddock.

Mary, I do like Shetlands very sweet, my childhood pet was a big black Labrador he was a nice chap, I didn’t grow up with horses I haven’t even been into them for that long it’s been about two years now since I got into horses. Yes we may have to trim them for the winter, but if I can keep them clean with out doing so I would be much happier.

Ted and Bunny, yes some days I wish they didn’t roll in the mud and the dust, then I could just do all the other stuff like pull their manes and stuff like that. I think I need to sort out Niko’s tail it is so bushy at the top and is starting to look a bit silly.

Kritter Keeper, I don’t think I have seen your ponies before, I hope they were better about having a bath than Murphy I have to lead him around after he has had one to stop him rolling in the dirt.

Rainy Day

Today has been wet wet WET! I have been absolutely soaked to the skin, all the horses and ponies have had extra feed, and the horses are rugged up now. The ponies aren’t rugged as they still have such thick coats, Pip is so snug in his, poor little Murphy isn’t so snug but he is a Welsh mountain pony so he will be fine, I did check that he was warm enough and he was so that’s all good.

I have not got a lot of good photos because the camera ran out of charge, so I will just have to make do with what I got before it ran out. The one of Madeline at the top of the post is sort of blurry because of the rain drops on the lens, but I thought it was funny cos of all the feed she had up her face, she is such a messy eater, and here is one of Pip rolling, he really was rolling for such a long time making sure to get as muddy as he could.

And here he is again having a good shake after his roll, I love to see them rolling and shaking themselves, they really do enjoy it don’t they? But the after effects aren’t so good.

And who do you think is going to have to clean that off you, still I guess it won’t be to hard to get off he is still losing his winter coat, so hopefully it will all just come off nice and easy the next time I use the shedding blade.

Here is Madeline enjoying a roll without her rug, nice and muddy, she normally only rolls on one side.

But today was an exception so she had a good and proper roll on both sides, I think the rain has washed most of the mud off of her, and she did have to have a rub down before she could have her rug on, so she isn’t too dirty.

This one is of Bold Hawk, yes very blurry but I only got the two of him rolling luckily he already had his rug on, he will just have to wait to get muddy.

And here is the other photo I got of him they aren’t very good, but it is nice to see him rolling he is such a nice chap and he did have to wait quite a bit because of Madeline rolling where he wanted to.

I didn’t get any photos of Niko or Murphy rolling but they did, this is the last photo I got before my camera ran out, it is a pain because there were so many great photo opportunities, and I didn’t get any photos of the heavy rain, oh well at least I am dry now.

Thanks for the comments on my last post. Glad you liked the photos

Abby, Pip is a very sweet pony and so kind, glad you like the one of him. Bold Hawk is going to have a stable name but we are just deciding between some, I will let you know when we have chosen one and what it is.

Sherri, good that you like the orange on Bold Hawk’s photo, I couldn’t decided on what colour to use so in the end I just went with orange but it’s good to know that it looks ok.

Messy Moulting

Not to long ago I bought this shedding blade, it does look quite harsh, but if used carefully it is very good at getting out old winter coats. I don’t really use it on the thoroughbreds much, because their coats are to thin still it is very useful for the ponies.

I know, I know what a mess Pip’s coat is, I had no idea that white/grey equines got stained quite so easily, anyway I have been using this shedding blade on he’s winter coat.

As you can see it is very good at getting the hair out, but it does make a mess I was covered in white hair after grooming Pip,

And here is a photo of Murphy, it really does look bad he seems to be going bald in some places, but I am not too worried about it because it looks like it is just how he moults.

This is a photo of Murphy’s hind leg, it looks fine and it is and this is why I am not worried, because not too long ago it was bald just like the photo above, but now all the fur has grown back as a nice summer coat, so hopefully he will do the same with the rest of his coat.

Ah here is a photo of Niko as you can see he has some moulting left to do, he has these funny looking patches of winter fur on the sides of his tummy, and he’s got some left on his bottom jaw and upper neck as well, so let’s hope that all goes soon.

Here is Madeline she is pretty much fine, and doesn’t really have a winter coat
anymore, but there is still a little bit left to come out, still I am sure most of that will come out by its self.

Thank you all very much for the comments on my last post,

Sherri, thanks I was very pleased with the photos, so I am glad that you liked them.

Hannah @ BubbleBay, yep I was really surprised when I learnt that they have the biggest eyes, with there being so many huge mammals.

Abby, I absolutely agree with you, and you are just about spot on, both the ponies have a lot of mischief in their eyes Murphy more then Pip, but I think Pip has kinder eyes then Murphy. I have always said that Niko has a very kind face but I do sometimes think that he looks quite sad. Madeline does have kind eyes but with a little bit of mischief some times, but I don’t think I have seen a horse with wicked eyes yet. Thanks for asking about my finger, and yes it is completely healed now with just a little scar.

Why Did it Have to be LICE!

A lesson learnt, if you buy a very hairy pony and he is itchy don’t think it is because he is very hairy, it isn’t just moulting that makes a pony itchy. It can be much worse because it could be what is in his hair, the pony I am taking about is Pip and he has LICE!

I hate lice really hate them also hate flees and all blood sucking insects, and so we have set about eradicating the lice. Pip will soon be lice free, the product we use should keep fly’s away as well. I can’t say that I am too shocked about him having lice as that is just what you get when you buy a pony from less caring people. Anyway like I said I hate blood sucking insects, so hopefully he will be lice free very soon.

Muddy Horses

Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, at least not at the moment but yesterday was a different matter. We’ve had sun shine for days now and the horses have been going out with no rugs on, I had just finished hanging the horses hay nets when it started raining, it was not cold so I left them out for a bit longer. I don’t know if it was their way of getting back at me for leaving them in the rain, but they all had a good run around, and then when they were quite wet they all rolled the end result mud! Today they have all had a bit of a groom, I use a curry comb to take the mud off but as the photo shows there is still dust, then I use a Bartl sheepskin grooming mitt to try and get the dust off, it is quite good and so soft that I can do their face’s, oh and I don’t use a metal curry comb on the horse just to put your minds at rest.

Thanks for the comments, Abby, I don’t know about trying for the donkey as where we are moving to has houses nearby and we might have complaints about the noise.

Mud or Dust

What is worse having a horse covered in mud up to its ears, or having a very dusty one? I would say that I prefer a dusty one. Trying to keep a horse clean can be very difficult, dust is quicker to get the top layer off, but it really gets in their fur and can make it hard to get out. But mud is so much worse, it sticks in their fur and then when you brush it off it turns to dust, at least when it is muddy the horses are probably going to be wearing rugs most of the time, but as you can see here this was one of the times they weren’t. I find that Madeline is the easiest to groom because she only rolls on one side most of the time. Niko is probably the hardest to groom because he rubs it all over himself, and he really doesn’t like being groomed and has bit me on several occasions when I am bending down grooming his legs. It is quite a shock to have my butt bitten by him, and then when I go to tell him off he pretends that he has not done it. Thanks for all your comments, Michelle, Murphy is native welsh mountain pony, we think that he is a section B but we aren’t completely sure.