Barbara Cohen, coordinator of the benefit trail ride sends her thanks, as well:

“Double D did an outstanding job of having all the trails beautifully groomed for our benefit ride.  Everyone had a wonderful time, and enjoyed the facility very much.  Thank you, John, for having us.”

We join Barbara in congratulating Connie Matta for winning the Bug Rug!

Thanks, again, to all who helped make this event so successful.

See you on the trails again soon!

Just as we use a variety of combs, brushes and cloths for personal grooming, a variety of combs, brushes and cloths are also necessary for proper horse grooming.  These are the most common horse grooming tools found in a grooming kit:

Rubber Curry Comb
A Rubber Curry Comb is used to loosen and remove mud and dirt under the horse’s hair.  A Rubber Curry Comb should not be used on a horse’s bony areas, legs or face.

Dandy brush
A dandy brush has long, stiff bristles and is used to remove dirt from the surface of the horse’s coat. It is also used on the less sensitive parts of the horse.  The Dandy Brush is a great tool for brushing the tail.

Body Brush
A body brush has soft bristles and is used after the Dandy Brush to remove any remaining dust or dirt from the horse’s coat. A body brush can be used on sensitive areas of the horse’s body, including the legs and face.

Metal Curry Comb
This is not used on the horse but is rather used to clean the Body Brush during or after grooming.  It removes dust, dirt and hair from the brush to improve performance.

Mane comb
As the name suggests these are combs used on the horse’s mane. They come in plastic and metal. There are variations of these combs for different purposes.  Short metal combs are used for pulling manes.  Other special combs are used to cut the mane thinner.

Hoof Pick
A Hoof Pick is used to remove mud, stones and other debris from the hooves.  It is typically found as a combination metal pick and small, stiff-bristled brushed.

Sweat Scraper
A Sweat Scraper is used to remove both excess sweat and excess water (from washing) from the horse.

Cotton Sponge or Cloth
Used for cleaning the eyes, nose and wounds of the horse.

Cotton Towel
Used to remove additional water after washing and scraping or to smooth the coat.  A damp towel may be used to remove dust from the horse’s coat.

Grooming Kit Container
Last but not the least, is the Grooming Kit Container.  It can be any container, box or bag with ample storage for the various brushes and other kit components.  It can be as simple as a draw-string bag or as complex as a tackle box.

Like other animals, horses can be affected by the extremely hot weather. You want to be sure that your horse always has plenty of shade, and plenty of water, but sometimes this isn’t enough. If you are living somewhere that it is very hot, you have to be sure to take precautions so that your horse isn’t affected by heat stress. There are several things that you can do to make sure that your horse handles the heat as well as he can.

No matter what the temperature is, working is going to make a horse hotter because working makes them use all of their muscles and expand more energy. If your horse is working, he is going to get hotter. Therefore, on very hot days, you have to be sure that you are resting your horse. It is fine to turn him out to pasture, because chances are that he won’t work any harder than he should. However, you are going to want to avoid riding him or making him do any work on very hot days.

Like all other animals, horses need to have fresh and safe water that is there for them at all times. You have to be sure that you are refilling your horse’s water, and that it is kept cool. Warm water isn’t going to be as good for him as cool water will be.

Remember that your horse depends on you to protect him from the heat. Be sure that you have done your research so that you know what the best ways are to keep your horse cool and safe when it is hot outside, and be sure that you follow through with these things so that your horse remains healthy.