Lesson 1: Grooming and Tacking up
Grooming and tacking up
Before it is ridden, every horse must be groomed and tacked up, at least as far as the bridle even if you plan to ride bareback (not yet!)
If you are at a lesson barn, they will provide the tools you need for grooming, and they may have their own variation of the standard grooming method. No matter what happens, though, these two things are paramount:
Pick the dirt and stones out of the feet. Brush off all dirt where the saddle and girth will go and where the leatherwork of the bridle will go.
Minimal grooming equipment includes:
Curry comb Hard brush Medium brush Soft brush Rug rag Hoof pick Comb
In summer, you will also want to keep fly spray on hand; some barns have automatic systems that spray repellent into the air every so often, but that won’t help when you’re in the arena or a field.
Here are the steps in grooming:
Put a halter on the horse. If the barn offers them, attach him to cross-ties, ropes with snap ends hooked to each side of an aisle wall. Apply the snaps to the metal rings on the halter that are placed either side of the horse’s muzzle, NOT the ones up near his eyes/crown of head. This is for the safety of the horse.
If there are no cross-ties but rather tie rings, use the loose ring under the horse’s chin to attach the snap.
If there are no snaps, use the lead rope and tie a quick-release knot. Run a couple feet of the rope through the ring on the wall and hold both pieces in one hand. Make a fold in the tail end of the rope, cross it over the two pieces in your hand and through the loop this has created. Pull the folded rope through the ring until about six inches are left hanging and the knot is secure. To quickly undo this knot, you have only to tug hard on the piece left hanging. Why would you want to do this? So the horse will not pull the wall apart if he is really frightened of something and you can use the lead rope to lead him away or otherwise control him. Or, in the case of a tornado approaching—for an extreme example—so you can set him free quickly to do what horses have always done—outrun it, and you can head for an inside stall, the bathroom or a root cellar…some kind of human cover, anyway.
When the horse has been secured, begin grooming, keeping one hand always on the horse. Begin with the curry comb, an oval-shaped hard rubber item. Put your dominant hand through the strap and begin stroking it hard over the horse’s coat in a circular motion against the direction of hair growth. Do this all over the body except head and legs below the knees. This scrapes up the embedded dirt, which you will now brush off with the hard brush. Use this in straight strokes in the same direction as hair growth all over the body except the head and lower legs.
Next, do the same thing with the medium brush; with the tougher types of horses or if you have really bad embedded dirt, use this on the lower legs, but not—if you can help it—on the face. If you must get crusty dirt off the face, be sure to protect the horse’s eyes with a cupped hand as you work.
Finally, use the soft brush all over the body, even on the face, again, protecting the eyes. You might add to your equipment a very small brush—a face brush—which many horses like quite a bit.
You can finish off with the rub rag to make the coat shine. Then, if there are a lot of flies, spray the horse all over with the fly spray, except his head. There, you can either use a fly repellent roll-on or cream, or you can spray a little liquid fly spray into your hand and rub it on, avoiding the eyes and the nostrils. Rubbing it on the ears, though, is a good idea. (Some horses are so sensitive to flies that their owners use fly nets over their ears in summer, even when they are being ridden.)
Next, comb the mane. Do not comb out the tail unless the owner/instructor asks you to. Tails get very knotted, and unless you have lots of time to work with each knot, you can pull out so many hairs that the tail looks sparse and unattractive. Most horse owners comb out the tail only occasionally and/or before shows.
Finally, pick the hoofs. This is usually frightening to beginners who are also surprised by the amount of strength it requires.
The hoof consists of a hard part, which is basically white under whatever dirt may have accrued (except in black-hoofed horses, in which case it is black). Beginning at the heel of each foot is a triangular area of soft tissue called the frog. This is not scraped or picked with the hoof-picking tool. It is the growth area for the foot. It is sensitive and would be injured by a hoof pick.
To pick up a front hoof, stand directly next to the leg, as close as you can get, facing the horse’s rear. Run your hand down the back of the leg. Just above the ankle, pinch the hollow between the tendons (this will be obvious) between thumb and forefinger, simultaneously pulling up. A trained horse should life his foot off the ground. Run your left hand under the front of the hoof and use your strength to help hold the hoof in a cocked position in your hand so that, bedding from the waist, you can clearly see the whole bottom of the foot. Beginning at the rear next to the frog, insert the point of the hoof pick into any dirt caught there, and flick it out. Continue around the hoof. Be aware that mud can require quite a bit of strength to break through and pull out. Then put the hoof down gently. (IF the horse does not wear shoes, the hoofs must still be picked, although it is much, much easier.)
Go to the other front hoof and do the same thing. If your dominant hand is your right hand, picking the horse’s right front hoof will be easiest. IF your dominant hand is your left, the left will be easier. Why? Because you will hold the hoof up with your non-dominant hand and pick with the dominant hand.
The rear hooves are a bit trickier. Most beginners fear the hind feet; they fear being kicked. And the fact is, horses often have a hard time maintaining the hind feet in a position off the ground long enough to be picked, so the hoof might go up and down a little or to the side (really scary!) But school horses in general will stand for hoof picking. The secret is always to get really, really close to the horse. Then, if something upsets him and he does kick out a little, he cannot ‘nail’ you, but only push you aside. Plus, you will be touching him and know where his body is at all times, giving yourself a better chance to take evasive action or correct him if he does not stand like a perfect horse.
The rear hooves are picked exactly the same way as the front hooves. The rear hooves can be more force-bearing than the front hooves, however, so if you have any question about what the horse is doing, put the hoof down and get an instructor to help. (If you are on your own, invest in some serious grooming and tacking up lessons, get a tape, or go to work in a barn for free, as long as they agree to teach you various ‘ground’ things, such as grooming and stall mucking and bedding and so on.) Also, some horses pick their hind feet up very far, while others let the entire weight of their hind leg—which is considerable—rest in your hand. This can be tiring if you’re small, the horse is big and/or there is packed in mud.
Tacking up.
Get the saddle, saddle pad, girth and bridle (with bit and reins attached, and properly fitted to the horse) and put them on racks, if any. If there is no saddle rack, put the saddle down with the seat facing the wall, the front of the saddle on the ground, and the cantle tipped up against the wall. This protects the tree which makes the saddle’s shape. If a tree gets broken, it may well injure the horse and will be fairly costly to repair.
First, fold the saddle pad in half. If it is a contour pad, it will have the same shape as the saddle. It could also be a square pad.
You can tell the front of the contour pad easily; it is the straighter edge, without the shape of the seat. But what about a square pad? There are straps to hold it in place under the saddle, and these will be in the front.
Lay the saddle pad across the horse’s back with the front just at or in the center of the withers. Then place the saddle in the same place, making sure an edge of pad shows all around the saddle on both sides if a contour pad is used; you may have to adjust it. Do this by reaching under the pommel of the saddle and grasping the pad, pulling up on the excess until it goes some way into the channel/gullet that runs down the middle of the saddle. Do this also with the square pad until equal amounts of pad are showing around the saddle on both sides. Pulling the excess into the gullet ensures that the pad will not press uncomfortably into the horse’s withers, which is, after all, part of his spinal column. Slide the saddle back just slightly so that the pommel of the saddle is at the withers.
Next attach the girth. Most girths have one end with elastic, one without. Facing the horse, begin on his right (off) side. Most of the time, you will see three billet straps under the flap of the saddle. There are only two buckles on the girth though. Use the outer two billet straps, leaving the center one as a spare. (This is so that, if one breaks when you are out on the hunt far from home, or at a show, you’ve got a spare and can still ride in safety with the saddle firmly attached.)
Attach the girth so that when it hangs down, it reaches to the horse’s ankle bone, give or take. Most often, this will allow you to attach it on the other side without struggle, and give you room to tighten it further before you ride. Before mounting, you should have the girth so tight that you can just barely put a single finger under it. Why? Because your entire weight will be pulling on it as you mount, and your weight in the saddle will make it comfortable enough for the horse as he goes.
Be sure the stirrup irons (irons) are at the top of the stirrup leathers against the stirrup bar, the metal piece that holds the stirrup leathers, before you walk the horse away from the grooming area. (Indeed, these must be up before you put the saddle on the horse.) Grasping the end of the doubled stirrup leather, use your other hand to slide the iron up the leather nearest the saddle. Then tuck the leather through the iron to hold it in place.
Bridling.
To most beginners, this is the trickiest of all maneuvers, and offers the most possibility for having a loose horse. There is nothing for it but to practice and learn, preferably with a knowledgeable helper the first half dozen times at least.
Here’s how to do it. Make sure the noseband buckle is open, and also the throatlatch buckle.
Pick up the bridle by the crown piece, making sure you also have hold of the part of the throatlatch (the skinnier strap) that runs beneath it. Keep this in your right hand. Stand close to the horse’s head on his left side. Let the reins drop into your left hand and put them up over the horse’s head with the bridle facing front, in short, facing the way it will sit on the horse’s head. Now transfer the bridle, grasped the same way, into your left hand. Get REALLY REALLY close to the horse’s head and reach your right hand under his neck, bringing it up around his face about halfway between his eyes and nose.
Now, transfer the top of the bridle, both straps together, into your right hand. Use your shoulder to keep the horse’s head close and in position, and your left hand to gently guide the bit until it is right under and between the horse’s lips. DO NOT FORCE THE BIT INTO HIS MOUTH WITH YOUR HAND! Rather, using your left hand as a guide and keeping it far from the teeth, pull the right hand up along the horse’s face until you can slip the crownpiece (with throatlatch) over his ears. Push the ears through the crownpiece by pushing or folding them forward, never backward as that is painful to the horse.
Now, make sure the noseband strap is beneath the cheekpieces on each side of the face and buckle the noseband under the chin. You should make it tight enough that you can get one finger easily between the horse’s chin and the noseband.
Next, buckle the throatlatch. The proper position is when you can put four fingers laid flat between the lower edge of the curve of his jaw and the throatlatch.
Now, you’re ready to lead the horse out to be ridden, and that’s explained in the next lesson.
Good information on grooming and tacking up horses can be found in these books: Horse Tack and Saddlery: the Complete Illustrated Guide to Riding Equipment, Sarah Muir (Editor) and Debbie Sly (Editor) and The Complete Horse Care Manual by Colin J. Vogel.
