| The day before the show is as important as the show day itself in the grooming preparation of your horse. Adequate preparation decreases your stress and eliminates the need to rush around on the morning of the show. - Clip (ears, Bridle path, nose & fetlocks)
- Bath (shampoo, rinse, scrape, coat conditioner)
- Band (Mane & forelock) & Braid (tail)
- Slinky & Sheet (wrap white areas & tail)
Clipping Your Horse Begin your show preparation with clipping of you horse. Clipping will give your horse a neat, polished look and make it eye appealing to the judge. Preference is given to using electric clippers; however, you can also use scissors. Make sure that your horse is comfortable with the clipper noise and with their ears, Neck and nose before any attempt at clipping is made. For young horses, or horses that have not been clipped before, go slowly and allow them to get used to the clipper noise before you proceed. The bridle path should be clipped to approximately 6-8 inches in length; a good rule of thumb is to clip the length of your horses’ ear when laid Back on the Crest of the neck. Excess hair in the ear should also be removed. A good way to clip the ear without removing too much is to fold the ear in half and clip away anything the sticks out beyond the edges of the ear. Some horses can be very particular about their ears, so if your horse won’t let you use the electric clippers, try scissors instead. Removal of whiskers from the nose is a personal preference. Some people flatly refuse to clip whiskers, but clipping gives a more finished look in the show arena. Be careful of the skin which has a tendency to wrinkle when clipping the whiskers from around the nose to avoid cutting your horse. I have found that some horses have “ticklish” noses and the best approach is to just go slow and have patience. Another area of personal preference is clipping the fetlocks. When trimming the fetlocks, remove any excess hair to make it look clean and try to make the hair lay as naturally as possible. Again, if your horse is shy around its feet, it might be preferable to use scissors to clip the fetlocks. Make sure that when clipping your horse, you remove any bot eggs that may have attached themselves to your horses’ legs. Judges will pay attention to this small detail, especially in a halter showmanship class. There are a few ways to remove the eggs; Hand picking them out of the hair (which is sometimes your last resort), using a disposable razor (make sure you do this step while bathing your horse and the hair is wet, working in the direction of the hair) or using a grooming block. Suggested products: Oster Clipper-Sculptor Trimmer Cordless, Slick ‘n Easy Horse Grooming Block Bathing Your Horse Bathing your horse will remove any dust and debris from your horses’ coat. Before starting bathing you should have assembled: water source, shampoo, sweat scraper, sponge and bucket. Other optional products for bathing are: mane and tail conditioner, coat conditioner, scrub/wash mitt, comb, disposable razor and fleece cooler. Depending on your horses’ experience with bathing, you may want to tie them to a sturdy structure (make sure they are not going to pull back), ground tie them or have another person hold them. Make sure that the water is a comfortable temperature (do you like jumping in a freezing cold or scalding hot shower?), avoid using a lot of pressure (a nozzle with a “shower” setting is nice) and start bathing by getting them wet all over. If your horse is a little jumpy at first, it usually helps to start on their legs and move up to their front Shoulder (I prefer to leave the head until the very last). Be aware of sensitive spots on your horse (like around the back legs, belly, tail and the head) and avoid getting water in your horse’s ears. Add shampoo and give your horse a good scrub, lathering them up all over their body (be aware of the amount of pressure that you use; if your horse is flinching or moving away, you are probably using too much force; if they are leaning into you, you can probably go a Bit harder). Make sure you wash all over, including the mane and tail. Rinse your horse very thoroughly, starting at the top and moving down. Make sure that you remove all of the soap for it can itch and irritate the skin if not completely rinsed. A tail conditioner can be applied to the mane and tail and then brushed out to remove any tangles before rinsing. Use a sweat scraper to remove any excess water from the coat and to ensure that all the soap has been rinsed out (if bubbles appear when scraping, there is still soap in the coat and your horse should be rinsed again). I prefer to wash the head using a bucket of soapy water and a sponge (again, avoid getting water in the horses’ ears). Some horses will allow you to place the hose facing forward between their ears and let the water trickle down their face, however, if this is not the case, wet the sponge and sponge bathe their face. Make sure to wash your horses’ nostrils and eyes well to remove any “gunk” that may have accumulated there. I also prefer to use a disposable razor to remove any stubble from around the nose left from the clippers. Once your horse is clean, you may wish to apply a coat conditioner to help repel dust and to make it shine. Make sure that your horse is completely dry before you put them in their stall or put on their sheet to avoid them getting a chill. If you are bathing outside and it is a warm day, you can let your horse dry in the sun, but if it is a colder day, you may want to put on a fleece cooler to help pull the moisture out of the coat and keep your horse warm until they dry. Suggested Products: Shapley’s Hi Shine Gentle Shampoo, Absorbine Superpoo, Mane ‘n Tail Conditioner, Fiebings Satin Sheen, Absorbine Showsheen, Absorbine Miracle Groom Banding & Braiding Banding and Braiding your horse is a personal preference (not everybody does it) and there are many different techniques to band or braid (depending on the discipline that you are riding). Banding is a fairly standard procedure for most shows. It can make your horse's mane lie flat and close to the neck (even on a windy day) and when the mane lies close to the neck it gives the illusion of a slimmer neck. One of the foremost things about banding is that it takes practice! You may want to practice banding and braiding with your horse a few times before the show to know how well your horse will stand and how long it will take you to complete. Before starting banding or braiding you will want to assemble: rubber bands (color depending on the color of your horses’ mane and if you want a contrast look), hair gel, banding comb (or other fine toothed comb), and a step stool (so you can work at or above the mane level). Other optional things banding tools are: alligator clips, spray bottle, banding pouch (to hold your bands) and scissors. When banding the mane, start by spraying it with water (so it is wet, but not drenched) and apply a moderate amount of gel to the top of the mane (against the crest) and work it downwards in the mane. You might want to wet and apply gel in two to four sections, depending on how fast you can band so that the mane doesn’t totally dry out. The water and gel will help to control “fly-a-ways” and keep your band job looking neat. Starting towards the Poll, take a section of mane approximately ½ - ¾ of an inch (1.3 – 1.9 cm). Starting at the top of a mane section and working downward, wrap the band around the mane until snug (usually 5-7 times). The key to making the mane lay flat and to avoid bubbling is to tighten the band by pulling the section tight from the underside of the band. To keep the next section of mane (or previous section) from interfering in the section you are banding and getting caught in your bands, you may want to use alligator clips to pull the mane away from where you are working. Continue down the mane until finished, taking care to try to line up all of the bands at the same level to create an long, even look. If your horse has a short neck, you can lengthen it by banding smaller sections of mane (1/4 – 1/3 of an inch; 0.6 – 0.8 cm). Conversely, if you horse has a very long neck, you can shorten it by banding larger sections (3/4 – 1 inch; 1.9 – 2.5 cm). Once finished, you can cut the mane with the scissors to make it even (some people prefer to leave it long or to pull the mane to make it even before banding). You can cut the mane before banding, however, once you are finished, the mane is usually uneven and will need to be cut again. Banding the forelock is especially useful for horses with very full, bushy forelocks, but looks good on any animal. Start a section by separating out ½ an inch of the forelock from the top and banding it like the mane. Continue down the forelock until the hair does not grow directly out of the head. This usually only takes 3-5 bands and helps to keep the forelock out of your horses’ eyes and the forelock laying flat under your Browband. You can also braid the forelock to make it look neat. Braiding the tail serves three purposes; one, to keep the tail from getting tangled and taking longer to brush out before the show; two, to keep any debris out of the tail and getting it dirty; and three, to put a nice crinkle in the tail to make it look fuller. Starting as high as possible, braid the tail using three sections, to the end and put a band in to hold it. Some people/disciplines like to French braid from the Dock of the tail to make it lie flat and neat against the horses’ rump in the show ring. If your horse has a lot of “fly-a-ways” in the dock of their tail, you may want to wet the dock, add a bit of gel and wrap the tail dock using a cotton or polo bandage or vet wrap (like co-flex). Covering Your Horse Before turning your horse into their stall for the night, I prefer to put on a horse sheet and slinky. A slinky is a covering that is made out of spandex material and goes over your horses’ head and neck with holes for the eyes, ears and Muzzle. Slinkys come in a variety of colors, patterns, weights and styles; so you can have a little bit of fun with them. I prefer a moderate-weight one that has an elastic Velcro strap that runs under the belly, behind the front legs to hold it on. I find that the styles without this strap ride up the neck with the movement of the horse during the night and defeat the purpose of putting one on. There are also full-body styles of slinkys that cover your horse from nose to rump. When you put on your horse slinky, make sure that the mane and forelock is lying flat and straight down; if you don’t check, you may find the next morning when you take off the slinky that the mane is crooked or going in an odd direction, and is very difficult to fix because it has been trained overnight to lay that way (especially if the mane was still a little damp when you put the slinky on). I also prefer to put a light-weight sheet on my horse (or possibly a heavier one if the night is cool). The sheet helps to keep you horse clean and any dust from the barn from settling on their coat and ruining you bathing job. This is especially helpful for horses that like to lie down in their stall at night. If your horse has white feet or legs, you may want to wrap their legs to avoid them from getting stains overnight. You can wrap your horses’ legs a number of ways. You can use cotton or polo wraps and finishing by wrapping electrician tape around so that they cannot come undone. Another option is to using a vet wrap (like co-flex) that won’t stick to the hair, only to itself to wrap your horses’ legs. When wrapping, make sure that you cover a little higher and a little lower than the white markings to make sure that if you wrap slips, the white will stay clean. | 
