The Horse Behavior

Having a horse is easy. The hard part is to establish a bond with him and to try to understand his behavior. Once you get used to observing his behavior, you can better understand what are his needs, when and why he gets scared.

As we all know, the most basic instinct for any animal (for horse too), is to survive and to reproduce.
Out in the wild, horses live together in so called herds or "harems". Any herd is led by a dominant stallion and he usually has a dominant mare. It can also be that there are 2 or 3 mares he protects and breeds from. He has a close bond with them. In this way the tend to for long-lasting relationships and will try to make the herd/harem a secure environment.

The Harem

Once a dominant stallion has selected his "harem" (his dominant mares), most probably he will not look for new mares. Studies have shown that the average size of a harem is 5: the dominant stallion, 2/3 mares and their offspring. The boding process is not restricted between the stallion and the mare. It can happen that 2 mares will pair off and become close friends, grooming together. In the same way, young stallions that did not yet established their own harem will stay together, forming bachelor groups. Within the herd/harem, the weakest members, will often tend to attach to a dominant member, trying to stay close to them. When doing so, they will be left alone by the bullies and will always have a good food supply. 

                                                                ...TO BE CONTINUED...


You may want to see:

• The next part

Grooming a horse....the Summary

I wanted to make you guys a summary of my posts about what tools we need when grooming a horse. 

The horse is a loyal, intelligent, majestic , gorgeous.... I could go like this for ever...but mostly of all very clean. And so should we try to keep it as clean and as healthy as we can. In order to have all the satisfactions that this beautiful animal could give us, we should firstly be very careful on how we treat him.

Kizoa slideshow: Grooming kit - Slideshow

Grooming a Horse...Part III

Let's continue with the thing you need for grooming a horse...

11.  Wisp or massage pad 

• a wisp is normally made from a woven rope of hay, which is knotted together. It is a good idea to clean it before every use. 
• a massage pad is made of leather and has a strap on the back.

Both of these are used together with a stable rubber. It amends the muscle tone and also gives a beautiful shine to the coat. When you will raise the pad, the muscles will tense. When you will bang down and give a gentle stroke with the rubber, the muscles will relax. If you keep it in a steady rhythm, the muscle tone will be improved. This massage should be done only in areas like quarters, thighs, and the neck, and should avoid the bony areas.

12. Sponges - a really good advice wold be to have 2 of different colors.

• one for cleaning the eyes, mouth and nose
• the second one for cleaning the dock area

13. Stable rubber - it looks like a drying-up cloth and it is used at the end of the grooming. It will give an extra beautiful shine to the coat.

14. Sweat scraper - it has a curved rubber piece on one side and a metal piece on the other. It helps a lot at removing excess water, after you have washed your horse. You should use the rubber side for the bony areas and the metal one over the body (please be careful when using the metal side).

15. Hoof oil - it is used for the feet to create a beautiful shine.

16. Shampoo - sometimes is better to use a special equine shampoo for the tail.

17. Scissors - are used for general trimming and must(!) have a round end.

18. Grooming machine - are a lot of types, but basically are like a vacuum cleaner for taking all the dirt away. But please be careful on using them, cause they may scare your horse.


Hope you will find this helpful!
See also the first 2 parts of this post:

• First Part
• Second Part

Grooming a Horse ... Part II

Let's continue with the Grooming Kit!

5. Plastic/Rubber curry comb - extremely useful when you want to remove the mud and dried sweat. Also very good for stimulating the skin and for bringing grease to the surface of the coat.

6. Rubber grooming mitt - similar with the rubber curry comb.

7. Cactus cloth - a piece of hairy sackcloth. It is used to remove dried sweat and mud from all over the body. If it is cleaned, it will also bring a beautiful shine to the coat.

8. Metal curry comb - used only to clean the body brush. DO NOT USE it on your horse!

9. Hoof pick -  used only for cleaning the feet. The best way is to move downward from heel to toe, like this you will prevent damaging the frog or heels.

10. Mane comb 

• long tooth comb is used for combing out the mane and tail. 
• a short tooth comb is used to pull the mane
  

...To be continued...

You may want to see also:

• The first part of this post
• The next part of this post

Spring is here!

Spring has come! A lot of flowers everywhere. Everybody loves blooming threes, green grass and of course in this background beautiful horses. Hope you will enjoy my little video! Wish you all a nice weekend!

Beautiful weather!

Beautiful weather has come!! Great weather for riding! Tell me where will you ride this year?

Pfingstfest in Bavaria

I already told you about this bavarian tradition (here). I have some pics to show you guys from this years event.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Friends!

I hope you will have a beautiful Easter and everything that you wish for!

Grooming a Horse

Regular, thorough grooming is necessary to keep your horse clean and healthy.

This also stimulates circulation, keeps your horse looking good and can help to build a relationship between the two of you. By doing this, you have a perfect chance to check your horse over for any lumps, bumps, or heat, and because of this, you should not wear gloves when grooming so you can feel any abnormalities. You should always tie your horse up before beginning this.

Grooming kit:

1. Body brush - is a soft-bristled brush that removes dust and grease from deep down in the coat. It is rarely used on the grasskept horse, and always used in conjunction with the metal curry comp.
   
2. Dandy brush - is a hard-bristled brush that removes caked mud and sweat from the coat, and is the primary tool used for grooming the grasskept horse. The dandy brush should not be used on the mane and tail because it will break the hairs.
   
3. Water Brush - ideal would be to have 2 water brushes:

• one to use it when you are finished with the grooming. This way you can take all the remained dust off the coat and you can arrange the mane on a side of the neck.
• the second one you can use only when you want to clean the feet
  

                                                              ......TO BE CONTINUED.....

You may want to see:

• The second part of this post
• The last part of this post

Kötzting's Whit Ride in Germany

Kötzting's Whit Ride or "der Pfingstritt in Bad Koetzting" (in german language)

Kötzting's Whit Ride ranks amongst the biggest mounted pilgrimage processions in Europe and goes back to an incident in 1412: A man lay dying in the village of Steinbühl about seven kilometres away from Kötzting and asked for the comfort of the church. But the priest was not prepared to go there without protection.     So the young men from Kötzting accompanied the priest spontaneously on his visit to the dying man.

   

After their return unscathed they vowed to repeat this ride each year. Thus it has been carried down, so that every year on Whit Monday some 900 riders form a procession riding and praying through the blooming Zellertal to Steinbühl on their festively bedecked horses and in old traditional costumes.

 
The riders´procession  

 
At 8 a.m. on Whit Monday, accompanied by the ringing of the church bells, the riders leave the town praying on festively bedecked horses. The procession is led by the cross bearer, followed by lantern bearers, fanfare players, a spiritual officiator with sextons and servers. Riding behind them is the "Whit groom" with his two best men.  

The previous year's Whit groom carrying the market town banner, with his best men and representatives of the young men end the official head of the procession. The remaining riders follow. Many of them bear memorial banners that they have received for their long years of participation in this pilgrim ride. One of them carries the venerable county banner. On the way, the riders say their rosaries.
 

The officiator preaches the gospel at the four stations. At the end of there journey, a church service for the riders is held in St. Nikolaus, the Whit riders' pilgrimage church in Steinbühl. After a rest for the horses and riders the procession returns to Bad Kötzting.

• source: http://www.bad-koetzting.de/110.html