Horse Care for an Equestrian Friend Left at Home by a College-Bound Kid

Your daughter has left for college (or perhaps it's your son), and you are now responsible for the horse left behind. When you raised the possibility of selling the horse, the wails of disbelief had you clapping your hands over your ears.

You can handle feeding and watering because you've done that every time some event such as camp or competition took your child away from home. It only takes a couple of weeks though for you to notice the horse would like something to do and someone to do it with.

If you decide to do something with the horse and have little or no experience then the best place to begin to build a relationship the horse is by grooming it. A horse considers its groom its best friend. This is because among horses only good buddies groom one another.

Even though you probably have a bag full of grooming tools and other supplies, the very best place to start is by grooming the horse with your hands. Rub the horse all over with your bare hands. If there are places it doesn't want you to touch don't worry about them at first. Rub as close as the horse will allow without getting upset. I do mean as close as it will allow. Don't back off from the spot, instead go as close as you can, trying to get a little closer each time, until you can touch the area the horse declared off limits.

Once the horse will let you rub it all over with your bare hands get some cloth. A terry cloth hand towel is ideal. Fold it into a hand sized square and rub the horse with this until it accepts the cloth. Once the horse is comfortable with this, open the cloth to a larger piece and repeat. Keep unfolding the towel and rubbing until you are using the full towel with no bad reaction on the part of the horse.

None of this has to be done in one session. If you only get to rub the horse's neck and shoulders the first time that is fine. You are doing this because you want to not because anyone is making you. So do just as much as you and the horse are comfortable with each time.

The next item to use is the softest brush in the grooming kit. The one you wouldn't mind using on your own skin. After that there is a stiffer brush and finally a funny rubber thing with teeth that is called a curry comb. This is used to get the dirt up so it can be brushed off.

If the horse is a gentle easy going soul and you are fairly comfortable with horses then you may do all this in just one session. If you are not comfortable with horses and need to get used to being close then you may take weeks to get to the point you can use the full arsenal of grooming tools. That's okay. Keep reminding yourself that you are doing this because you want to do it, not because someone is making you. Let this be your mantra, "No hurry. I want to do this."

Once you and the horse are happy with all this you use those grooming tools in the following order, curry comb, dandy (that's stiff) brush, body (soft) brush, and towel to shine.