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Hi, I’m Jack from Slowfeednets. Today I’m going to talk about the equipment you’ll need to perform basic horse care for your horse without costing an arm and a leg.
Halter and Lead Rope
The first thing you’re going to need is a halter that goes on your horse’s head and a lead rope. You can catch them, lead them around and tie them up all that good stuff.
Brush and Hoof Pick
Another thing you’re going to need is brushes, and this is to keep your horse clean. It would help if you also had a hoof pick to pick out their hooves. Brushing your horse is something you’ll probably do on a daily basis, so it’s important that you have this stuff.
Fly Product
Now for some optional things that you may want but your horse doesn’t necessarily need, a fly spray, a fly mask, and any fly products to keep the flies off your horse. Flies can be such a nuisance to your horse, so you can use those pieces of equipment to keep your horse comfortable.
Horse Blanket
Another thing I highly recommend getting for your horse, even if you don’t plan on blanketing them in the winter, is a horse blanket. It will cover them in the winter if they get cold. There’s a lot of controversy about whether or not you should blanket your horse in the winter, and to me, it just depends on the horse. It’s vital that you watch your horse and see how they handle the cold to decide whether or not they need a blanket. I do have my blanket on hand, so if there is going to be terrible weather, I will put the blanket on him, just for peace of mind and to give him that protection.
Riding Stuff
If you plan on riding the horse, it’s important to take a saddle, a girth, a helmet, saddle blankets, a bridle, and all that stuff to ride your horse and have fun. You’re going to buy that tack, and tack can be expensive. Once you buy tack, it’s also important that you keep it maintained so that it can last a long time. This means you can clean and shampoo your leather pieces of tack. This will help make their life last longer and make them more flexible in dealing with stress a lot more. If your saddle or girth or something like that gets wet, it can dry out the leather and become cracked. It can also be a potential safety hazard if you don’t keep your tack maintained, strip leathers can break, and pieces of the bridle can break. If you want to maintain your safety as a rider, it’s very important that you check your tack regularly and take care of it properly.
Medical Supplies
Now we’ve covered all the essential and optional supplies for caring for your horse. It’s also important to stay on top of your horse’s medical needs. Some stuff you may want to have on hand when it comes to owning a horse is basic medical supplies. These can include leg bandages, gauze, certain ointments, and medications. You also need a vet’s contact info on hand if you need it and it also means being able to recognize when your horse does need medical attention. Some behaviors can look like a horse being more frantic than usual, lying down, standing up, laying down, and standing up. Maybe your horse has a running nose, and they seem down. Just being able to recognize things like this and when your horse may need medical attention.
Another thing to stay on top of is your horse’s regular medical needs. This means they’ll need shots, deworming, teeth floating, and getting their Coggins test. So all these things are stuff that they’re going to need to be done regularly, usually on a biannual or an annual basis.
When you get a new horse
When it comes to getting a new horse, it’s important that you have an experienced horse person that you can trust and go to if you need help.
One of the most frustrating and overwhelming things about having a horse is that the horse world is so vast that you don’t know everything, and so it can be really stressful if you’re in a situation and you don’t know what to do.
If you have that experienced horse person, whether it’s your instructor or your trainer that you can go to and talk to, it can help you work through that situation.
Now I’d like to hear from you.
Do you think this blog is helpful to you?
Are there any questions about feeding your horses?
Let me know by leaving a comment below right now.