Grooming and Feeding
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Working Safely Around Horses: Grooming and Feeding
By Clay Cavinder
All who own and work with horses know that there is much more time spent doing daily chores than there is time actually spent riding. Chores such as feeding, grooming, cleaning stalls, and general care taking of horses are things that many horses owners find enjoyable and a means to relieve stress. However, horse owners must keep in mind that safety in these situations is as important as the “higher risk” activities such as riding. In this module we will discuss how to safely work around horses during times of grooming and feeding that will minimize risk of injury to the person.
All horse owners, whether experienced or novice, usually have a close working relationship with their horses. Daily activities like handling, grooming, feeding and riding, all combine to make these horses gentle and easy to care for. Still, it is important that people working with horses remain aware of their surroundings including how the horse may react to situations within their environment. Many people consider grooming a daily activity in order to keep the hair coat in its best condition, but this activity does put the handler in close proximity to the horse. So when grooming horses it is a good idea to keep your free hand on the horse at all times. If the horse startles and moves into you, this will give you a leverage point to safely push yourself out of the way. When moving around the horse, walk very close to the animal, always touching to alert the horse to your location, or move around them at a distance that is completely out of their kicking range. NEVER walk within the horses maximum poswer kicking range. When picking up the horses feet, keep your body close to the horse to prevent being kicked.
Many horse owners choose to keep their horses in stalls and small paddocks. This being the case, it is essential to clean stalls on a daily basis. At times, you may be in a hurry to get the barn clean and it may seem like a good idea to clean the stall with the horse loose inside. Leaving the horse loose while you are in the stall with him puts you at great risk to be kicked or stepped on. Even the gentlest of horses may kick for unknown reasons, thus it is imperative that the horse be brought out of the stall and properly tied in another area of the barn while you clean the stall.
Horses who are managed in a confined space, will also be fed in a routine manner and this may pose some danger. Horses can be aggressive eaters which will be seen by pinning of the ears, showing of teeth, and being generally pushy once the handler opens the stall door to feed the horse. Horses who are allowed to come to the feed bucket while the handler is putting grain in a bucket could inadvertently injure a handler. Horses must learn to not invade the handler’s space during times of feeding. Asking the horse to step away and making sure the horses follows the command will limit risk of injury in this situation. Also, feeding treats from your hand is a bad idea. Horses become used to treats very quickly and will start to bite at or nibble on people in anticipation of the treat.
While most of these preventative measures are easy to understand and generally followed, it is important to remember that no matter the temperament of the horse or experience level of the handler, injuries can happen! By making safety the priority, many of the situations can easily be avoided.
Questions and Discussion Ideas for this Module:
1. Have you ever cleaned a horse’s stall with the horse loose in the stall? If so, can you identify times that you were at risk for injury?
2. Have you fed horses that exhibited aggressive behavior? What did they do that told you they were being aggressive?
3. Name the ways that you should properly groom a horse to prevent risk of being injured.