Halter horse?

Question

any tips on how to take care of a showing halter horse. i kind of know what i am doing but his is my first halter horse. do u have anytips to make her look her best????????

Answer 1

I've found that brushing the horse, going over them with another brush, and then with a damp cloth helps clean them up nicely. And I've had wonderful results with Cowboy Magic, which softens and shines the coat! I think Show Sheen does the same thing as well, but I haven't used that before. And a pretty halter. :)

Answer 2

The judges look for polish (grooming), muscle conditioning, and conformation. Spend lots of time grooming and keeping the coat, mane and tail looking its best and protected from the sun and wear and tear. Make sure your horse is getting the best type of feed and the right amounts for coat and muscle. Spend lots of time conditioning his muscles. Lots of up and down hills, cavaletti, sand arena work, and more. Here's an excerpt form a halter conditioning program:

"To get that sculpted look, Bambi works her horses on walk, jog and trot (a stepped-up jog) exercises in a round pen with a 5-inch base of sand, 6 days a week, no more than 10minutes a day — but she works them hard one day, then lightens up the next. "Every other day I'll really get in there and make him work, make him blow. The next day, he works the same length of time, but it won't be quite as hard. This is how you get the muscles shaped and hardened up: You stress the muscles one day, give them time to repair the next, and they build back stronger."

To help sculpt a finer looking neck, Bambi uses neck sweats. "We want a nice, pretty clean neck with a lot of shoulder definition," says Bambi, "so we work them in neck sweats, and then let them stand, tied in their stalls, sweating in neck sweats for about 60 to 90 minutes." Afterwards, Bambi rinses them off and, after they're dried, curries, brushes and vacuums the horse."

http://www.horsechannel.com/western-hors...

Answer 3

There is a lot to keeping a halter horse actually. I have a three year old mare that was show exstinsively at haler as a baby and still goes to shows now and then but she always had alfalfa hay in front of her because it has more protiene. She got lunged EVERY day as a weanling and yearling she also got hand troted for atleast 15 minutes a (day get you in shape and teaches her better handling skills) as a weanling then as a yearling i would do this and lead her on another horse and then i would lead her of the four weeler as a 2 year old they need TONS of feed she got 22lbs of feed a day to keep the coat clean i use a good human hair shampoo and a good conditioner on her mane and tail use show sheen all over her body every day and give her baths every 3 days brush her all the time and teach her to stand up!!!! Standing up is a HUGE part of showing well good luck with your halter horse here is a few photos of my mare

http://www.flickr.com/photos/muahashleyt... http://www.flickr.com/photos/muahashleyt...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/muahashleyt...

Answer 4

KEEP THAT HEALTHY GLOW. Health and nutrition are the basis of a good haircoat. There's no way your horse can grow a shiny coat if he's missing essential nutrients or isn't dewormed regularly. Halter trainer Mike McMillian puts it this way: "Groom from the inside out."

NO CUTTING CORNERS. Elbow grease is the magic ingredient that brings up the shine. When you care for your horse's coat every day, pre-show prep is a snap. (Top halter horses are groomed up to three times a day.)

TURN OFF THE TAP. Keep baths to a minimum. Lots of soapy baths will dry and dull your horse's coat. Brushing and vacuuming remove dirt while stimulating the skin.

My horses are fed around 4:30 to 5 a.m., then get to chill out for about 3 hours. After that they get a good grooming with a rubber curry, brush, and vacuum to remove the dead hair and stimulate the oil glands. We keep tails in bags, but take them out every week or so and re-braid them. For halter horses that have been in our program for a while and have nice, short coats, we finish by running down with a little ShowSheen (from Absorbine, 800/628-9653 or 413/737-0201, www.absorbine.com) diluted with water. We use about 3 parts ShowSheen to 1 part water, so it's not heavy but still repels dirt. (We don't do this for our riding horses, because the polish tends to leave the coat too slick for tack.) Then they're exercised. After the workout in spring, summer, and fall, they may go back to the stall in a neck sweat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours to trim down the neck. (We don't sweat our horses much in winter.) Then they're groomed again with brushes and curries. They're also under lights-250-watt bulbs, 16 hours a day-to keep their coats short year-round.

Pre-show prep: Our horses get a pre-show touchup with the clippers-around the muzzle, bridlepath, ears, and legs. We use World Champion Pep coat conditioner (from Style Stable Products, 800/242-4103 or 320/587-3217) to bring up the shine in the haircoat, then apply highlighter around the muzzle and eyes.

Top grooming tips: There are no shortcuts in coat care. It takes time, dedication, and daily work to prepare a horse for show.

If your horse has a cresty neck, pull his mane so that the lower edge follows a straight line, rather than following the crest of his neck. You'll create an optical illusion in which his neck appears to be straighter.

For the show ring, white markings on the face and legs look best clipped-but with Paints, there's often the question of where to stop. If a horse has white areas that extend up his leg almost to the shoulder, he looks best to me if the legs are clipped all the way up. Similarly, if a horse has a white face, I clip everything back to the ears with a #10 blade.

CHEAP grooming tip- Swiffer dry cloths work well at shows to swipe dirt off fast inbetween classes.

Answer 5

wow that is a lot of work but you do what you gotta to win good luck

Answer 6

Well, there's a lot you can do to make your horse look amazing... but i'll put some of the key things.

*Obviously give your horse a reallly good bath, use a sponge put shampoo on it and rub all over his/her body, then put conditioner in your horses hair

*Brush out your horses main and tail, use a detangler to make it easier

*Add a shine spray to your horses body to make him shine

(on darker horses, you can pour sulphur on their coat to make them shine)

*Pick out hooves well, and add a hoof polish (not colored or glitter)

*Wipe down your horses face with a washcloth then apply petroleum jelly around your horses eyes and muzzle to make them soft and shiny

*and if you want to... you can braid or "web" your horses mane and tail

I hope this helps

Good luck ♥