Regardless of which pet shares your life, maintaining their coat is critical for their overall health, well-being and comfort!

Reasons include:

  1. A healthy coat will help your pet effectively regulate its optimal body temperature.
  2. A healthy coat protects internal organs from external threats including the environment, heat, trauma and ultraviolet light.
  3. The overall condition of your pet’s coat (and skin) indicates their overall health. A glossy and healthy coat reflects:
    • A nutritious diet;
    • Effective brushing and grooming; and
    • A healthy immune system.
  4. Regular and consistent brushing of the coat helps:
    • Distribute natural oils.
    • Remove dead hair, dirt and dander.
    • Prevent painful mats and tangles.
  5. Regular bathing promotes optimal coat (and skin) health.

Below, let’s take a closer look at how to care for your horse’s coat with 5 priceless tips!

How often does your family dog need to be bathed? Read our blog post!

(Stay tuned to our blog for future posts on how to effectively care for your cat, dog and rabbit’s coat too.)

How to Care for Your Horse’s Coat: 5 Tips

Brown Horse with a Leather Halter Eating Fresh Grass
Brown Horse Eating Fresh Grass

The Horse’s Coat: Diet

As mentioned above, a pet’s coat is an accurate indicator of your pet’s overall health! Without the proper foods and vitamins, your horse’s coat will suffer.

How the Quality of Hay Affects Your Horse

Horses need proper levels of:

  • Vitamin D (typically from the sun, but may need to be supplemented).
  • Vitamin A.
  • Vitamin E (from fresh forage including pasture grass and tender plants).
  • Minerals.
  • Proteins.
  • Fats including flaxseeds and fish oil (Omega-3 fatty acids).

NEVER feed these items to your horse!

Gray and White Horse Being Brushed with the EquiGroomer
Gray and White Horse Being Brushed with the EquiGroomer

Brushing Your Horse’s Coat

Maintaining a healthy coat on your horse means regular brushing, ideally daily!

Consistent brushing helps remove the dead undercoat and encourages new hair growth! Daily brushing also stimulates and distributes natural oils. Always make brushing a pleasant, relaxing experience for your horse with the proper tools, gentle and slow strokes over the entire body with plenty of praise! If you observe your horse rolling on the ground more often, add some extra brushing to address any irritation from sweat or tack.

Regular Exercise

Did you know that regular exercise is just as vital for a healthy coat? Exercise will:

  • Stimulate your horse’s blood vessels and capillaries to deliver essential nutrients and oxygen to the skin; and
  • Help your horse release toxins through sweating and the natural oils for a healthy shine.
Brown Horse Getting Bathed
Brown Horse Getting Washed

Don’t Forget a Good Wash!

While daily brushing is important, horses also need a good wash including their tail, mane and entire body.

Avoid the area around their eyes and nostrils.

After the mane and tail have dried, add conditioner.

NOTE: Do not over-bathe your horse to avoid stripping the natural and essential oils from your horse’s coat.

Horse Tack
Clean Equine Tack will Protect Your Horse’s Coat

Stay Clean and Tidy!

  • Keep all tack, rugs and saddle blankets clean to support an optimal, healthy horse coat!
  • The barn environment should also be clean and dry.
  • After riding, sponge off or squeegee all sweat under the saddle, down the neck or anywhere else on the body to avoid skin irritations, infections or sores.


Use these 5 tips to best support and maintain your horse’s coat year-round!
Remember, brushing/grooming also provides the perfect opportunity
to check your horse’s coat for issues like lumps and bumps,
bald patches, infections or inflammation as well as
unwanted parasites. Early prevention and detection
will ensure proper diagnosis and treatment!


EquiGroomer: The Perfect Grooming Tool for Your Horse!

Chestnut Horse in an Open Field featuring the EquiGroomer Tools
Chestnut Horse in an Open Field featuring the EquiGroomer Tools

Ensure your equine’s best coat with regular
brushing to remove the dead undercoat, dander
and dirt especially after your horse rolls on the ground!

We guarantee your dog, horse, other pets or livestock,
will LOVE the EquiGroomer Grooming Tools!

For individual or bulk orders, call 860-573-0604
or send us an email.

The wellness of the animals in our lives depends upon us. Every October is National Pet Wellness Month, but pet wellness lasts long beyond the month of October!

Happy pets enjoy optimal well-being, health and comfort. Throughout all the stages of their lives, our pets depend upon us to ensure not only their best daily care but proactive care as well.

 

The Stages of Aging

By the age of seven, dogs are considered seniors.Each stage of your pet’s life has its own requirements for well-being. The needs of a puppy, kitten or foal will be different from an adult or senior. So, it’s important to focus on the specific wellness needs and effective preventative care for their age, breed, health history and potential aging challenges.

“By the age of two, most dogs and cats have already reached adulthood.

By the time they reach age four, they’re considered middle-aged.

At the age of seven, many dogs have already started their senior years.

— American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)


Horses enjoy a much longer life span, reaching adulthood around 5, middle age by the age of 13, and are considered seniors around the age of 20. (Source: Equine Resources International)


Pet Wellness: Be Proactive

Your pet’s overall well-being and preventative care should regularly include the following 3 areas with your veterinarian’s support.

 Wellness Exams

  • Annual: Wellness exams every year for younger dogs and cats.
  • Bi-Annual: Six-month wellness exams for senior pets: Equines need bi-annual wellness exams.
    • Cats: Around 8-10 years old
    • Dogs: Around 6-8 years of life (larger breed K9s age faster)
    • Horses: Along with routine vaccinations in the spring and fall
  • Your pet’s healthy weight helps ward off serious health conditions like:
    • Diabetes;
    • Osteoarthritis;
    • Chronic inflammation; and
    • Other potential issues and diseases.
  • Vaccinations including core (yearly) and non-core inoculations.
  • Parasite Prevention (external and internal):
    • Ticks & Fleas
    • Heartworms
    • Worms
  • Spaying and Neutering

Dental Exams

Chronic dental disease can create and spread inflammation throughout your pet’s body, creating other health challenges. Maintaining good oral hygiene minimizes the formation of tartar, plaque and gingivitis and in turn, additional inflammation in the body. While 1 in 3 pet owners assume bad breath is “normal” for their pet, the reality is it’s a sign of potentially painful and harmful oral disease. (Source: YourHomeTownVet.com)

Blood and Lab Work Baselines help monitor your pet's health.

Blood and lab work done on younger pets helps establish a baseline or “normal” for your pet. Later changes in their health or potential disease can then be easily detected and proactively addressed.

 

Pet Wellness: Daily Care Practices

Between the recommended annual and bi-annual pet wellness needs, daily pet wellness includes:

  • Regular exercise (appropriate for the age, breed and health history);
  • High-quality nutrition (based on the breed, age and level of activity);
  • Consistent grooming (including teeth brushing);
  • Effective pet identification (tags, microchips and tattoos); and
  • Quality, one-on-one time.Always work with your vet for your pet's best well-being.

Regular and proactive wellness care helps ensure a healthier and longer lifespan for your pet while ensuring its best quality of life and comfort. It also helps you, the owner, better manage healthcare costs by proactively addressing and preventing potential and costly health issues.

If you’re unsure about:

  • How much daily exercise your pet needs;
  • The nutritional needs for your pet; or
  • Any other aspect of their regular well-being, then 

talk to your veterinarian to set up an appropriate well-being plan to address your pet’s needs for a happy and healthy life throughout the year! 

 


EquiGroomer Products

Remember, regular grooming is important for your pet’s optimum wellness!

Finding and using the right tool, like the EquiGroomer products, will help make the experience easier, gentler and stress-free for both you and your pet!

 Try our EquiGroomer for easy brushing that does not pull, discomfort, or damage your pet’s topcoat or skin.

Also, add our WaterWisk Pet Squeegee and Sweat Scraper to your pet’s bathing routine!

EquiGroomer Products

For individual or bulk orders, call 860-573-0604 or click here to send us an email.


Additional Reading:

October is National Pet Wellness Month (AVMA)

October is National Pet Wellness Month

Annual Wellness Exams for Horses

Image Credits:

Image by EquiGroomer

Image by Gabriela Neumeier from Pixabay 

Image Courtesy of Pexels.com

Image by skeeze from Pixabay 

Photo by Charles from Pexels

Product Images are Courtesy of EquiGroomer

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