Grooming tips for 3-days

[JAGold]

Jane, I’m always happy to write about horses instead of welfare reform

I don’t poultice until about two to three hours after cross country, and after I’ve done several rounds of icing. I dry all four legs carefully with a towel and check for any nicks. Getting poultice in even very small scratches will make them blow up, so I cover those with vasaline or Corona ointment.

Then, I tie the horse’s tail up, so it doesn’t get in the poultice! I lay out everything I’ll need: four quilts, four wraps, Scott heavy duty papertowels (the thick, blue ones) or brown paper bags cut to form wraps, soaked in water, poultice, and rubber gloves.

I apply poultice to all four legs first. Some people only poultice the tendons and not the fronts of the cannon bones; I do both. It can’t hurt. I apply the poultice from right below the knee to the top of the fetlock, making sure to get the whole ankle, and to always apply downward, with the hair. I spread it pretty thick, about a quarter of an inch. Then, take the gloves off, and wrap the leg first with the wet towel or brown paper bag (you can also use newspaper, folded). This helps to keep the poultice wet, and only wet poultice draws out inflamation. Apply this layer just like a regular wrap. The put the quilt and bandage over as usual.

If I am going to poultice feel, I do them first, before the legs. I use either regular poultice (I like Uptite) or a “slurry” of epsom salts and betadine (about 1 cup of epsom salts and enough bedadine to get it mushy per foot). Again, prepare first. I rip 7-10 8 inch pieces of duct tape, and get out a roll of vet wrap and a diaper. Pick out the foot, hold it up, and either cover the whole sole with poultice, or mix the epsom salts and bedadine in the diaper, then fasten the diaper tightly over the bottom of the foot. I use the side closures on either side of the foot. Then, wrap around the foot/diaper with the vetwrap. I use a sort of a figure-8, making sure to cover the whole foot including the toe but not to go above the cornet band. I usually go ahead and use the whole roll of vetwrap, though you can do it with less. Then, still not putting the foot down, I place strips of tape. I start with one strip running down the center of the bottom of the foot, from heel to toe, and then place other strips on each side, making sure to overlap sufficiently. I finish with one strip at the toe, perpendicular to the others and covering the ends, and one strip similarly placed at the heel.

(Of course, there are many variations on the poulticing theme. This is just the way I go about it.)

As for the magnetic blankets, I use the medium setting for a half-hour before the horse goes (I put it on an hour before the rider wants to mount, to allow for grooming and tacking up afterwards), and the low setting after the ride. If it’s cool, I put a cooler or blanket over the magnetic blanket. --Jess

[Hilary]

Thank you all for posting this! I hope to do a * star one day and I would love to ride at Radnor (which means I’ll have to raise my goals to a **)

I have only groomed for a 3-day once, and it was years ago when they had the minimum weight requirement. I was an accessory groom, rather than the head honcho, and the one job that has burned itself into my memory was carrying my (tiny) rider’s tack to the weigh station, which seemed to be across the county (it was Radnor, and it probably wasn’t that far away). I thought I would never make it due to the weight pad filled with lead bars. She had to carry probably 40lbs of lead and it was just awful.

She later worked with Carol Kozlowski to prove that lead weight was far more taxing to the horse than a big heavy person and got the requirement lifted.

Grooming seems to be a bit more high-tech now with the magnets and lasers etc, but the basics are still the same - water in many forms, and lots of elbow grease and attention to detail.

So do you need 12 buckets? 6 for the C-hold and 6 more for the vet box? I guess it’s easier than carrying them - how do you keep all your stuff out of the way of the other teams?

[FairWeather]

That post was unreal! I learned more from that than in my entire time here! I’m going to print it out so i can post it in my barn! --More as a reminder of “this is what you COULD be doing, now clean that stall!”
excellent, excellent post. thanks!

Always,
FairWeather
"Just call me mint jelly cuz i’m on the lamb!–Grandpa
http://www.fairweather-farm.com

[JAGold]

Subk, interesting point about diapers soaking up the moisture. We use them because some sort of absorbent material is necessary to hold everything in place, and the plastic outer layer keeps things from dripping. I usually find things to still be moist when I unwrap the foot. Mostly, they are convenient – about the right size, fasten on easily, easy to find and buy. I’ve also packed feet using sheet cotton (about a 6x6 square) but found that alone, too much leaks out. So I’ve used sheet cotton and a plastic bag (grocery sack), and I do like that arangement if I’m using a soak boot for several days, obviously at home not at an event).

I LOVE tle’s idea about bed pads, though. Where can you buy such things? About how much do they cost? Any special tricks to using them, or is it pretty self explanatory? This could be a great discovery!

And, subk, I think I might give collapsable shelving a try. It might not be worthwhile at a horse trials, but at a 3-day, with all the added gear and extra days, it could help. Otherwise, I rely on tupperware, a place for everything and everything in its place, but the tack room still looked like a disaster zone by Sunday. We had more wet gear than not to pack up. --Jess

[DizzyMagic]

Wow, JAGold, what a thorough description of grooming at a three-day!!! I�ve groomed at several 1, 2, and 3 stars, but I�ve never groomed at Rolex. This trip to Rolex was both my first trip to KHP and my first time at a three-day not as a groom. Since I actually had time to spectate, I thought I would watch lots of xc rounds, but I found myself at the ten-minute box instead, watching how the grooming teams set up their areas and cooled the horses.

A couple of things to add about xc day:

1. We use Crisco instead of Burghley cream. We put it on with a glove, from the top of the leg (not the chest) down over the boots to the coronet band. And then we take a towel (one of the many towels that will be ruined on the weekend!) and wipe our hands thoroughly before touching anything else. If you use Crisco, a bottle of Dawn in the kit is essential to get the grease out of the horse�s legs after xc.
2. We make especially sure to dry the horse�s side where the rider�s leg will be, the rider�s boot and sole, and of course, the reins, though I�m not sure what good any of that does in the rain!
3. We make sure to check the horse�s shoes and studs asap after he gets into the vet box in order to maximize the time you have to fix anything if it�s wrong.
4. We always assign one person on the groom team to time the horse in the box with a stopwatch. My rider usually tries to get into the box a couple of minutes early and always wants to know how long she�s been in the box. Also, sometimes the timer can be wrong or get distracted and it is the rider�s responsibility to be at the start box on time. Apparently it is the groom�s responsibility too!
5. A halter and an irish knit and/or rainsheet when appropriate go to every stopping point in case there is a problem and the horse has to be walked home from there.
6. This is interesting to me, my rider has never had us put water in the horse�s mouth, she says it can be annoying to them and doesn�t cool them that much. Also, we allow the horse to drink as much non-iced water as it wants whenever it wants. And, we sponge with ice-water everywhere, especially if it is very hot and/or humid out. The horses I�ve worked with have always cooled very well and not had muscle problems, so I wonder if this is just preference among individual horse people??
7. One thing I�ve noticed is that if the weather is very hot, we do a lot more ice-water and a lot less walking. When the weather is cooler, the horse still comes into the box hot and we do the ice-water, but just interspersed with more walking. If it�s very cold, there will be not much sponging and lots of walking under an irish knit.

Oh, and my number one three-day grooming tip: You can never pack too many towels for the barn or too many socks for yourself!!

Emily

The best way to predict the future is to create it!

[LAZ]

Another helpful thing in the vet box is water scoops made from 1 gallon jugs (milk/water/whatever–just be sure to clean them thoroughly). Cut the bottoms off to make scoops, leave the tops on, you can scoop water from the buckets up in them & walk along beside the horse sponging. Cuts down on the bending over and splashing and you can get more water on/off the horse.

[Pixie_Dust]

Talking about this made me think about this cute picture at Radnor (I’m on the opposite side w/black tennies). Stan says “I am a good boy!” I groomed for a friend, an amatuer rider from MN and if hopefully we’ll be back again this fall. It was a great learning experience for me. As you can see, we are quite professional…it appears no one is holding the horse!!

Superheroes of the universe, unite!

http://hometown.aol.com/bgoosewood/index.html

[This message was edited by bgoosewood on May. 02, 2002 at 04:04 PM.]

[subk]

The great thing about shelving is that it allows you to expand UP instead of out! I’ve not used it at H.T. but if your stall was situated in the right place (like an end stall) or you had mulitple stalls I think it could work. But with out a doubt it’s been THE best money spent to improve organization.

Yea, the diaper would still have the moisture in it when you pull it off–but it would have transfered it AWAY from the surface of the foot. I make a square using strips of duck tape, put the poultice on the bottom of the foot, slap the duct tape square over it, set the foot down, use scissors to cut away excess duct tape then use more duck tape around hoof wall, then wrap around half on the hoof wall and half on the bottom of the hoof. This holds up much better if you have to hand walk. It’s pretty moisture tight as well.

I’ll have to think about the bed pads. Jess if you want to try them out you can find what I think tle is refering to in a baby store or even in a Target in the baby dept. tle does what your talking about like water proofing with a cotton felt like material on each side?

[JAGold]

Everyone, great additions – especially the hoofpick.

Re: how much, and how cold, water to use. Emily, you may be right about it being individual; I think it depends more on the horses than on the riders. Also, I’ll use ice water on legs even on a day when I think it’s too cold for their bodies. As for weting their mouths, that again depends upon the horse. If the horse is really bothered, then I just skip it, but as a rider, I do notice the difference in the feel of the horse’s mouth in when it is moist and when it is dry. We have several horses who won’t drink at all in the box, so we get about 180 ccs into them using the syringe (yes, most of it just drips out, but at least they are moistened!) Also, I make sure to do a ton of scraping, because it is the evaporation that really cools the horse. But depending on the weather, I’ll often be putting ice water on one end (the front – neck and chest) and a wool cooler or quarter sheet on the back end!

Assessing any potential repairs/problems is definately the first priority! With the C-hold, any problems should really be identified before the horse shows up in the 10-min box (further problems are unlikely between the hold and the box, since the horse is only trotting). That way, the rider can either deal with them at that point and make up time on the second half of C, or plan to arive in the box early and have extra time to deal with the problem there (and have the farrier or any other needed personel there waiting).

As for timing, I do start a watch when the rider comes in, but I’ve found the timers to be pretty reliable. I ask them to tell me at 8, 6, 4, and 2 minutes remaining. Whomever pointed out the need for one person to be in charge, yes!! We always designate one person to “run the box” and keep an eye on time and what needs to be finished. That person is usually the one who leads and jogs the horse and stays relatively dry and grease-free and able to give the rider a leg up.

Another thing that I sometimes do for XC, depending on rider preference, is braid in the bridle. It’s not as exciting as it sounds, just brush the front of the mane forward and braid that and the forelock together over the browband, so that if the rider falls, she is not able to pull the bridle off of the horse.

As for the spare socks, Emily, we could definately work together, we think alike! I packed (and wore) a dozen pairs of socks at Rolex --Jess

[Mudroom]

I would be curious what type of stud arrangmeent the afternoon Rolex riders used. Anyone know?

[DizzyMagic]

Good point about the scraping! We scrape obsessively too, I just forgot to mention it.

It makes sense that wetting the mouth would be refreshing to the horse, and it seems like it would make them softer in the mouth on course. I wonder why we’ve never done that.

It’s amazing how many things become “unnecessary” when the horse won’t tolerate them! I was grooming for a too-fit mare one year at Radnor and almost everything I had learned as “essential” went by the wayside. We got ONE temp on her the entire day and that was in the c hold. By the time she got to the vet box, she refused to stand for pulse and respiration check, and she wouldn’t hear of a thermometer coming anywhere near her back end. The vets said, well if she were in distress she wouldn’t be bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and standing on her hind legs.

We didn’t even loosen her girth in the ten-minute box, which is something I always thought was very important!!

It was a warm day and I really wanted to get more water on her than she let me. She would only stand for a couple of seconds before demanding to walk on. If we tried to make her stand, she reared. High. I managed to do some sponging and scraping while in motion, but not nearly as much as I wanted.

Horse was not even tired in the finish box and we put the halter on over her bridle rather than risk losing her in that moment of switching from bridle to halter. She let us get the tack off of her with difficulty and we got a bit of sponging and scraping in. She refused the attentions of the vet altogether and was so rowdy that they told us to go back to the barn to cool her, and left the temping to us!!!

And, this is a sweet-tempered, well-trained, wonderful mare. She was just WAY too fit and wound up like an eight-day clock! Once we got her back to the stall, she reverted to her well-behaved self, and let us do anything we wanted to her. She did look slightly smug about the whole thing though.

Ok, that was a random story, maybe we need a “what kind of weird three-day experiences have you had” thread.

Emily

The best way to predict the future is to create it!

[Robby_Johnson]

I will try those milk jug scoops! Great idea!

Robby

[Sannois]

The event grooms handbook!!! WOW. Years ago I groomed on the A circuit, and took care of Conformation hunters and Grand Prix jumpers, That was Nothing compared to 3 day grooms. I always knew that, but your post had me right in the 10 min box at Rolex! As a matter of fact the last time I went to Rolex 2000… I spent a bit of time near the Finish, cause that was very fascinating to watch. I know I am WAY too old to groom anymore, But Wow I bet that would get you in shape in no time! Thanks for the wonderful post!

“Those who would give up
essential Liberty, to
purchase a little temporary
Safety, deserve neither
Liberty nor Safety” Benjamin
Franklin, 1755