Horse Care Stages 1 & 2 of Examination Training

[lottii]

Pixie hurried through the Evening Primrose Barn, where most of her horses were stabled. She had just finished grooming the young colt of hers, Guardian. The perfectly behaved little Gypsy Vanner was soon to be weaned, and she hoped it wouldn't affect his little personality. She would have loved to stay and groomed his dam too, but she needed to get to the classroom where she would be holding the theory part of Stages 1 & 2. As she exited through the doors of the barn, she picked up a large bag she had left there when she entered some time earlier.

Arriving outside the room, she entered quietly. This was the room where she would teach all the theory lessons involved in the BHS Qualification courses she was running. The bag she was holding contained numerous posters and photographs which she spent the next 5 minutes tacking on all the walls around the room. Satisfied the classroom looked less bare, she started writing on the board.

Welcome. I am Miss Pixie Edwards.
We will be covering basic material in Stage 1, which I am sure you all know, so we will just go over it briefly. Most of you should know the majority of Stage 2 also.
Stage 1
Grooming and Bandaging
Clothing - to include rugs, rollers and surcingles
Saddlery - including knowledge of tack/parts, putting on and removing tack and dangers of/identifying worn tack
Handling - to include how to put on, fit and care for headcollars and ropes and tying up horses
Horse Husbandry - to include bedding, mucking out and cleanliness
Hooves and Shoeing - including maintaining a good condition of feet and issues with feet
Anatomy and Handing - to include major external parts of the horse, colors and markings, holding a horse for clipping/treatment shoeing, trotting up, leading and halting a horse correctly
Health and Safety - including safe lifting/carrying techniques, filling, weighing and tying up of haynets
Horse Health - including recognizing signs of good health and poor health
Horse Behavior - to include instincts, actions and reactions
Basic Grassland Care - including turning out/catching, checking fields and daily inspections
Watering and Feeding - including types of fodder, ability to define quality of fodder, suitable feeding for light work
General Knowledge - risks and responsibilities on the highway, fire precautions and basic human first aid


Finishing writing on the board, she got out a stack of handout which explained each section in more detail, and placed them alongside a box of highlighters for the students to annotate the notes. She also found the pack of ringbinders for students who didn't bring their own. Placing all of these on the desk, she settled down to wait for some students to arrive.

ooc: I will post the handouts once students start arriving and Pixie gives them out.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Today, Cara wore beige jodhpurs, a blue polo shirt and shiny black paddock boots. Her obsidian coloured hair was pulled back in double French braids which were wound around so that she had two neat buns at the back of her head. She headed over to the equestrian classrooms, which were held in a block that - at first look - could have been taken as a small barn, as that's originally what it had been before it had been cleared out and the walls knocked out so that every two stalls became a classroom. The wall that the divided doors and meshed windows had been on had also been knocked out and replaced with solid timber with solid oak doors.

Walking into the classroom where the theory sections of the BHS courses were to be held, she bowed her head respectfully toward the teacher, before she headed over to one of the front desks. Placing her mock leather satchel on the ground by her chair, she opened it and went through the process of setting up her desk. The satchel was then pushed neatly under the chair so that it was out of the way of anyone who might walk past the table. Opening the folder, she began to transcribe the information from the board onto the paper in her folder.

[lottii]

Mischief tugged on a pair on converses and stumbled her way out of her room down the stairs. She had stayed up a little to late the night before, looking for horses on the internet. She recently got the money to purchase a horse but none had caught her eye yet. Apart from Andy's latest rescue, Knight, of course. Sighing, she found her way to the Horse Care classroom, where she would also be for the Prelim Teaching class. Knowing academic subjects weren't her strongest point she wanted to work with horses when she left school, and these courses seemed like a good thing to be able to prove her ability with horses. Smiling a greeting to the teacher, she spoke excitedly "Mischief, Miss", her smile growing slightly wider as she took in the brightly colored hair. Sitting down she pulled out a pencil case and ringbinder, having noticed the handouts she decided not to write down what was on the board.

~~~~~~~~~~

Callum walked swiftly to the Horse Care class. Not entirely sure why he was taking the class, something involving horses couldn't be bad. His face softened from it's set blankness - unless he was around Jemma of course - when he thought of his own two horses. He entered the room quite quietly, noting Jemma wasn't here - he didn't even know if she was taking this class. Bowing his head at the teacher he greeted the young woman with a slight bowing of his head, "Morning Miss, I'm Callum", his shy voice returned. Finding a seat away from the others he settled down, spent a couple of moments retrieving the customary black biro pen from the bottom of his plain black canvas satchel and then opened the A4 notebook he had brought with him for the class. Once he wrote the title and subheadings, he had a quick look around him. He noticed there were two students from classes who were in some of his other classes, Cara and Mischief. Cara kept herself to herself, and the exuberance of Missy slightly worried him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry pulled on his usual clothes, wearing a simple long sleeved black t-shirt underneath an open black and white short sleeved check shirt. On the lower half of his body, he wore straight leg gray jeans, which could be mistaken for faded black. As he walked over to the door of his room, he paused to remove black canvas shoes, with black laces, and after putting them on, slipped silently out of his room. Some would say he was flying if they saw him slim body moving across the campus, for his feet made no sound. An almost inaudible knock was made onto the door of the classroom where this lesson would be held. He silently opened the door, and slipped inside, bowing his head at the teacher before taking a seat close to the nearest person, a young girl, smartly dressed girl who seemed to be writing notes. Wondering if he should do the same, Harry sat and waited for instructions instead, taking out a pencil case containing pens, pencils and a ruler.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pixie smiled at the influx of students into her room. Two offered small introductions, two just a movement of the head to indicate their arrival. She waited until all the young people settled in their seats before she started speaking. "Welcome to the class. I am Pixie, or Miss Edwards if you prefer. You will do the training for the Exam in a series of assignments, which you can use for the Exam if you feel they are the best you can do, or you can repeat it again for the Exam. I believe it is Harry, do you wish to have a folder?" Pixie paused waiting for an answer, before continuing to detail the first assignment. "For your first assignment, which will be due next class, I would like you to write in a fair amount of detail, what you know about each of the first 5 topics we are covering. I expect a few points about each section of the top. For example within the Clothing paragraph, I would like to see mentioned some different types of rugs and briefly their uses. Rather than going through each section, I am treating this as a mature class, so just let me know if there is anything you would like some more detail on, and I am happy to explain.

ooc: You may write what your charrie would write. You don't need to write all of it though, the idea is that they do some of it for homework. I would love to see it completed when I post the next class, but its not a requirement!

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara turned to the next page in her folder. Picking up the blue pen, she headed the page Grooming and Bandaging Capping the blue pen, she picked up the black and continued writing:

Grooming: Horses groomed regularly have healthier and more attractive coats. Many horse management handbooks recommend grooming a horse daily, though for the average modern horse owner, this is not always possible. However, a horse should always be groomed before being ridden to avoid chafing and rubbing of dirt and other material, which can cause sores on the animal and also grind dirt into horse tack. Grooming also allows the horse handler to check for injuries and is a good way to gain the trust of the animal.

Proper basic grooming of a horse is a multi-step process involving several simple tools:
Curry: Usually a round tool with short teeth made of plastic or stiff rubber, used to loosen dirt, hair, and other detritus, plus stimulate the skin to produce natural oils.
Dandy brush: A stiff-bristled, "dandy" brush is used to remove the dirt, hair and other material stirred up by the curry. The best quality dandy brushes are made of stiff natural bristles such as rice stems, plastic-bristled dandy brushes are more common.
Body brush: A soft-bristled "body" brush removes finer particles and dust. Some natural body brushes are made of boar bristles, like human hairbrushes, others are made of soft synthetic fibers.
Grooming rag or towel: A terrycloth towel or other type of cloth. Sometimes called a "stable rubber."
Mane brush or comb: Horses with short, pulled manes have their manes combed with a wide-toothed plastic or metal comb. Horse tails and long manes many be finger-combed or are brushed with either a dandy brush, body brush, or a suitable human hairbrush.
Hoof pick: All four feet of the horse need to be cleaned out (will go more into this in hoofcare and shoeing).
In special weather conditions, a metal shedding blade with short, dull teeth is used to remove loose winter hair. Metal grooming tools used on sheep and show cattle may also be too harsh to use on a horse.
In the summer, fly spray is often applied to the horse after grooming.
Sweat or Water Scraper: A metal or plastic tool to remove excess liquid from a horse's coat.
Sometimes, though not always, horses are clipped with scissors or, preferably, electric clippers. The most common areas are a short "bridle path" just behind the ears, where a few inches of mane is removed to help the bridle lay more neatly; and the fetlocks, where extra hair can collect undesired amounts of mud and dirt. For horse show and exhibition purposes, additional clipping may be done.


Beyond the basic equipment, there are literally thousands of grooming tools on the market, from multiple designs on the basic brushes, available in many colors, to specialized tools for braiding manes, polishing hooves and clipping loose hair. There are also grooming products for horses ranging from moisturizing hair dressings to glitter gel and hoof polish.
Horses can be bathed by being wet down with a garden hose, but they do not require bathing and many horses live their entire lives without a bath. Either horse or human shampoo may be safely used on a horse, if thoroughly rinsed out, and cream rinses or hair conditioners, similar to those used by humans, are often used on show horses. Too-frequent shampooing can strip the hair coat of natural oils and cause it to dry out. A well-groomed, clean horse can be kept clean by wearing a horse blanket or horse sheet.

A horse show class that considers quality of grooming for as much as 40% of the total score is called showmanship.

Bandaging: The legs of a horse require routine observation for lacerations or swelling. Everyday care involves brushing the legs with a brush to remove dirt and mud. A currycomb is generally not used below the knees. It is common even for pleasure horses to have excess hair trimmed from the fetlock to prevent excess accumulation of mud and moisture. When working, many riders wrap the horse's legs with protective boots or bandages to prevent injury. After a ride, it is common for a rider or groom to hose off the legs of a horse to remove dirt and to ease any minor inflammation to the tendons and ligaments. Liniment may also be applied as a preventative measure to minimize stiffness and ease any minor strain. If the horse has been overworked, injured, or is to be hauled, a standing bandage or shipping boot may be placed on the horse's legs for protection, to hold a wound dressing, or to provide support.

Wrapping legs requires care and skill. A too loose bandage will fall off, potentially tangling in the horse's feet and causing panic or injury. A too tight bandage can itself cause injury to tendons and ligaments and even circulation problems. Commercial boots for riding or shipping are usually easy to apply if purchased in the correct size, as they attach with a hook and loop fastening, or, less often, with adjustable buckles. Leg bandages require more attention. A bandage is usually applied over a protective padding of roll cotton or a premade quilted pad. The bandage is started on the outside of the leg, in the middle of the cannon bone, then wrapped down to either the fetlock or the hoof, depending on the purpose for which it is used, then back up to just under the knee, then back to the center of the cannon just above the starting point, ending on the outside of the leg. Most of the time, a left leg is wrapped in a counter-clockwise direction, and a right leg wrapped in a clockwise direction, starting on the outside, moving front to back. Legs may be bandaged with either disposable stretchable wrap that sticks to itself, or with washable fleece or cotton wraps that are reusable and fasten at the ends with a hook and loop closure. Bandages may also be taped with medical tape to help them stay on.

Cara put the pen down and read through what she had written down. Her nose twitched a little, as though she wasn't impressed with what she was reading, but she knew that ripping the page out would draw too much attention. And anything she had missed out, she could elaborate on under other headings.