HORSE GROOMING

Grooming is the most effective and powerful tool for Human (trainer,rider,farrier,vet) to communicate with the Horse , Horse most rational and deep COMMUNICATION begins with GROOMING.

1-Trust building.
2-Making bond.
3-Accepting us (Predator) in their Herds as a Prey Animal .
4-Makes way into the Private and Untouchable parts of the body.
5-Most powerful tool for Communication between Human & Horse.
6-Horses are very sensitive to touch and they Groom one and other.
7-Grooming can be a powerful influence which we can use to gain Control and Trust.
8-There are Horses which in their body language show dislike to Grooming we have to be very careful with this tool and use it properly , when a Horse shows dislike to Grooming its not the Grooming itself which they dislike it could be different reasons for this either our brush is too hard and rough , they have a very thin skin , they have not accepted us in their circle of security and safety zone.
9-The most beautiful picture in our minds could be Horse Grooming Horse therefore Horses naturally Grooms the Groomer (the Horse starts touching and chewing on you be very careful this is very much crucial if we are not ready and just playing with the Horse we might hit or slap the Horse to prevent and stop him/her from chewing us, we should never do that (we never return a favor by hitting or slapping on the face) either we push the Horse head away or we stop Grooming until we find a way to prevent the Horse from chewing us in return.
Working with this powerful tool we have to put our attention into this our %100 attention must be there with the Horse nowhere else.
10-For the Human safety the best and secure place to stand for Grooming is Beside the Forehand.

One of the main goals in Horse Training is to keep the Horses attention to what you do, We know Horses can see (Paying Attention to) one thing at a time (the Horse eye at each side of their head to see any danger approaching to attack and their Instincts tell them to always watch out for those attackers) each eye has its own view completely and totally different to ours. They don't give their body to a Wild Big Cat to Groom they only Groom one and other in the Herd now when a Horse gives his/her body to us for Grooming this is a highly trust in us (as predators) we have to honor that and look after it well because we have reached a high value , we have been accepted as one of theirs , as one of the herd members. One of the very sensitive places in the Horses body is around FLANK area this place is highly sensitive for the Horse the reason for this is because the predators like Wild Dogs, Wild Cats and Wolfs in the time of Hunt the go for the Horse FLANK to grab and Horses are very weak around the flank area. I Groom the Flank area by my bear hand (I don't use a brush) sometimes with a wool cloth. Kelly Marks in her book (Perfect Partners) say weather we want or not while we are around our Horses we are Training them (I don't have the book so it might be some differences in my sentence and hers) so what is the best thing to use while we are around them and spending our time with them to my opinion is Grooming because we can also have their attention too. We can detect a Itchy place very easily while Grooming if we touch a itchy spot the Horse will show us by their body language they signal their pleasure by Screwing up their upper lip or by Arching or Stretching their Neck . The Horse also could say Back Off when the Horse Pins the ears , Swishing the Tail or picking up a Hind for a Kick. We have to make our Hands Sensitive for Grooming to know how much pressure we have to use for Grooming we have to know all Horses are not the same in Grooming some for example have more sensitive skin therefore we have to use less pressure. By this tool (Grooming) you can build a relationship with a Horse so he/she would leave all his/her friends in the herd and come right up to you in other words come to the Grooming Partner. PH.