Journal

It is the first thing a judge sees and the last thing to grow back. Why most manes are not ruined by bad products, but by too much attention.

Shine is never produced at a show. It is only called in. A timetable from arrival to the arena, run the way Grand Prix grooms run it.

Shedding is not a nuisance, it is an achievement. What happens inside the horse, why daylight sets it off, and how to turn eight weeks of hair into four.

Mane hair grows back. Tail hair does too, only so slowly that the mistake stays visible for years. A case for fingers and against the brush.

Every bath removes something the coat built itself. When it is worth it, how to do it properly, and why the sweat scraper matters more than the shampoo.

Anyone who owns a grey knows the green patch on the hip. On stains, purple shampoo and the question of how much white a horse can carry.

Hoof oil makes good photographs and rarely better hooves. What daily hoof care actually achieves, how to read a healthy hoof, and when shine does harm.

Most grooming boxes are full and still useless. What actually belongs in one, in which order it is used, and why washing brushes is not fussiness.

Mud fever is not a dirt problem, it is a moisture problem. How to get the pastern through winter before it becomes a case for the vet.

At every show there is a moment when everything depends on whether somebody thought of it. A packing list from grooms who do twenty weekends a year.

The judge sees one side first, and sees it standing still. Why dressage grooming is a question of symmetry, and how to prepare a horse for it.

Brushing boots and over-reach boots sit on the same patch of skin for hours. Why the skin under the kit is the grooming job on a jumper, and how to check it daily.

Dressage, cross-country, showjumping: three days, three surfaces, one horse. Why eventing grooming is logistics, and what counts on the night before the trot-up.

Coat shine is a result, not a product. What a show barn really works on for weeks, what banding asks of the crest, and why summer coats bleach.

Over eighty kilometres, what rubs helps decide whether the horse finishes. Where tack works on skin, how to cool properly, and what to check after the ride.

From the collar to the crupper, a driving horse is covered in leather. Where it rubs, why a matched pair is more than looks, and what the minutes after unharnessing are for.

Vaulting is the only discipline in which people stand on the horse. What that means for the girth area, the back and the mane, and what to check before every session.

A horse that lives out is looked after mainly by leaving its coat alone. What is genuinely needed each day, and why mud is better left to dry than washed off.

Against sweet itch, what helps most is whatever keeps the midge away from the horse. Which timings, fields and rugs achieve that, and where the vet takes over.

The skin under the saddle tells you about fit long before the back does. How to read white hairs, dry patches and girth pressure while they are still small.

Pale skin on a horse burns, and it burns exactly where nobody looks. How shade, turnout times and a fly mask stop it happening in the first place.

Most winter skin trouble comes from friction and damp rather than from dirt. How to use rugs, brushes and drying time so the skin comes through intact.

Washing is not an event. It is an order of operations. Keep to it and you take half the time for twice the result.

Nobody grooms in the warm-up arena. People present there. Everything else happened the evening before.

Mane and coat collect the compliments. Hoof and skin decide how long there is anything to compliment.