When owning, training, riding, and showing horses, there is a certain “look” to which one aspires. World-class “turnout”—a horse in peak condition, perfectly coiffed and luminous with health, outfitted with gleaming and well-fit tack appropriate for his sport—can take your breath away. And while it can certainly play a significant role in a competitive rider’s success, it is just as appealing to have any horse “groomed to the nines,” whether he’s headed for an afternoon lesson or just out on the trail. Achieving this superior look is not just about clean tack, shiny brass, spotless stockings, or perfect braids. The most important steps are in the day-to-day nitty-gritty of grooming and caring for the horse: noticing “something not-quite-right” about the way the horse looks or moves before it becomes “something wrong”; brushing and combing and trimming a little every day so the horse’s skin and coat remain healthy; knowing how to prepare a horse properly for training, and how to cool him down afterward. Now, two of the best professional grooms in the business share their trade secrets, with over 1200 color photographs accompanying the ultimate modern-day guide for all riders who want their horses to look and feel their best.

Grooming Horses is the ultimate visual guide for riders of all levels, offering step-by-step instructions and over 450 full-color photos to perfect essential grooming skills while mastering the art of horse care! Grooming Horses is a quick-reading, picture-driven guide to every aspect of grooming horses, including braiding, show preparation, and skin care. It's an easy-to-understand reference created for visual learners that allows riders of all ages and stages to smooth out the rough edges of their essential skills while acquiring more specialized knowledge. Step-by-step, full-color photo sequences and information-packed, clearly worded text make this volume the definitive resource on an age-old subject and a must-read for anyone who rides, owns, or tends to a horse. More than 450 full-color photos on topics such as: Basic grooming Bathing Clipping Braiding Show preparation English and Western styles, all breeds

Horse Speak is not a training method or technique—it is a practical system for “listening” and “talking” to horses in their language, instead of expecting them to comprehend ours. Horse Speak can be used by anyone who works with horses, whether riding instructor, colt starter, recreational rider, or avid competitor. It promises improved understanding of what a horse is telling you, and provides simple replies you can use to tell him that you “hear” him, you “get it,” and you have ideas you want to share with him, too. The result? Time with your horse will be full of what horse trainer and equine-assisted learning instructor Sharon Wilsie of Wilsie Way Horsemanship calls Conversations, and soon the all-too-common misunderstandings that occur between horse and human will evolve into civil discussions with positive and progressive results! Learn Horse Speak in 12 easy steps; understand equine communication via breath and body language; and discover the Four Gs of Horse Speak: Greeting, Going Somewhere, Grooming, and Gone. Practice regulating your intensity, and sample dozens of ready-made Conversations with your horse, as step-by-step templates and instructional color photographs walk you through the eye-opening process of communicating on a whole new level.

The Howell Equestrian Library is a distinguished collection of books on all aspects of horsemanship and horsemastership. The nearly fifty books in print offer readers in all disciplines and at all levels of competition sound instruction and guidance by some of the most celebrated riders, trainers, judges and veterinarians in the horse world today. Whether your interest is dressage, show jumping or Western riding, or whether it's breeding, grooming or health care, Howell has a book to answer your needs. Get to know all the books in the Howell Equestrian Library; many are modern-day classics and have achieved the status of authoritative references in the estimation of those who ride, train and care for horses. The Howell Equestrian Library

Discusses such handling and care topics as haltering, tying, grooming, bathing, clipping hair, and caring for the mane and tail

An illustrated, step-by-step guide to horse care offers a complete course in horse handling and grooming, explaining the safest way to approach and manage large animals, as well as how to groom a horse correctly, from clippling fetlocks to braiding manes and tails. Original.