4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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395 answers in Grooming & Daily Care — page 14 of 17
Sweet itch is an allergic reaction to midge bites, so the routine is all about the pony never getting bitten in the first place. Start before the season does: a well-fitting sweet-itch rug that covers the neck, belly and tail head goes on before turnout and stays on through the midge months, checked daily for rubs and…
Site the heap away from watercourses, ditches, ponds and wells, on firm, level ground — ideally an impermeable base — where runoff cannot reach drains or streams. Build it compact and squarish so it heats and rots down instead of slumping, keep twine, plastic and other rubbish out of it, and turn it when you can. The…
Housed goats fight a different set of enemies than summer goats: damp bedding, stale air at nose height and lice that spread fast through a close-kept herd. Keep coats in order by bedding dry, ventilating the shed without draughts at goat level, and building a weekly brush-and-part-the-hair check into the housed…
A goat's coat stays in good order with regular brushing, dry shelter and hands-on skin checks built into normal handling. Brush short-coated goats weekly to shift loose hair and dander, and comb longer or fibre coats before tangles turn into mats behind the ears, under the jaw and around the belly. While your hands…
You can't hurry the trigger — lengthening daylight starts the shed — but you can absolutely help the loose hair out. Groom with a rubber curry in firm circles for a short session every day rather than one huge weekly effort, and use a shedding scraper or grooming block on the big flat areas where hair is coming away…
You can't brush wet mud out — it just grinds grit into the coat and rubs the skin. Let it dry fully until it's crisp, then work it loose with a rubber curry and lift it away with a stiff dandy brush in short, flicking strokes; legs are best done with a softer brush or by hand so cold skin isn't scraped. In winter,…
Groom a thick-coated miniature in sections with small tools: work a rubber curry in circles to lift undercoat and dried mud out of the double coat, follow with a stiff brush, and a shedding tool during the spring moult. Get fingers down to the skin as you go, because that dense coat hides lice, rain scald and small…
Measure him from the centre of his chest to the back of his hindquarters to get his rug size, then fit the rug forward of where it will settle: fasten the chest straps first so it sits up at the withers without pulling back, cross the surcingles leaving a hand's width of slack, and link the leg straps through each…
You do not dust bathe a chicken so much as give her the means to do it herself: a dry, sheltered patch of loose soil or sand, big enough for several hens to lie in and fling dust through their feathers. Keep the area under cover so rain never turns it to mud, rake it over and top it up as it compacts, and let the…
Scrape the water off, throw on a wicking cooler, and walk him until the coat is dry to the skin before any ordinary rug goes on, because a rug over a wet back traps damp against him and invites rubbing and chilled muscles. After a wet ride, untack, rinse the mud off his legs and dry the legs thoroughly, since heels…
Match the clip to his workload: a horse in light winter work turned out daily usually needs only a bib or low trace clip, while harder work earns a blanket or hunter clip, and hair is left on the legs and a saddle patch for protection in most styles. Clip on a clean, dry, grease-free coat with sharp, well-oiled…
Check every trough and drinker daily, and scrub them on a rhythm the weather sets: empty the trough, scrub all surfaces with a stiff brush to strip the slime layer, rinse thoroughly and refill with clean water, at least weekly in mild weather and more often when algae blooms in heat. Automatic drinkers need the bowl…
Wipe tack down after every ride with a damp cloth to lift sweat and grit before they dry into the leather, and give it a full clean weekly: strip the bridle apart, wash the bit, sponge the leather with saddle soap, condition the dry areas, and check every strap and stitch as you go. The safety half is inspection:…
Between fitter visits, run the same checks monthly and after any change in his shape: with the saddle girthed as usual, no pad, you should fit two to three fingers of clearance over the withers, feel even contact along both panels, and see the seat sit level rather than tipping you forward or back. After a ride, read…
Run both hands slowly down every leg each day, comparing left with right, feeling for heat, filling or new swelling over tendons, joints and fetlocks, then sweep your palms over his neck, back, girth and quarters for lumps hiding under the coat. The trick is knowing his landscape: most horses carry old, harmless…
Handle each bird calmly in daylight, support her body, and part the feathers against the grain where parasites gather: around the vent, under the wings and at the base of the neck. Look for tiny moving specks in the fluff, clusters of pale eggs cemented to feather shafts near the skin, and irritated, dirty-looking…
Treat vital signs as a skill you build on your healthy horse: learn his resting heart rate by feeling the pulse under his jaw, count his breaths by watching his flank, take his temperature, and check gum colour and capillary refill, always at rest and always the same way. A typical healthy adult rests around 28 to 44…
Bathe your horse in the warmest, calmest part of the day, on non-slip ground: wet him gradually from the legs up, shampoo one section at a time, and rinse until the water off his belly runs completely clear, because soap left in the coat causes more itch than the dirt did. Scrape off the excess water and walk him in…
Whether a horse needs a rug depends on the individual in front of you: a healthy, unclipped horse with good condition and access to shelter grows a coat designed for winter and usually stands rain and cold perfectly well unrugged. Rugging earns its keep for clipped horses, older or thinner horses, those who drop…
The barefoot-versus-shod decision rests on the match between your horse's feet, his workload and the ground he works on, not on fashion either way. Barefoot suits many horses in light to moderate work whose hoof quality is good and whose wear doesn't outpace growth, especially with regular trimming and time to…
Through wet winter ground, sheep need a weekly foot check built as one set: a limp watch across the flock as they move, the skin between the toes read foot by foot, the smell of each foot checked as it is lifted, and trimming kept up so no hoof overgrows into the mud. Where the flock's routine uses one, a footbath is…
Leave heavy horses' and cobs' tails long in muddy seasons, washing and detangling them gently by hand rather than cutting the protection away, and keep the feather on the legs rather than clipping it off. Read the skin underneath the feather once a week, parting it leg by leg, and dry feather thoroughly after wet work…
Expect a slow, patchy spring shed: a donkey loses the thick winter coat gradually and unevenly, often later than a horse nearby, and can look ragged for weeks while loose hair lifts in sections and tighter areas hold on. Help by grooming the loose coat out in short, gentle sessions, reading the skin closely while the…
A horse rugged all winter needs daily checks, not just a rug put on in autumn. Slip a hand under the rug at the shoulder to judge warmth each day. Keep a lighter spare rug ready, so a mild week never means choosing between sweating and no rug plan at all. KinsLe's Care Teams lets you assign the daily rug check for…
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