by C Mark

Created on: July 03, 2006   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

A shiny coat is a sign of good nutrition and a healthy horse, and as such, is a goal every horse owner should strive for.

To begin with, ensure your horse is receiving adequate nutrition. If feeding hay alone, a multi-vitamin may be beneficial. If feeding a grain, the need for additional supplements is greatly lessened. Of course, you should discuss supplementation with your vet before beginning - over dosing various vitamins and minerals can sometimes be worse than a deficiency. Addition of fats, such as corn or vegetable oil, can help put that extra shine on a horse too.

Provide your horse with plenty of water at all times. Along the same lines, a free choice salt block, or salt added to the grain, should be available. These will help prevent dehydration, which can cause the coat to appear dull.

Proper deworming can go a long way towards improving the luster of a coat. Intestinal parasites especially, strip the body of nutrients; nutrients necessary for good health.

Vitamin D—the sunshine vitamin. Get your horse outside, for at least several hours a day. Not only will it reduce his stress, make him happier, and increase muscle tone, but being out in the sun will cause production of vitamin D. Too much direct sun, however, can bleach a coat, so you may want to consider a mesh fly sheet during the day.

Last, but not least, grooming. Daily grooming will help remove the dead hair, sweat, dirt, and scurf that build up on the coat. A good ten minutes a day, even if you are not riding, will vastly improve the coat quality. Begin with a curry comb to loosen up the dead hair and dirt that is deep down in the coat. Follow up with a hard brush, then a soft brush. To really bring out the shine, finish the session with a rub rag - any soft cloth will work. Rub vigorously in circles all over his body (most horses love this, as it is a great massage!).

Once all these pieces are in place (and it may take some time, if nutrition and parasites were the culprits), your horse will not only look good, but will be healthy and feel good.

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