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Halter Horses

There are so many different opinions about horses, what works, what doesn’t, how to’s and where for’s, here is our interpretation and what we do or have tried.

A Halter horse is pushed or “fitted” from the day they are born to grow and develop at accelerated rates. We provide a healthy diet with a special look into the requirements of joint and leg health during this accelerated growth period. Halter horses are different from a pasture, or pleasure horses.

Halter horses are generally kept in a barn stall with artificial lighting and pushed with optimal feed and exercise to obtain a well defined fit horse. They are groomed and worked with on a daily basis. A halter horse is judged on the confirmation of the horse, and its resemblance to breed standards.

To start your Halter horse you will need to provide the following to your horse:

1. Diet. We feed a top quality pelleted feed, along with Alfalfa and Grass hay. We supplement with oil, or rice meal and minerals. Check with your local veterinarian or feed provider for optimal health.

2. Wormer. We have found that a daily wormer is the best at maintaining weight and that show bloom on your halter horse. If you are feeding a daily wormer you must ensure that the horse is able to eat all the feed with in a 24 hour period, and that no other horses will “clean up” after your horse. If you use a paste wormer I would recommend a regular working schedule of every 2 months. There are some addition 5 day treatments, that work very well - we discovered these in 2005 and used them. One is a 5 day schedule of double the dose of Safe Guard. You can email us if you have any additional questions.

3. Exercise Our halter babies are exercised daily. We either walk then around at a brisk walk, pony them, or do some minimal lunge line work. I use this time to go ahead and start light lunge line training, as well as ground driving. Exercise at a trot will bring in more muscle tone than a lope, or a walk.

We gradually build up the length of exercise time on a weekly basis. We tie the horse and allow them to cool down for 1-3 hours per day. This is a great time to let them cool in their neck sweats, should their necks need a more refined look. This tying practice ensures that horse is unable to drink cool water to quickly, and also teaches patience.

4. Neck Sweats - A neck sweat is used to remove any fat on the neck and throat latch area. Neck Sweats come in many different sizes and shapes so that you can sweat the areas that need to be refined. We have also used acupuncture and if you can find a person in your area to acupuncture your horses neck you will love the difference. It is rather inexpensive and the results are exceptional. My personal experience is to have the neck acupunctured 7 days before your show, and continue to sweat the neck in between those 7 days.

We use our neck sweats during the exercise period and our horse remain in the sweat during their cool down period. We then remove the sweat and continue with our grooming.

5. Grooming A halter horse should be brushed and groomed daily to remove additional hair, and to keep that glossy coat. We start our grooming with a curry and then finish with a light bristle brush. Daily grooming will bring out a shine to the coat, teaches the horses patience and touch, and they eat it up!

We like to groom our horses after their daily exercise while they are standing tied to cool this is the optimal hour for removal of dead hair. A slinky sheet is great for removing that winter coat or a foal coat quickly, and is light enough to wear even in hot weather, and puts a wonderful shine to a coat in a matter of days.

6. Clippers A horse will need to be clipped for the show. You will need to clip the hair inside the horse’s ears, the whisker hairs around the muzzle and eyes, the fetlock hair and the bridal path. We have used clippers to clean up under the jaw or where ever you would like to see some refinement in shape.

7. Lighting Our horses are stalled in an area that we can regulate the lighting to allow for darkness only 8 hours a day. We have timers set up to turn on lighting at 6AM and turn off at 11PM This allows the horse to continue its growth cycle even during the fall seasons when daylight hours shorten. It also decreases hair growth. Horses shut down their normal growth systems and estrus cycles as the days shorten to prepare for the energy needed to sustain the winter months. Providing the lighting as suggested above with only 8 hrs of darkness per day "tricks" the horses body into remaining in the growth cycle, and they will continue their estrus cycles. We bring many mares into the barn on Oct 31 so their estrus cycles will start back up and be ready for a February breeding season.

8. Temperature A show horse should be sheeted at any time if the temperature reaches below 70 degrees and blanketed if the temperature reaches below 45 degrees. This will eliminate the growth of additional hair and continue the growth cycle.

We use our slinky stretch sheet during warmer weather and move to a fleece slinky sheet in late fall. We use a full winter blanket with a slinky sheet as a lining as the temperatures continue to decrease.

Items used by halter horses and their purpose:

Mane Tamer also called a slinky, sleazy, undies, or mane stay. A Mane Tamer has many uses, they are used to train the mane to lay flat against the neck line, giving your horses neck a tight thin look. A Mane tamer may also be used to hold and flatten a banded mane and keep the horse clean over night allowing you to do all your grooming the day before the show, and minimal quick touch ups at the show. Mane Tamers have been used for fly protection, sun bleach protection, and sun burn protection. They can also be purchased in Hunter Orange to identify your horse during hunting season.

Neck Sweats. A neck sweat is typically a piece of neoprene rubber with a nylon backing that is cut into a shape and attached with Velcro that you wrap around the horses neck. The neck sweat makes the horse sweat underneath, and eliminates any fat that the horse may have built up along the crest, throat latch, or shoulder area. If you happen to notice an irritation when using Neoprene Neck Sweats on your horse you may have a sensitive horse like me, that is allergic to NEOPRENE or Rubber. I have some very easy tricks and tips to still sweat the neck, without the irritation, and I offer a special hypo allergenic sweat as another solution. Email I am always happy to share my trials, and tribulations.

Bands: For the banded Mane. You will use small rubber bands and separate your horse’s mane into 1/8” strips and band each strip. The rubber band can either match the horse mane or be a color of contrast.

The mane is then cut short and sprayed with a coat dressing of your choice and a mane tamer hood is place over the bands and allowed to dry. We use matching bands and Show Sheen and immediately place the horse into a mane tamer until just minutes before the show.

Show Halter: The Show halter needs to be a flattering correct fitted halter. The lead will have a chain shank. The chain is placed through the left side of the halter and ran under the chin out the right side of the halter, and up under the cheek piece and attached to the ring at the temple. Show Halters come in many different styles and can economical to rather pricey!

Show Sheet We place our horses in a show sheet, either a cotton sheet or a slinky stretch sheet immediately after bathing. We have found that we can wash, band and groom our horse the day before the show, spray with show sheen and dress the horse in mane tamer, and a slinky sheet over night, and have very minimal touch up work to do the morning of the show. The show sheet is a great time saver for those early morning shows.

More Information on the Items listed above

Mane Tamer A mane tamer has many uses; they can be used for sun protection, insect protection and mane protection. They are used by Halter horses to keep their banded manes in show perfect condition. They are used by rodeo contestants to keep their horses manes trained and manageable and show shape clean. They can be used under a blanket to prevent hair loss from the blanket rubbing on the mane.

A mane tamer should fit snuggly have large enough ear and eye holes to prevent rubbing and discomfort to your horse. Some mane tamers offer a zipper option that allows for easier dressing by providing a larger opening rather than the slip on style with no zipper.

We prefer a zippered hood as I have had a few of our “experienced” horses have major issues with the slip on style. The slip on style must be pulled from the muzzle up over the ears and eyes and onto the neck and withers.

A zippered hood allows you to lay the mane tamer over the neck, and place it over the eyes and ears, with out restricting the vision and then zip up under the neck. The zippered hood allows for easier placement of the mane or bands also.

We generally prepare our horses the night before the show, and band their manes, and then we put on a Mane Tamer and stall the horse for the night. The next morning we get to the show, stress free, pull off the mane tamer, and do some quick touch up and we are ready to go! I can not imagine trying to prepare for a show the morning of, or the day before without the use of a mane tamer.

Many people also use a mane tamer on those young horses whose mane just seems to want to fly every which way. I prefer to wet the mane down, divide the mane into 3-4 inch sections, and braid each section, then place under a mane tamer. The Mane will be nice and trained in a matter of a few days. You can continue this method until the mane lays to one side with out assistance.

The Mane Tamer can be made of several different materials, but any material should provide a nice 4 way stretch for comfort. We like to use a cotton lycra open shoulder hood in the summer months as it will remain cooler, and a full shoulder nylon lycra hood in the colder months. We have also used a fleece hood along with a blanket in the winter and the horses loved it. We found it less bulky and less restrictive than a standard blanketed hood.

Slinky Sheets A slinky sheet has many uses. It can be used as a turn out sheet to protect from insects, and sun fade. It can be used the night before the show to keep dirt and dust off your freshly bathed horse. It can be used as a light weight sheet in the fall.

We use the slinky sheet to shed the baby hair on our weanlings, it seems to work extremely quickly, but you still need the elbow grease and lots of brushing for an optimal coat. The slinky sheet does tend to put a shine and polish on a coat too. It protects from rubbing and hair loss too.

The Slinky sheet can be made of several different materials, but any material should provide a nice 4 way stretch for comfort. We like to use a cotton lycra in the summer months as it will remain cooler, and a nylon lycra hood in the colder months.

We have also used fleece in the late fall when the temperature was too cold for a sheet, but too warm for a blanket. We have also used the slinky sheet under our winter blankets to prevent blanket rub and to add a little extra warmth great in the windy cold climates.

Slinky sheets come in different styles, a slinky sheet or a full body slinky which takes the mane tamer hood and combines it with the slinky sheet into a one piece outfit. The uses are the same, it is just user preference.

Show Sheets We use our show sheets to add a little touch of class to our horses while at the show, nothing makes an impression more than to have all your horses matching, with your ranch logo on the side. People will remember your name and how great you’re set up looks.

The Show sheet is used alone or on top of a slinky sheet to prevent dust and stains on your horse while stalled at the show. They are made of a heavy cotton material to allow for a sweat free sheet. They are easy and quick to dress and remove.

The show sheet is made durable enough to be used as an every day sheet, but we like to keep our show sheets separate and used only for the day of the show. We all know that if you leave the horse in their sheet over night, they will find the only spot in the stall and roll in it, leaving you a stained sheet.

Neck Sweats come in many different sizes and shapes so that you can sweat the areas that need to be refined. We use our neck sweats during the exercise period and our horse remain in the sweat during their cool down period. We then remove the sweat and continue with our daily grooming.