Stage 3 of 4
The daily round
The parts nobody photographs: feed, rugs, the muck heap, and four hooves that need doing whatever the weather is.
Owning a horse is mostly this. Not the rosettes and not the arena — the hay net, the rug change at dusk, the barrow. It is also where most of the money and nearly all of the time goes, so it is worth knowing before you sign anything.
What to read first
- What do horses eat?
- What are horse rugs for?
- How to muck out a stable
- How to pick out a hoof
- What is a gelding?
Further on
When you have got this far, what comes next is the partnership: Schooling, the arena, and the long years together — what the two of you become, and how it's marked.
Written by Craig Fearn, Stable & Hoof.
From the journal