How to Give a Horse a Bath

Bathing your horse is important to his health, especially during the hot summer months when sweat and dirt can accumulate and cause skin conditions that can be avoided with proper cleaning. Doing it properly can make the difference between a pleasant experience or a major meltdown in your horse's behavior. Before you tie the horse, make sure it is introduced to the idea of getting wet.

Hold your horse with a long lead, and take the hose and begin to spray your horse's feet. Expect the horse to dance around. Allow him to move around you but continue to spray his feet and lower legs. The idea is to teach the horse that his moving around will not allow him to escape the water. He may or may not calm down but you need to continue to proceed with getting him wet. Eventually, the horse will be completely soaked, and eventually he will begin licking and chewing, a sign that he is relaxing and submitting to you.

With the horse wet, you may now tie him to the post where you will continue his bath. Take care not to spray his face. Horse's do not care to have their faces sprayed any more than we do. To wet down your horse's face, take a sponge and use that moisten his face and then soap it. Rinse it the same way.

Start behind the horse's ears and work backwards to his tail, wetting and soaping. Take great care to rinse the soap out of the hair as any left over can cause skin irritation. Take special care to clean the mane and tail well, and rinse them even better. You will need to follow the soaping with a conditioner in the mane and tail in order to keep it from tangling. Again, be sure and rinse the mane and tail extremely well.

Last, do your horse's head. And once finished, dry his face with a soft towel. He will appreciate this and it will make future washings of his face less difficult. One you have finished bathing your horse, make sure you dry him completely before turning him loose, as he will reward all your hard work by rolling as soon as you release him.