Volunteer Foundations | For ALL Volunteers
A basic understanding of grooming and equipment helps all volunteers work safely and confidently around horses. It allows volunteers to recognize when something doesn’t look right, support the team more effectively, and contribute to a calm, well-organized environment for both horses and participants.
Understanding Horse Body Parts for Grooming
Knowing the names and locations of a horse’s body parts is important for safe, effective grooming. Understanding anatomy helps volunteers communicate clearly with staff, follow instructions accurately, and groom each horse without causing discomfort or accidentally startling them.
Grooming Horses
Grooming is more than keeping a horse clean—it’s an important part of horse care that helps keep the horse healthy, comfortable, and ready for lessons or activities. Grooming also gives volunteers a chance to build trust and form a positive bond with the horse.
Key Points for Volunteers:
Always groom horses in cross-ties or under staff supervision to ensure safety.
Follow cross-tie safety rules: never cross under the horse’s neck, stand to the side, and never leave the horse unattended.
Use gentle, calm motions to avoid startling the horse.
Check for injuries or signs of discomfort while grooming, and report anything unusual to staff.
Work systematically: start at the neck and shoulders, then move down the body, legs, and hooves.
Grooming helps maintain the horse’s physical health, supports safety for everyone, and reinforces a positive, calm environment.
Common Equipment in Equine-Assisted Services
We use a wide variety of equipment in our program to support a wide variety of needs. The video below gives an outline of common equipment you might see for adaptive riding the “why” behind it.
Therapy Equipment
In addition to the equipment listed above, you may see surcingles used during therapy sessions. A surcingle secures pads to the horse’s back and allows the participant greater freedom of movement.
Surcingles can have one handle, two handles, or no handles.