Hello! Straight Egyptian Breeder...

Hello everyone. My name is Kristin. I own and operate Desert Lily Arabians. ( www.dlarabs.com ) We are a new small breeder of straight egyptian arabians. I bought my first mare in 2006. I have an outstanding colt born this year. I joined this site to learn about training my colt myself. I would like to show him at halter next year.

Welcome. Check out Dimitri's posting in the halter training section. It has helped me tremendously!!!

I second that - check out the training lessons from Dimitri - I have been using it and it is so good.

Dimitri? I only saw the ones by Delgado. They sound really good though. I just adore my colt. He has the sweetest temperament. He learns quickly too. I thought it would be years before I bred any babies nice enough to show. I don't care about winning either. Hes going to be kept in tact and I think he deserves the chance to be seen. He is just six months old and I have had breeding reservation requests already I'm really excited for him!

I wanted to train him myself because too many horses are ruined by trainers. Its just too big a risk in my opinion. I'm not too worried about teaching him myself. As long as I have good step by step instructions. My biggest fear is the conditioning and grooming involved. I'm afraid of not looking polished enough or even worse.. looking like a lawn mover clipped my colt lol!

The halter lessons are from Dimitri Delgado. They are really awesome and helped me alot. Glad you are going to train you own colt. I'm going through the trying to get my mare conditioned for National halter. Right now I feel she is too fat so I'm having to cut back on her hay and work her more. It is hard to do. Also I'm rubber currying her every morning and night. I don't want to body clip so I'm trying to get her coat looking fantastic. Like I say hard work!

Oh I didn't know his first name lol! So you dont actually have to clip to show?

Clipping threads change from region or year to year is something I saw back in the 70's. Elbow grease is the only thing that stayed the same. The farms and trainers I worked for back then kept records on what different judges liked and wanted to see. I don't know if that is still the case. Best advise I can give you is attend as many local shows you can now and check out every horse that is showing. Example: A couple of years when we clipped the tip of the ears, we left a diamond of longer hair to help give that curve in look. I don't know what little tricks are being done now.

Oh ok Thanks for the info. Thankfully I have plenty of time to prepare that part I think I may try to get a local trainer out next spring to walk me through my first clip. I used to groom dogs but a horse is way bigger ! His mother gets a very very short summer coat and I don't think she would ever need clipped. So I don't know what his coat will be like next spring. Its nice and short now so I guess we'll see

I thought we were talking mane, feet, and face clipping. But guess now you are talking about body clipping. Elbow grease grooming, winter blankets, and lamps can help keep your horse's hair coat from coming in thick thus making it easier to get your horse ready for halter classes at earlier spring shows. These things also make it easier (faster) to cool your horse after workout/conditioning.

When I was a arabian, saddlebred, and walkinghorse groom years ago, we did not have to body clip any of show horses. We spent a solid hour before and after each workout/conditioning session currying, stiff brush, and soft brush grooming on every one of the show horses. We put blankets on starting with sheets then light blankets, then going heavier ones as temps dropped more and more below 70 degrees. Daylights lamps were set on timers when the days started getting shorter to keep the horses in summer time mode hair growth.

This is from the 70's in north Texas. I hope this information is helpful.

Oh thanks! Yes its helpful! Yeah I see a lot of people body clip. I understand the benefits but I was never sure if it was required. I don't mind elbow grease. I think as long as he doesn't look fuzzy I might just leave the body and do the face and feet.

Having never done any of this before and never showing. Its an intimidating process! I think it will be worth the time and effort though!