Grooming a horse is a way for you to communicate to your horse and for your horse to communicate to you. In the wild horses groom each other to keep clean and reduce tension (Budianski 87).

Owners groom horses for the same reasons. The first thing that should be done in grooming a horse is to run your hands all over the horse's body and to look for any reactions the horse may have (Pony Boy 3). These reactions are communication from the horse. He could flip his tail, stomp his foot, bite or even kick if the way you are touching him either hurts or irritates him. These reactions tell you the horse is sensitive in that area. The horse cannot verbally communicate his displeasure; therefore it is important to pay attention to his physical communication. "A horse has only this body language of movements and reactions that tell us that something is wrong" (Tellington-Jones 24). When a horse shows his displeasure, especially in the saddle, girth or bridle areas, this could affect how he acts when he is being ridden (Tellington-Jones 24). On the other hand, the horse may lean into you signaling that he likes your touch. This procedure of experimentally touching the horse should be repeated with grooming tools: i.e. curry comb, hard brush, and soft brush.

After grooming the horse, it is often beneficial to massage his body with your hands to build better physical communication between your horse and yourself. Different hand positions and massaging techniques can be used. If this is done, "… It is possible to activate considerably more brain cells if the body is manipulated in new ways, outside the patterns with which the brain is familiar, or if non-habitual movements are carried out" (Tellington-Jones 25).

Thus, grooming and massaging are two forms of communication that build a relationship between horse and owner. To completely understand the communication between horse and owner, you must understand his mentality, personality, and learning processes as well as the grooming and massaging techniques.