Long days… warm weather… LOTS of hair!

I have been sort of ignoring everyone’s complaints about shedding horses because Lola has been sleek and shiny since that warm weather we had in January! A box stall and blanket will do that for a horse. Plus she’s worked hard and groomed regularly. I forgot that my pasture ornament wouldn’t be exempt from the spring shedding craziness! I snuck out to see Bear right after work last night in order to get a quick ride in before the 7pm Maundy Thursday service at church. (He’s sort of on the way.) So I scurried out, grabbed a saddle and grooming bucket, and he was waiting by the fence as usual. I pulled his sheet off (we had a rainy spell again), and I started currying only to find he’s one hairy mess!

With the sheet on I don’t think he’s been very effective in rolling any of the hair off his body himself, so he had hair matted to him! CRAZY! He hardly grows a winter coat, none of this long belly and neck hairs that Lola gets, so I was surprised that he had that much to come off! He certainly enjoyed the curry, and as long as it doesn’t rain again, he’ll be done with that rain sheet. The poor guy is probably itchier than all get out! So at least he can start rubbing it off rolling.

After getting all this off... we didn’t have much time left. So we took off down the road for at least a half hour ride. We did our usual walk down the back roads, and I am just always amazed what a good boy he is! He hasn’t been out for a two weeks, and hasn't been regularly ridden for months! Yet he was a perfect joy to ride. He stopped and looked when the donkey snorted at us, he got a little prancy when the crazy arab rushed the fence at us, and he flipped his head once while we were climbing a hill and a tractor started up (loudly) behind us somewhere. That’s it! So very impressive for a horse that is out of work right now, and all pumped up on spring grass!

I’m realizing that if I do want to get serious about putting him back into full work this summer, I better be consistent about our conditioning. The trailer is at the boarding facility with Lola, so trailering him anywhere will just be a lot of work, but we’ve got enough back roads and trails from there to at least give us a 2 hour walking ride. From there I’ll need to either start trailering out to the local arena or get him back to the boarding place. We’ll see how long it takes to sell Miss Fancy Pants. She’s doing SO well right now, I feel like she is a really marketable horse. We’ll see though. It has to be the right home.

Such a good boy, if only he’d hold still for his picture. But he sees the camera and comes to sniff it. Does it every single time!