If the horse is clean, the human is filthy.

Words of wisdom.

I spent 3 hours polishing the Princess Mare to a shine.

I started with banging her tail and putting oil in it. I then moved on to her mane. Now, at this time, Bob had the tractor parked just in the entrance of the barn aisle on that side of the barn doing work. Banging, welding, sawing...all kinds of loud noises. Amber just shook her head when the noises got too loud, merely because it hurt her ears. She couldn't have cared less.

I used my thinning razor for the first time. I didn't expect much...it was $2, and I tested it on my hair and it didn't do so hot. But I was glad I tried it, because it was *amazing*. Amber's mane looks fantastic. And it didn't take me too long! Definitely buying more. Blade is replaceable, but when they're $2 a piece, I find it silly for me to go to the trouble of replacing the blade when I could get a whole new thinning comb!

I did that, trimmed her ears, bridle path and whiskers, very carefully with the scissors. My clippers were, much to my dismay, dead, and I had no batteries with me. The cordless mini-clippers are great when they have full power. So I didn't get quite the perfect-polished look I had wanted, but it's good enough. I also trimmed her dock.

Obviously, if I don't have the patience to pull my horse's mane (and let's face it, do I really want to have to deal with her freaking out if I've lost my patience from dealing with sore fingers and stiff, thick mane?), I don't pull tails...so I carefully used my scissors, and it looks neat. I cut a piece from the middle of her tail where it can't be seen to mail to Patricia. She's collecting hair from her friends' horses' tails...for some project. Sounds like she's trying to make switches to sell, she said she needed all colors 8'-18" from the thickness of a pencil to a fat sharpie. I gave about 15" at the thickness of a pencil. I left it at the barn though, so I hope nobody throws it away, I left Bob a message...but I can't bring myself to drive all the way back for that tonight. I hope it's still there in the AM.

I gave her a good scrubbing. I made her stand to have water sprayed near her head, which put her in a foul mood, but she's got to get over that. I usually just sponge her face off because I would rather not deal with the drama, but you know, that's just putting perfume on a dirty dog. I may as well make her stand there, eyes rolling, hopping around, until she realizes she's okay, and that acting like she's dying isn't going to bring relief. There's not much risk of her flipping herself in there, because there's a straight tie in addition to the rubber crossties, so she won't get up high enough to go over, and she's sooner slip out of her halter. I'd rather have a loose horse than a flipped horse! So yeah, I feel more comfortable doing something that I know could make her have an outburst in there, than in just crossties, where she can go up high as she can.

Anyhow, due to her already sour mood because she had to have her face washed, she thought she might lift a leg while I was washing her hindquarters...and well, I don't know if it was a kick threat or if the water just felt weird (I was spraying her, it wasn't bugs), but either way, it's unacceptable and I let her know that I was offended. And no problem after that.

I often wonder how she will do with the show atmosphere. She's pretty easy to reprimand on the norm, other times, she gets high strung and it takes a good deal of reprimanding to regain that attention, and she's still strung out but at least not being such a goon. It will be interesting, either way. I mean, she stands totally still, half asleep with rather loud noises going on with the tractor. But then, she had those two days where she absolutely flipped out over pretty much nothing that I could see around the arena? And when she got to Andrea's, she settled in like she'd always lived there, but the first week at Halcyon, she was about to lose her mind when I lead her around the first time.

I guess that's horses for you. But I really am interested to see if she handles it well. I'm sure if I get her on a regular riding schedule, she will handle it much better. Either way, that's a long way off. Definitely not doing anything until the spring. Training all winter...I'm gonna need a quarter sheet. I was hoping to take a break this winter. But...we lost training time over the spring/summer, so we will have to suffer.

After she dried I Put ointment on her fungus spots - which are still there, and I'm going to ask Kim if she knows what they are. Another mare at the barn has them too. I don't think the ones on her back are saddle sores, because the TREE fits her, it's the gullet that's too narrow. Pretty sure all of the spots are the same fungus, but I have been applying ointment, and it seems to help stop spreading but the spots are still hairless and crusty. I hope they don't grow back white. The ones on her barrel would look like she got scars from being spurred, ha!

I also conditioned her hooves. Then she got a granola bar and went back to sleep in her stall. She has a hard life, right?

Oh, and all this is for her vet appointment. I might be crazy. You'd think she was going to a show.