April showers

The boys don't generally get baths - I usually let Mother Nature take care of the whole shower deal.  But then, I don't generally show, either.  And between the last bits of winter fuzz, and all of the dust and dirt from the lot...  Let's just say, a bath wouldn't hurt either of them.

I was hoping to hear the weatherman say temps would hold in the 80's all week, and that I'd be able to get them clean on Friday - but it's supposed to start raining and get cold and windy for the next few days, so it was today or not at all.

I pulled the trailer up into the turnaround, armed myself with two in one shampoo/conditioner, detangler, a rubber curry and a scrub brush, two big tubs, two 20 qt buckets, 85' of hose, and an adjustable stream sprayer nozzle, and started setting up.

Unsuspecting victims

The boys were very excited to see the trailer - they whinnied at it almost as enthusiastically as they greeted their hay.  I left them in the lot to eat while I filled the two tubs up about a quarter of the way with hot, very hot, water.  Then ran them the rest of the way full with cold water from the hydrant.  With the hose hooked on, I could just comfortably reach the closest tie position on the trailer (where Sunny's tied).

Then I collected my victims.  I started with Sunny - soaked him down with the hose starting with his front feet and working my way up after he decided getting wet wasn't worth panicking over.  When he was fairly wet on one side, I switched to a bucket of lukewarm water, added shampoo, and used the curry to work the loose hair and dirt off.  He wasn't thrilled, but didn't fuss too much, considering.  Thankfully the sun was warm enough to take the chill off the water in the hose pretty quickly, and with the length of hose I had to work with, I had a few good minutes of warm-ish water for rinsing before it ran really cold and I'd switch back to bucket-water.

We are NOT amused.

Thunder snorted a bit at my occasional overspray, but I had the nozzle on the shower setting with the hose pressure set fairly low, so it wasn't as if he was getting soaked.  Once I had Sunny sluiced off, I spritzed him down with detangler and swapped their places.

Post-bath & trim

Surprisingly, Thunder was far calmer about the whole thing than Sunny - maybe because he had time to watch?  At any rate, he stood patiently with one hip cocked while I lathered, scrubbed and doused him with buckets of water until he didn't suds up any more and the water ran clear, then coated him in detangler.  While he air-dried, I took a clean body brush and went over the now-dry Sunny.

Clean and pristine

I hadn't done more than run my fingers through his mane and tail before applying the detangler, so I was really impressed to find that even with just the soft bristled brush his mane was sleek, silky, and completely snag free. Good stuff, whatever's in there!

When they were both dry, which didn't take long given the warm gusty breeze, I trimmed bridlepaths, the worst of the ear tufties, and neatened up their fetlocks.  I'm not going to clip legs, shave muzzles, or even trim ear hair much beyond what I've done - they live outside, and taking away nature's bug and sun protection for a one-day thing wouldn't be kind.

Depending on how my lesson tomorrow with Sunny goes, and how nasty the weather gets (they're predicting rain, wind and 30 degrees colder for the weekend), I may bag the show completely.  If I do end up going, Thunder and I will brave showmanship since they're not offering halter, and Sunny and I will do huntseat equitation on the flat, hunter under saddle, and possibly hunter hack.

My only goal with both of them is to expose them to the atmosphere of the thing.  Thunder certainly isn't groomed to the level of neatness required for showmanship - neither is Sunny, for that matter!  So I'd be stunned to place at all with Thunder.  And I've never shown Sunny under saddle, so there again....

Which really takes the pressure off - if we make it, it will be just for fun and edu-tainment - lol!

Are you sure we can't go out and eat more grass?

When I was done trimming, I let them both eat grass for a bit before I turned them back into the lot.  G's been working on getting the pasture fence all hooked up and zap-capable again, so it shouldn't be too long before they can go be out for the summer.  In the meantime, they're thrilled at the briefest opportunity to crop their way along the driveway.

Friday Pre-Show Ride

Eric trailered horses over Thursday, and by the time T and I arrived for my pre-show ride on Friday everything was set up and the arena was already bustling.  The show site was the W.H. Lyons Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls.  Big indoor arena and warm-up ring, stalling for a couple hundred horses, bleachers, concessions, etc.  It's a nice space, and I've been there enough for various things that I already knew where everything was, which was helpful.

The standard uniform for horses was blankets and Sleazys.  The standard uniform for the two-footed crowd was blue jeans and sweatshirts.  I felt more than a little overdressed in my breeches and half-chaps, but I still have enough trouble keeping my lower leg where it belongs that I wanted the extra stick-um.  Oh well.

Eric had schooling sessions scheduled straight through the day with all of his riders.  Unlike some of the other trainers who had two or three riders out at once, he was taking his students one at a time, with only a slight overlap during cool down.  T and I were a bit early, but by the time I had my tack hauled in and Buddy polo-wrapped, bell-booted and saddled, he was ready for me. 

Buddy seemed to recall his previous outings as a halter horse and with Eric under saddle, because the bright lights and busy surroundings didn't phase him much.  He did, however, have plenty of energy from standing in his stall most of the day.  Eric hopped on first and made a couple of laps on an obviously fresh horse before he dismounted and sent me back for a longe line. On the line, Buddy hit the gallop button and Eric let him set his own rate and blow off some steam - the arena footing was pretty deep, and it didn't take long before Buddy was ready to slow down.   

With the bouncy edge worn off, Buddy settled in and worked nicely for Eric through all three gaits.  Then it was my turn.  He was a little looky at the far end where some bright orange signs and a yapping dog, combined with all of the usual moving-in activities of another barn were going on, but following the advice to just keep asking fo an inside bend, we made it successfully past.  On down the long side we passed the announcer's table with plenty of additional "interesting" stuff to eyeball without incident. 

Buddy felt good - I felt like I'd forgotten everything I'd learned.  But with a couple of laps under our belts without any real silliness, the butterflies flew away and I could focus.  The hardest part was not so much managing Buddy, but avoiding collisions.  While common sense and ring etiquette would suggest that riders stay on the same direction around the circle, not everyone subscribed.  And with three horses being longed in the middle, what should have been ample space for avoiding disaster became somewhat less generous.

We didn't school overly long.  Just enough to figure out where the potential trouble spots would be.  All three gaits both directions, and the sense that Buddy was listening and paying attention.  I was happy with it.

Then it was back to his stall to untack and a trip to the wash rack for a rinse.  Which was an adventure all in itself.  Clear across on the far side of the building, it's a low-ceilinged, concrete-floored room big enough for six (well-mannered) horses to be washed simultaneously.  Think high school locker room showers, except with tie-rails and hoses. And water that stayed warm for the duration.  It also had foot-wide drain grates running the length and width. 

Buddy was not thrilled about the grates.  And his front shoes made an impressively loud noise on impact with the floor.  But the warm water obviously felt good, and he stood nicely for his rinse.  I basically just sluiced him down and then slicked the drips off with my hand having forgotten to grab a scraper.

Back at his stall again, once Buddy was dry and redressed in his Sleazy and blanket, he tucked into water and hay.  I finished getting my stuff arranged in the tack stall.  My first class wasn't until Saturday after the supper break.  I'd have a chance to watch Eric ride Buddy in the PB Hunter Pleasure Limit Horse class earlier in the day, and I was eager to see him go and get a better sense of how he'd be in an actual class.