As Sad As It May Sound...

It's barely the beginning of February and I have a really bad case of Spring Fever!!

Ugh!

It's making me crazy!

Mindy is calling me and saying riding this, riding that, loping here, loping there...all the while I am falling on my butt while walking across the ice patches 'round these parts.  Oh, and starting my pickup 20 minutes before I have to leave for work...just to thaw the windshield so I can see to drive!

All of her "happy" talk about being able to get some riding done so early in the year, well has made me jealous!  (0:  So I decided to get the girls out and do a little bit of cleaning and see if anyone has started shedding yet.

If someone is shedding, then I have a glimmer of hope that maybe my riding days are just around the corner!!

I got Tari out first.  She was less than impressed when she realized this was going to be a "snack" free activity.  She does have cravings you know!

I assured her after I was done, I'd give her a little something for her troubles!

Baby Momma Tari really doesn't love being brushed.  Which works out well for me, because I am not the brush 'em 'til the shine type of owner.  I usually get the chunks off and go.  Then I brush 'em down when I'm back.  I take no offence to them wallowing like hogs after I turn them loose.  It's what the do to work the kinks out, IMHO.

It may have come from the whole allure of wild horse and their dreadlocked manes, but I have never liked a bridle path.  Don't get me wrong, I like a shined up show horse complete with all the correct trimmings.  But on my horses, no spank you.  They need their whiskers, eye guards, ear hairs, mane, and feathers for bugs.  I don't necessarily think Mother Nature is a kind woman, but I think that some of her ideas are good ones and should be left alone.  So my horses are hairy beasts and I like it.  They do too!!  (0;

I did get the witches knot out of Tari's mane, got her tail mostly untangled, and got most of the hangers on off of the rest of her.  I picked her feet, took a few pictures, gave her a handful of treats and turned her back out.  All of that brushing made her itchy.  She walked around for a minute, nose to the ground and then rolled.  (0: 

I grabbed Horse Girl next, just because.  Horse Girl is bred to be a show horse.  Her parents and grandparents were show horses.  They all have pretty good records and were groomed to a high shine regularly.  So some part of me belives she may be genetically predisposed to like being groomed.

  Horse Girl was a 4-H horse and had little girls spit shining her before she broke her ankle.  So she eats any kind of attention up as fast as she can.  I could groom Horse Girl all day long.  She would think she died and went to heaven.

She doesn't like to be away from the other horses however.  The longer I let her stand untouched, the more agitated she got.  I ended her suffering and gave her a good brushing.  This mare likes grooming so much, you can brush her tail and her head drops and she sighs.  Tari clamps hers down hard after about 5 brush strokes.  Not Horse Girl, any brushing is good brushing!!  (0:

As I brushed the first two big girls, I did realize that they are in need of a bath.  I considered the "sponge bath" approach for about 5 seconds, then I snapped back to reality and carried on with what I had begun!  (0:

She decided to dig a hole while I got her reward for being such a good girl.  Patience is nothing this mare possess, I guess that's why I like her.  I have no patience either...But look how good her tail looks all brushed out!

Fiona was last, but definitely not least.  She nearly bolted out the gate once I caught her.  She is really into attention.  Well, more like entertainment... 

I brought her out of the gate, turned to close it and she was already grabbing my boot laces.  It didn't stop from there, either.  She doesn't like the puppy so she tried to nip her, then decided grabbing Abbi may be better.  The assault on the smaller quadrupeds lasted only a short time, then she decided to try and gnaw on the trailer and tires.  Pawing to China crossed her mind as a good idea and was attempted, as did laying down.

Once I stopped trying to take her picture and actually started brushing her, she stood pretty well.  Fiona's time locked in the stall with no real contact physically except from me made her appreciate grooming.  But even she has her limits...  (0:  I don't know, she may have some sort of equine ADD, who knows?  I would have loved to leave her tied  up for a few hours, but don't really have the place to do it.  I know I can leave her tied to the trailer, but it's not in the best place for that right now.  It's too close to the runs in front of the barn as well as too close to the barn.  The biggest  problem of all, I can't see it from anywhere I would have moved off to, so I couldn't tell if she were in any sort of trouble without walking almost directly to her....

So she got to go back to the pasture without any kind of schooling...I guess you'd call it.  Isn't she cute though?  (0:  And doesn't she just look like a barrel horse? 

Of course only time will tell if she IS a barrel horse, but hey a girl can dream!

So what were the dogs doing while I was brushing the girls?  Well Kage was in the tack room by the heater.  Why was Kage in the tack room by the heater?  Well because it was only 34 degrees outside in the sun, and he doesn't really have any kind of coat for standing around while I groom the horses.  And he's not too proud to stay warm in the tack room and watch me work.  Poor Old Man!

Abbi was right beside, behind, and in front of me the whole time.  Doing what any good Border Collie would do, try and make me go faster so we could do the stuff she wanted to do!  (0:

And Seven?  Well Seven was busy cleaning up after the horses...  Chad says its gross, I say it's funny.  She is a dog after all, and there is nothing about a horse that is gross....  

Sooo, was anybody shedding?  A shedding horse is a sure sign that Springs around the corner...  right??

2 hours, 3 horses, and this is all I cleaned out of my brushes.  That tiny little clump that not even a mouse would take to fill its bed.  I then thought, hey!  Go get the Hee-Haws!  Surely they will be loosing some hair!

Just as my desperation got the best of me and I grabbed the Hee-Haws halters it started to snow.

Lovely.  

Thank you God.  I get it.  Its still Winter and only the beginning of February...

I'll try again in a couple of weeks, but for now...my Spring Fever is a wee bit frozen!