May 8, 2012

Primary Election Holiday

There are days that working in local government is actually pretty sweet.  Like today, which we got off for the primary elections.  Hooray!  I celebrated both by voting for my future bosses and end-users, and by spending a long morning at the barn.

So cute it hurts.
Connor got his mane pulled, his whiskers, ears and goat beard trimmed, his weird sticking-out feathers on the backs of his knees trimmed, and his tail washed, picked and trimmed.  I'm very particular about tail maintenance.  (That's not to say I'm fastidious about it; having a horse with a whitish mane and tail that goes out every day over the muddy Midwestern winter cured me of that).  Like many people, you will never see me brush it. I wash it, then take it a handful and pick a few strands at a time out of that handful using the last few tines of the comb.  It ended up looking like this:

Trimming made the biggest difference.  I wasn't brave enough to bang it - yet.  Also, dapples!
After that, it was a brief ride in the indoor in which I reminded him that it's rude to look out of the windows as we pass them, and that he needed to keep his focus on me.  I can tell that it's been three weeks since I've had a lesson with my trainer, and we are in need of a tune-up.  That said, he is still in a really good place and I'm very happy with him.

His mane is pulled to an appropriate length this time, instead of too short, and it only took ten minutes instead of a month!


  1. You are better than me. I use a brush, but I do use detangler or show sheen. I also start at the bottom and work in sections, especially with the Cobs and Dottie.
    He is looking good. Wanna come wrestle a rowdy colt next weekend? We have four to get ready for a show.

  2. I wish, that sounds like fun! Is Lisa coming?

  3. Yes, thank god, Lisa is coming. She is showing three of them in hand, including the little monster. Since the girls will be in the same class, I will show Peggy's mare.
    Just pray for no rain.

  4. Took me 2 weeks to pull my mare's earlier this Spring...and it was still too long. My husband did it for me in 2 days - guess who has a new job?!

  5. Ha, Kelly, you are so lucky! I would enlist him in a heartbeat! I'm jealous, my husband still hasn't been to the barn to see the little moneypit. It's either the 80 mile roundtrip or denial, one of the two.