Have I Mentioned….?
That I love my horse. Except when I want to kill him. Like today. I had a great riding lesson, and he seems to be accepting my refitted saddle which is a big relief. I did not need to buy a new saddle right now. Well, great might be a bit strong. I learned a lot, but he was lazy because I could tell he needed to pee when I was saddling him. I left the saddle off to try and get him to urinate, but he just stretched out and then looked at me, so the saddle had to go on and we had to ride. When he has to pee he doesn’t like to really move — which is understandable. When I finished riding he started to stretch under me so I hopped off, and pulled off the saddle and just turned him loose in the arena to roll, and… oh,… pee. But he just kept standing at the gate flirting with Lauren and me.
I then learned from Lauren that a big article is being written about her and about Lusitanos as dressage horses, and the woman is coming to interview her and take photos on Friday. Lauren wants me to ride Vento for the photo shoot because an amateur rider on a six year old stallion (BTW, he turned six yesterday) says it all about the disposition of the Lusitano. So, I’ve got to be at the barn at 8:00 am, and on the horse at 9:15, and out of there by 10:00. Boy is Friday going to be a long day.
Anyway, the cold and snow and mud has meant that Vento hasn’t had a bath and he’s very dirty horse. But he has to look great for his close-up on Friday so he needed a bath. We were actually above sixty degrees this afternoon, and the wash rack has a heater on the ceiling so I figured I’d scrub him with my blueing shampoo. We got through the bath with only the sleeves of my sweater soaked. (Usually when I bathe a horse they manage to soak me from head to foot.) I put a wool cooler on him and took him for a walk in the sunshine. He was blindingly white, just beautiful.
He was dancing around, because he _still hadn’t peed_, and making it hard for me to walk him. He was pretty dry so I took off the cooler and turned him loose in one of the turn-outs. Which are footed with sand. Very find sand. He gave a little grunting whicker, and hit the ground before I could react. I’ve never seen a horse roll that fast. When he got up he looked like he was breading himself in preparation for a run through the deep fryer.
He got another bath. Then he stood under the heater while I cleaned tack. And then I locked him in his stall where it’s just sawdust over rubber mats. He was not happy with me. I got home at six o’clock. Because my horse thought he wanted to be a hush puppy.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:19 am
What a hoot! I’d say Gorton’s fish fillet rather than hush puppy, but what the heck. At least Ace, who doesn’t like to get washed, doesn’t roll while he’s wet. He’s not quite as prissy as he used to be, but pretty close. I use Rio Vista shampoos and conditioners. They’ve got a great shampoo for chestnuts which accentuates the copper highlights in Ace’s coat and then I use their Hi-Ho Silver for his socks. He sparkles and smells so good when we’re finished.
When I went out to photograph Vento, he was so blinding in the sun that most of those photographs were blown out. Have a great time with your close-ups. I’ll look forward to reading the article.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
If you’re a horse, why would you hold it?
March 13th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I have no idea why he held it. I really wish he hadn’t, I think he was too busy flirting with Lauren and I. Then I left him in the arena while I went off to get the bath stuff together, and I think he was terribly upset to be left all alone. It was BORING.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Hehehehehe. I think little kids, especially boys, tend to act like that, too.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
So when did the poor critter actually get to pee?
March 13th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Yeah, but it’s not like he has to take his pants off, or go to a special room or something.
He can pretty much let fly when the mood hits him, right?
March 13th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Lol, horses and kids. They always manage to get dirty five seconds after you cleaned them up.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I enjoyed reading about your boy. I can definitely relate to having to rebathe a horse who just couldn’t contain himself on the rolling issue. Sounds like he is definitely a special horse, very well loved.