dirty horses...

[Allie]

When out to ride today, and saw that my grey horse was now kind of a brown color, then almost fainted when I saw my palimino! Unfortunately, today was Champagne's (the palimino) turn to be ridden, so I went to work. She was originally kind of a seal brown, as we had snow a couple of days ago that left the pastures muddy, and apparently she rolled enough times to COMPLETELY coat herself in mud. As I brushed... and brushed... and brushed, I found that she actually was still yellow under it all. What a mess! I know there is nothing I can really do to prevent this, I just needed to let off some steam, as I was only able to ride for about 25 min. b/c of the amount of time it took to groom her. My sympathy to all other light colored horse owners

Allie

 

[cynthia]

ugh, i'm so with you on this one. i arrived late at the barn last night because of horrible traffic resulting from an accident on the highway, as did my evening riding partner (that barn is pretty spooky when one is alone at night in winter!).

as luck would have it, Raven was no stranger to the muddiest parts of the pasture; i'm sure he chose those specifically over the acres and acres of regular old grass! i'm guessing that the other woman's horse was the same way, but we both went to work in different parts of the barn getting the boys ready. *she*, however, had him tacked up and walking to the ring in 5 minutes, and i'm still brushing, and combing, and brushing, and rubbing his muddy face with a towell, and brushing some more, and picking out feet with stones lodged in them! on top of all that, it was fairly dark in his stall, so i couldn't see half the mud his legs were covered with. aggh! i started to think i was being way too neurotic or something, but i figure, he's my *leased* baby, so i'm always taking extra time on him.

of course, by them time i wandered on into the arena, it was nearly 7:30pm, and Raven thought it *way* too late to be forced to work! ;> eventually we got going, and of course it was 10pm by the time i got home.

*sigh* such is life, i guess. okay, i'm done moaning. ;>

-cyn

[This message has been edited by cynthia (edited 10 December 1999).]

 

[Jo Chisholm]

Dear Allie,
Where are you from? I also have a horrible muddy grey Arab who absolutely revels in getting mud where it shouldn't be possible to get it!! I know the feeling of frustration as the time element is so short in the winter months. I am in not so sunny Devon, UK. I also have children, so that is another annoyance I have to deal with to get riding in the winter. I am not really a new rider, I have been riding for most of my life, but I thought I would join in for fun. I am an Endurance Rider, and my horse has had a couple of months off after a hard season, but I have got to get myself motivated to start work again!. My motto is - exercise is the priority, as long as the saddle and bridle areas are clean, and you have made a small effort to tidy up your filthy horse, that is the main thing. I use webbing tack (apart from the saddle) so if it gets muddy, it can go in the washing machine. I must say I used to spend more time brushing horses before I had kids, but time is of the essence and sometimes he has to stay a little bit dirty, so that he gets ridden - depends how 'horse proud' you are (actually I am very proud of my horse, but not too worried about what people think - I just look at the pristine horses and think, I wonder how many miles you would go and stay sound!!). Better get on with some work now. signing off,

 

[Allie]

Jo- I'm in Kansas. We have basically whatever kind of wether you could imagine here, and it changes pretty much every day. One day sunny and 70 degrees, the next day rainy and 40 degrees. Fortunately, I've learned to live with it. I have riding clothes for every occasion.

As you said, when my horses are really dirty, I clean saddle/bridle area only, as I rarely have an excess of time. Also, due to daylight savings time, it now gets dark here around 5:15. On the plus side, it rained the other day, so for now they are actually pretty clean. I'm only 16, so obviously I don't have children to deal with, only an extreme excess of homework and finals coming up next week. Sigh.

I have found that my palimino tends to be the dirtiest, most accident prone horse I have ever seen. In the summer, she always has the most ticks, in the winter, she always has the most mud, and she always seems to be recovering from some sort of minor cut or scrape. Oh well, she is a nice horse, and she is never lame from injuries, they are always very minor. I think I am the tack store's major buyer of Aloe Heal

Allie