Clipping time

Today I cleaned my clipper blades (long overdue), oiled the clippers and took them out to the barn. Galen has been working fairly hard and it's been warm enough that he's sweating quite a bit. I figured that a very small clip job on the bottom of his neck might help him with cooling out a bit faster. He's got a pretty good winter coat for a Teke, even though he does wear a rainsheet in the winter and sometimes a blanket if it's really nasty out.

I did forget that he's never seen clippers before - I don't worry about nose or ear whiskers and one of the great things about endurance is that no one expects you to have a 'show-ready' horse, polished and clipped. So, we spent some time just getting used to those noisy things. He was very good, all in all, although I wish I had a photo of how far back he was leaning, without moving his feet. I just went slowly, kept telling him what a good boy he was, gave him treats when he relaxed, and we got that neck shaved a bit without much trouble. So, tomorrow we'll see if that helps with the cooling, as we're hauling out to the Redmond Watershed, for a nice, long ride, as long as the weather cooperates.

Monica commented that it 'took pounds off him'. Hmmm, maybe that is an option for humans also..

Youngsters!

Monica and I have been doing some conditioning to get ready for our first endurance ride of the year, which is on March 31st. This will be Danny's (Madgan) first ride, although he did spend the night at a ride last year. We'll be doing the 25 mile limited distance ride and expect to finish towards the back of the pack - no racing for us! Danny is getting the lion's share of the work these days, as he is coming six and really blossoming. Andre is the distant second, although he's showing improvement with every ride. The other youngsters would like to be on the roster, but there is only so much time during the day. Scooter (Miras) and Reggie (Sazanda) get their 5 minutes a day of grooming and ground manners, which is really all they need right now. Mahri would LOVE to get even 5 minutes - she and Slari get a few minutes and a good scratch every now and again. Once our competition year starts, we'll cut back on our conditioning rides, so we can work more with the younger horses. Goshen is getting some arena time with Monica - he's lunging with the saddle and bridle on, has been long-lined and is generally learning how things go. We'll probably back him sometime this summer and let him get the idea that people sit on him.

Aya (Aishet) is due to foal within the next few weeks, so we'll have a new baby to play with also.

They are all keeping us busy, but that is ok - it's a lot of fun.

Spring?

Probably not, but it sure has felt like it the last few days. We've had sunshine, which is always appreciated, and temps up into the 50's. I even saw a fly today! Of course, we're taking advantage of the nice weather and RIDING. Monica and I went out Friday to Lord Hill and then on Sunday, we took Monica's husband Bill along on their TB Willie up to the Pilchuck Tree Farm. As it was Superbowl Sunday, we thought the parking area would be empty. Wrong. It seems that everyone else had the same idea as us, or was getting a quick ride in before the game. But, we squeezed the rig in, saddled up and headed out. Surprisingly, we didn't see many other riders on the trail, which shows how many miles of trails there are up there. We went out from the parking lot a different way than usual and ended up going down a very steep bank into a semi-impressive river. Galen and Danny both did it with minimum fuss, but poor Willie just wasn't sure that the footing was a good idea. Bill ended up leading him across the river and was an excellent sport about wet feet. We did get to gallop up a big hill and let Willie set the pace (as an ex-racehorse he thought he should be first). Galen really, REALLY thought that he could beat that silly TB and I had to work to keep him from taking off and doing just that. We're going to head out again tomorrow, probably back to Lord Hill, as I have committements in the afternoon. I really do need to take my camera with me and quite depending on Monica to take all the photos.