Friday, September 5, 2008

Maybe Not So Much Wrestling.............



OK, I must be honest. My clipping yesterday didn't go quite like Gorilla Wrestling...........well, not all the time anyway. There were brief moments when my joints creaked or my head got thumped when I had flashbacks of wrestling matches in the past and the notion of "gorilla wrestling" came to me. I couldn't help but write a post. The very thought just got me giggling.

The real story is the clipping went pretty darn well. It took me all day to get 19 horses clipped but it really had more to do with the clippers than the horses. The blades would heat up or the battery pack would die and I'd be taking another break waiting for my tools to co-operate.

On the whole it took me about 45 minutes to clip three horses. By that time the blades would be just to hot and my alternate blades decided to die so I'd go off and work on something else while they cooled down. A couple of times the battery pack died and I had to wait on charging but overall the horses were good with only intermittent moments of gorilla wrestling.

My feet stayed totally on the ground. I didn't get stepped on once........but had three close calls. I think each horse, at least once, tried to pull its head away. There were a couple who tried more than once, Legs being one of those!

The horse hates having his face clipped particularly in the scoopy part under his eyes and the groove down the middle of his face. Any place that is difficult to clip he doesn't like messed with. He hates those clipper blades digging into dips and grooves seeking out hair.

A friend once told me that if an Arabian horse's head did not have lots of difficult grooves to clip (dryness), it wasn't a quality horse. The more difficult the face to clip, the better the head. I've always used that as a guideline when I'm evaluating horses.

Back to my clipping, Andy really was a good boy. At first he jumped at the sound of the clippers and acted like he was going to fly backwards away from me. As soon as I began clipping the wedge part between his eyes he settled down and pretty much stood there. He had a couple of twitches and a little head pulling but for a yearling who's only had his face clipped once before he did great.

Even the broodmares were good about having their faces clipped. I do have one still to go because the batteries died again. I couldn't bring myself to start off my day today itching again, so I but it off to finish tonight. But tonight I ran out of steam and still have one more horse to clip.

Today I spent time bathing horses. My friend, Jean, came and helped. We bathed all of the horses that I can't bathe alone. That was the two yearlings, five of the two year olds and a four year old who is sometimes naughty.

I was going to run her to get her car but the port-a-potty hadn't arrived yet, so we bathed one more horse waiting for it's arrival. That was Storm. So all in all, I bathed 9 horses today.

Rachel did 3 at the other barn. I picked those horses up tonight and they are nicely tucked into their own barn. (How I love having my horses at home!!) That leaves us with 16 horses to bathe tomorrow and last minute clean-up stuff. Then in the evening we'll do some food preparation and Sunday will be the big day...........ready or not.

Open House

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11 comments:

  1. Well, I still enjoyed the Gorilla Wrestling post! I still giggle. Good luck with your open house!

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  2. Here's wishing you a fabulous Open House! I know it's going to be wonderful - You've worked so hard and you've given it a loving touch.

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  3. I am really glad that it went smoother than your story indicated LOL.

    I do hope your son has his camera because I would love to see some up to date photos of your herd.

    Good luck, Larry has me taking BB to an open show tomorrow , that is if the farrier arrives at 8am tomorrow morning as promised and the shoeing goes well.

    Will be thinking of you.

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  4. So sorry I didn't make it down this weekend, MiKaela! I'd wanted to, but with needing to doctor Sandy's eye still four times a day, it just wasn't going to work =(

    I hope it's a good weekend and that you can move a lot of ponies out!

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  5. Hey everyone, I will be there tomorrow... WITH MY CAMERA... I will give any good shots I get to MiKael and I bet if you all beg enough, she might share some of them here... Maybe... *grin*

    It's going to be a great day and we'll all have fun, I just know it.

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  6. Dang, I'd love to have RSVP'd and go, but my dad got 4 free tickets to the baseball safeco field in Seattle at 1:00.. HEH, or maybe I should just watch half of it, and then go to your open house.. but I doubt that'll happen :( lol. And I really want to meet MizScarlet, and many other of your horses too. But I really want to meet MizScarlet and her sire, Legs. His pictures are very beautiful, and I can only imagine how beautiful he is in real life.. and the last picture of him shown here, wow. His Mane is very long and beautiful too, I JUST WANT TO BRUSH IT! LOL. I love brushing manes, and I would probably want to brush ALL your horses manes :) I know they get very ratty, but thats why you gotta brush them! lol. Anyways, one of these days, even if it takes me til next year, one of these days I am going to schedule with you a meet with your horses. I just Love Arabians, and the chance to meet some as beautiful as yours, is a chance you don't want to miss, if you have the opportunity to meet them. Unfortunately I don't think this time around is my opportunity. Even though I would prefer to watch your horses be shown than watch a baseball game.

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  7. Ooo, yes!!! Photos and lots of them, pretty PLEASE!!! :)

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  8. Ah, today is the open house?? Wish I could have made it! I was home sick yesterday and today I'm well enough today so I have to go visit my own horse since it's been five days. I almost forgot what he looks like! ;)
    Have a great time and take lots of pictures. At least it's a lovely day for it!!

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  9. I hope you are having a great day today Mikael! Your post on Gorilla Wrestling had me rolling on the floor!

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  10. Sounds busy! Can't wait to here how Sunday went!

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  11. HOW MANY horses in one day?
    That's incredible.
    Like a factory.
    And no injuries?

    I'd have staggered from the stall, bleeding and bruised. Not a mark on the horses, of course.

    Congratulations that all went well, and best of luck on your OH.

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