Back to The Open House 2009..........Bathing......Andy.....Patriot

Our next victim to bathe in cold water was Andy (Scandalous Addiction). This colt had been such a good boy for clipping, I expected or maybe that was hoped he'd be a gentleman for bathing too. You'd think I'd know by now I shouldn't be "expecting" anything in particular when it comes to young horses. Andy was a pain in the royal *ss.

At two years old, Andy is absolutely huge.........well, huge for on my farm of late blooming horses anyway. I'd guess this colt is about 15.1 hands with still a mile of leg underneath him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get at big as his uncle, Dandy.

Doc is not the only young horse that has not been handled enough. Both two year old colts, Andy and Patriot, have been sorely neglected in that department and their behavior reflects it. My term for colts at that age is land sharks and Andy and his brother, Patriot, both live up to that title. They are pushy and kind of studdy with their teenage hormones beginning to rage. . The last thing any teenage male wants is a cold shower..............and Andy was determined he wasn't taking one.

Being bigger than most two year olds made this colt all that more difficult for me to convince. I am no slouch in the size department closing in just an inch or so shy of six feet but an eight hundred pound colt on a hot day was alot. I gave up on trying to reason with this colt and broke out a wrapped chain.
Never have I resorted to such tactics getting ready for my open house but you know what they say............Never say never...........and this one bit me. Even with the chain we really worked to get Andy bathed. The colt just did NOT want to stand still. Well, he'd have stood still to graze on the grass beneath his feet but NOT for that cold water bath. Andy would duck his head to grab a mouthful of grass as he lunged sideways away from the water. It didn't matter who held him to try to stop his escape, going over humans in his way just didn't matter. I think by the time we were finished Jean and I were both soaked.........and it wasn't just water making us wet, we had more than our fair share of sweat. ( I might add since this I've hosed this horse off a couple of times and he was a perfect angel........ go figure)



After this battle with Andy, I was dreading bathing Patriot, the other two year old colt. Since Patriot had been so naughty about being clipped, I figured we were in for more of the same..........but then there's that thing about expectations again.

Patriot did the opposite of what I expected. The colt was a perfect gentleman and we sailed through his bath like he was a seasoned pro. The colt even dropped his head to let me hose off his face. Patriot was so good Jean referred to him as sweet......not what I'd normally call any land shark I own. .......maybe Andy whispered in his ear about what might happen if he was naughty..........whatever I was grateful that at least one of my colts acted like he knew what a bath was about.

To be continued..................