Still Counting Down..............and Down.......and Down

Today it was kind of a mixed bag here with my focus going about six directions as the count down for my departure for the US National Arabian Horse Show continues. Everything from cameras to laundry (both people and horse) to more clipping and every thing in between seemed to just demand my attention. The hardest part is I don't think I got one single thing done.

Gypcy showed her disgust at yesterday's clipping by escaping from her stall overnight. If that wasn't enough she stripped off half of her clothes and left them out in the rain. Thankfully she took shelter so she wasn't wet but the outer blanket and hood she shed were soaked..........hence another two loads got added to my list of laundry........and hers needed to be finished first so she doesn't get a chill now that she has no hair and we're experiencing record low temperatures for this time of year.

I did get downloading the pics on my camera done so I can dump them to have plenty of room for national's photos. The download went ok but I'm having problems figuring out how to dump the whole thing instead of deleting all 800 pics one at a time. While I love my new camera, many of it's functions are still beyond me. I should have opted to do that when my computer asked me to but I'm so paranoid I'll mess up my download and then have everything be gone.

First think this morning I had Dave help me with Rhet. My friend, Jean, was coming at 10 and I was supposed to have his face completely clipped with a no 15 blade. While I've been working diligently at getting this colt more relaxed with the clippers, Rhet just wasn't buying it was necessary to clip anywhere near the top of his face.........let alone near his head.

An hour later Rhet's face was clipped as directed along with his poll along and the back of his ears. Those "extra" parts are the area I still have left to get clipped on Gypcy so I felt like I had one difficult portion of his full body clip accomplished. I turned the colt loose so he could finish his breakfast before Jean arrived.

While waiting for Jean I worked more on my own personal laundry. I'm trying to get enough clothes together so I won't need to frequent a laundromat while I'm in Tulsa. I figure I'll be gone for at least 16 days.

I've scraped together every pair of jeans I could find and think I have enough of those to get me through. Although some of them are a bit tattered. I guess I can claim they're designer.........my son pays big bucks for jeans with holes.

I inspected my shirts for stains so I could treat the darn things are maybe put together enough shirts. Temperatures will be low at night but could be mid 80s during the day so it'll take an assortment. Underwear and socks are the big issue but I'm due for some new ones so if I take the old and the new, I'll probably be ok. I'm giving Dave a shopping list since there's no way I have time to shop.

Jean arrived and I showed her a couple of halter horses on Jessie's website. She wanted an idea of how he likes his halter horses clipped and I figured that was the best place for that. Every horse is different, however, so a lot would depend on what Rhet's facial structure and underlying skin color allowed us to do.

Jean had told me she would direct me through the process. I have to admit I was dreading it. However, once we got things set up in the barn and the clipping began, I was holding the horse watching the master in action.

Jean immediately looked at the density of Rhet's coat and decided she wanted even more hair removed. She went over my clip job with no 30 blades and then back over some of the more pertinent places with no 40 blades.

After that she broke out the shaving cream and the bic razor for over the colt's eyes and the area around his muzzle. Then she went back over and blended with my small clippers that I use for ears. The idea was to get all that dense winter hair off so Rhet looks like he would all shed out in the summer. He'll grow back some of this hair before he's shown and that will give us the effect we're looking for.

Now I'm supposed to touch this all up when I get to nationals. The thought of that makes me queasy. It's so darn easy to have the horse jerk it's head and mess up the whole thing.........and I know the horse that's most likely to do just that.........Rhet, of course.

Rhet was pretty good through most of this process. The colt got a bit fussy over a couple of spots but no worse than any other horse would. For the most part for this anyway Rhet was just like any other horse........bet you didn't expect to hear that.............now if I can just get him to stand quietly while putting on a show halter.

After we finished with Rhet, I had Jean show me what I should do with Gypcy. Because the filly is chestnut she will have light colored skin on her face. That affects how much hair that can be removed without making her look weird. Jean pointed out the areas I should focus on to maximize her best features............that job I'll do tomorrow or Friday.........I hope.

While we were finishing up with Rhet the chiropractor came to work on Legs. I called Dave from the house to help Dale while Jean and I finished up. Then after Jean left I went to relieve Dave. It turns out that was just in time, Legs was pretty sore and his usual person to take that out on just happens to be the holder...........who in this case was Dave. By now my husband was feeling abused having to deal with Rhet and a cranky Legs in the same day.

Poor Legs had a lot going on. It's a wonder he's working as well as he is when you realize how much it must hurt. That's one of the things I appreciate most about this horse...........he has a lot of heart. When the chiropractor left he recommended that Legs see Mark DePaolo our other horse chiropractor at US Nationals.

Then next task was more body clipping. I figured since I had been clipping on Rhet I might just as well finish the job. However, Rhet did NOT want to stand still to get his legs clipped, I ended up calling Dave for more help.

Dave was complaining of a back ache from being jerked around by Rhet earlier. (Personally I thought the colt's antics were pretty reasonable for him.) His help turned out to be ineffective so I gave up and called for reinforcements. Colleen is coming over after work.

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

Just Rolling Along

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