Today was another shedding blade day. I worked on a dozen horses myself with the shedding blade today. I think I've moved on from having shedding blade blisters on my hands to having shedding blade callouses. I also use the epona shedding flowers in addition to shedding blades and find them much easier on my hands. However I don't like how grimy my hands feel after I use them.
It was simply an exceptional day for being with the horses. High 60's and bright sunshine with an occasional light breeze. I did all of my grooming in the pasture. When weather permits I prefer to groom most of the horses in the pasture. The ones that are fussy about grooming I put a halter on them and hold the leadrope but find that grazing mostly keeps them distracted. It also eliminates most of their hoof stomping, attempts at nipping, and general expressions of displeasure about grooming. When I have them tied in the barn they have nothing else to think about aside from the fact that they don't really enjoy being groomed. Others I don't put a halter on and just work away while they graze quietly. The horses that really enjoy being groomed find this to be heavenly, grazing on green grass while someone curries away on them.
Ivan and Chance enjoyed it so much they followed me after I was done and bumped me with their noses asking for more. I was happy to oblige them and work off some more hair. I think I've found it most satisfying to work on Lily. I barely have to touch her and I get sheets and sheets of hair off, and in no time a huge pile of hair has accumulated on the ground. Looking at the big hair pile really makes me feel like I accomplished something. I think we've taken about three horses worth of hair off of her and probably have three more to go.
There are still a few holdouts that aren't shedding much at all and you have to work hard to get any hair off of them. Mostly this tends to be the same group of horses each year but every year is a little different. I'm looking forward to another pleasant day tomorrow with more of the same. In fact I expect the next few weeks will bring a lot more of the same - which is fine with me!
Having a lazy morning while waiting for breakfast (Chance, Trigger and Levendi are our nappers)
Buffy (Thoroughbred)
Trigger (Appendix Quarter Horse), Homer (Irish) and Leo (Dutch Warmblood)
Homer (Irish), Leo (Dutch Warmblood) and Elfin (Thoroughbred)
Apollo (Hanoverian)
Dustin (Westphalian, son of the famous showjumper Starman)
some of the pet cows having a lazy day
Asterik (Holsteiner) and Winston (Thoroughbred)
Sebastian (Connemara/Irish Draught) and Alex (Quarter Horse cross)
Apollo (Hanoverian), Chance (Thoroughbred), Tony (Dutch Warmblood), Levendi (Oldenburg), Homer (Irish), Thomas (Holsteiner) and Baby (TB/Dutch Warmblood)
Harmony taking a nap. Harmony is a Thoroughbred mare who had a career as a polo pony.
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4 comments:
I love shedding time too, especially as the sleek summer coats emerge. Lily does have an amazing winter coat - I often thought it should be spun into yarn (assuming you could get the wet dog smell out!).
We're going through the same thing with the 40 horses here! Some of them are monsters, and a few are hanging on to their coats like the next big storm is coming!
Just thinking about all that shedding makes me itch although I love how the horses look once it's done. Our horses love grooming. Sorry you have some that don't.
blisters from the shedding blades, *lol* that is a lot of grooming!
baasha doesn't appreciate grooming so i do the grazing trick too. unfortunately that leaves the hair everywhere!
~lytha
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