Jekyll and Hyde

Title probably how Yoshi was referring to me on Tuesday...

Ms. GY and I went trail riding that morning at Watermelon Pond Wildlife Environmental Area It was SO LOVELY. It was in the high 60's, she brought Mr. GY's OTTB. Both horses were absolutely amazing. They moseyed along on a loose rein most of the time with one tiny spook from each of them over two separate things. They trotted together - side by side when it allowed, and one in front when the trail was too narrow. They also cantered like perfect gentlemen, her horse not caring when Yoshi got a little close, and Yoshi staying politely behind him for the most part. When Yoshi led he was a little bit sucked back/cautious, but he still showed no hesitation going forward. 

Smiling about the beautiful day in front of watermelon pond

The trails are mostly sand and mostly in the sun. It was perfect for us because it was cooler and it rained a TON last week, so the sand was still pretty hard packed. I could see how on the trails closer to the entrance that are more travelled the sand could get pretty deep if it hadn't rained in a while. Watermelon Pond was quite high due to all the rain, and we did cross a couple of puddles in the path, good practice for them. There were a few gentle hills that we went up as well. We rode for almost two hours. I forgot to turn on my Garmin, but I know we covered some distance because we had two pretty long canter stretches, four nice trots, and the boys were both walking BIG the whole time. 

When we got back home, I hosed Yoshi's sweat off and decided I was going to clip him. He's been a bit out of kitty minutes since arriving home. Shortly after we got home Monday he had to stand for the farrier. He was still good, but did a lot more dancing than normal and the second the farrier wasn't actively working on him started pawing. I had already nixed clipping him that day, figuring he needed some time to play bitey face with his friends and run around. But I really wanted to get the hair off of him, so Tuesday I was committed. He has been completely fine with clippers places other than his ears when I've run them next to him. He has tolerated his legs getting done just fine. However, I had not had occasion to actually put the clippers on him and clip other places... yeah... He is the world's most ticklish horse. We came to an agreement on standing still, but I could not stop his muscle twitching. I had put tape on him for a high trace clip, but the constant muscle flicking/twitching quickly removed that. I pulled out the dormosedan gel after a 10 minute struggle and then cleaned tack while that kicked in. 

Regrouping after 1.5 mL (half his body weight dose, but he was a light weight for his teeth), I could get more done, but he was still SO tickly in his girth area and even on his jugular groove. I got the left side done pretty well, but we both kinda ran out of patience for the right side. Because he had flicked my tape off, I ended up using the saddle pad to draw a straight line across his back. This worked fine on the left, but on the right he cocked his hind leg and I didn't realize the effect this would have on the straightness of his saddle pad. So the right side climbs from the shoulder towards the hip in a diagonal line. Which meant I clipped a lot more of his butt to keep it even. And there are also more clipper tracks because we were both getting impatient.

This is the better side.. his face sums it up

Soooo much higher up on this side...

I basically could only do his girth area on both sides by hovering the clippers just off his skin. It is what it is... I told JT I understood if she didn't want to be seen in public with me for the next couple weeks. Also I am quite glad I did this a full month before we plan on showing next. I don't know if he's going to get another clip this winter, but if he does we're taking it all off and getting a full tube of dormosedan prior to starting!