Friday, March 20, 2009

Yaks and newscasters

Every spring, it seems like a neverending battle to get the yak hair off of my horses. It's fun, of course - it really appeals to my OCD side to get all the hair off. I got, mmmm, how does one measure the volume of shed hair off of an animal? I got a half a pillowcase full off of Champ, and maybe half that off of Dixie.

Then I had a challenging ride on Dixie in the indoor. She's still settling in, so she screamed for Champ quite a bit. And she wouldn't stand still for me to get a toe in the stirrup for like 10 minutes. And she was having no part of the bit - she tossed her head and yanked at the reins and tried to run through my rein aids, for the whole hour.

But! She listened perfectly to my legs and seat. I mean perfectly. Something clicked since that lesson last month where I tried so hard to show her to move away from my inside leg. And we are finally starting to get the hang of half-halts and halts, the dressagey way.

After I was done riding, I talked to one of the other boarders for a bit. She's got the Other Walking Horses, and she seems pretty nice. At one point, I was talking about Dixie, and I said "She's kinda crazy, but I love her to pieces."

"Excuse me? Did you said you love her... paces?" asked the Other Walking Horse Person.

"No, to PIECES! You know, little pieces?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, it's just, you know, your accent..." the OWHP trailed off, slightly embarrassed that she couldn't understand me.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. "Yall all sound like newscasters or something."

We laughed and went our separate ways. But that's just one of the things that's so weird about this place. Everybody has the most neutral accent imaginable! And they're very polite, in a very reserved way. Strange place.

I took some pictures but I didn't bring the camera in, so yall will just have to wait.

9 comments:

  1. Lolling over the accents. I was wondering about that once you first mentioned the possibility of moving there.

    My neighbor, from Kentucky, says that the day he starts sounding like us is the day that he leaves the east coast. He's fun to listen to, I must admit.

    Rick came here with his Michigan accent, but people mainly mistook it for Canadian. He sounds like us now and even says "soda" instead of "pop". One of us, one of us!

    I must say that I am glad that I sound like a newscaster and managed to escape without a Philly accent. That is a truly tragic accent. Go suburbs!

    Oh, and I tend to measure the volume of hair removed in term of cats. "I took an entire cat off of Peanut today!" He also doesn't finish shedding until May, and in the meantime looks like a patchwork quilt since his winter hair is so much paler. Sigh.

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  2. Hahah, I was going to use the cat measure! But we've got one 15 lb fatass, one 9 lb slender kitten, and one 9 lb longhair who's as bulky as the fatass. Once I started thinking about it, it started to seem imprecise. ;)

    I am most distressed that I've been steadily pulling cats - or pillowcases - of fur off of Champ for 3 weeks now and he's still winter colored. He looks like melted chocolate in the winter, and hot chocolate in the summer. No noticeable change yet! >:(

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  3. You obviously haven't met real southern Ohio folks then! THEY have southern accents! Actually, for whatever reason, my Californian roommate, when she lived in Ohio, was completely convinced that the Midwest accent was a thick southern one, most because her aunts that lived in Ohio had that accent. When I pointed out to her that all the native Ohio people around us had totally neutral accents, she still refused to believe it.

    And then there's me, native Michigander in Connecticut, who occasionaly lapses into Canadian tones.... oot oot and aboot!

    And I am NOT jealous about the hair, seeing as I blanket clipped Gogo twice and I loooooooooove having that little situation under control :D

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  4. Furminator! I guess it really does work for the price.

    You are even drawling into your post now!! Yall'!! You make me laugh!

    Kac

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  5. Apparently they make an equine Furminator. I wonder if it's different from my little one, or just bigger.

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  6. And do Michiganers really sound like Canadians? I grew up in Toronto, but people often ask me if I'm from Michigan when I am in the US.

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  7. Andrea - people from California are obviously crazy. That's the only explanation.

    Also, isn't clipping worse in its own way? You get to eat and breathe gobs of short fur - twice - instead of just eating and wearing stray long hairs. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

    Kac & DP - I have a dog furminator too, but I don't think it would work all that well on a horse. Seems like it would clog up even faster. I just use the rubber curry massager and the shedding stone. Surely they're almost done. Champ has noticeably less hair on him now.

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  8. *lol* did you really say "Yall all"?

    *cackle* I'm really out of it if that's how people talk now.

    ~lytha, far from home

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  9. Lythia - Scout's honor, that's my exact quote. I believe my thinking was something along the lines of "You (plural) all sound funny," but you (plural) is always pronounced y'all. Therefore, "yall all."

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