I fed the horses this morning. Grabbed Dixie and tied her up next to a wheelbarrow full of hay, then tossed everybody else's hay. I spent at least an hour grooming her - she's shedding, so she needs the extra attention. She does not want the extra attention - she really is the most "don't touch me, I do what I want!" beast. Her mane is a total disaster - it's so dirty it's almost impossible to brush, and it's way too cold to wash it, and I don't want to put more ShowSheen on it! I suspect the Showsheen residue makes the dirt stick better or something :( I brushed half of her mane before she got seriously outdone with me, then fingercombed half her tail. For all the good it does. :rolleyes:
It was cooooold up there! The wind was whipping and storm clouds were rolling down off all the mountains. Fun to watch them.
Eventually I released her from the torture and Cersei and I headed over to scout out that next valley. I guess it's Palomino Valley proper - where the BLM horses are, local readers? The roads are horribly washboarded sand, but they're wide with wide verges, so it'll be good riding if the pass over the hill isn't too bad.
I saw curlies! Real live curly horses. Two people were out riding their curlies on the road and I stopped and talked to them for a minute. They really are curly as all get out - pictures don't do them justice. The two I saw looked real big-boned - drafty almost.
Everybody likes blog posts where you get to say something. I was thinking about my irrational attachment to Dixie's enormous amount of hair, and I wondered what your irrational horse prejudices are?
Mine are:
Lots of hair = a better horse. Horses with short scraggly manes and tails just don't do it for me. That's part of the reason I don't like Appies - sorry Appy people, but I did admit it's totally irrational!
Blue eyes are evil. I've mentioned this before, but blue-eyed horses give me the willies. I know that this is totally contrary to most people's opinion, but they creep me out!
Spotted horses are crazy. Yes, I did think this even before I bought a spotted horse, and I still think it even in the face of all the super laid back paints I've met. Plain wrappers = saner.
What's your silly horse likes and dislikes?
I'll always love plain-brown-wrapper horses best.
ReplyDeleteBig feet make a horse worth lots more! I love big, dark feet.
There's no such thing as a bad colour...except grey. A grey horse is NEVER clean in my climate, and I'm too vain. A plainbrownwrapper horse doesn't show the dirt.
If you ever get the chance to meet Sue Summers' curly horse Humvee, take it! Hummer is quite a personality. Sue says riding him is like riding a freight train--you can steer, but you can't slow down. And he really is built like a TANK. Sue made a t-shirt to wear when she rides him, with a picture of his butt and his dinky little tailfeathers.
The caption says, "yes, I did ride his tail off."
You know, science supports the fact that horses with lighter color eyes tend to be a bit more "freaky" and nervous; so you've at least go science backing you.
ReplyDeleteI used to love paints until I worked for a boss who had a crazy obsession with them. He's never met a paint he didn't like, but he's not very good at conformation or temperment. After having to ride several of his paints (because he bought horses he couldn't handle), I have to say, I'm not so fond of them.
There's no way I'd ever want a grey; my mom has two and they're never clean. I'll stick with my little bay mare.
I love bays - all types - even the plain ones with no markings (like our Dawn) - although flash and chrome, like my Maisie, is fine too. I'm partial to the bays that are red, although a dark bay with fine dapples all over is lovely too. I like long thick manes and tails. I'm not fond of overo paints with bald faces and white around their eyes. That said, I really don't care what color a horse is - there are good horses in all colors and I don't buy the theories that horses of a particular color or with certain color eyes have different dispositions - there's good and bad in all colors.
ReplyDeleteNo blue eyes for me either. Though I did have a Siberian Husky with beautiful blue eyes.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a large number of professionals generalize horses with spots. They've metaphorically explained fresian behavior by saying "they have spots under all that black!" It's not that they say that they're crazy, though, just that they are independent and full of attitude. Almost like the sight hounds of the horse world. :)
ReplyDeleteMy prejudice is that everything would be prettier palomino. The fresian owners laugh when I go on about how pretty a palomino fresian would be with lots of chrome. One can excuse me for being prejudiced, though, even though I've seen Peanut's mane and tail actually white just a handful of times after much scrubbing.
Also... posting is for peasants! (Do I really believe this? No, but it's good to say when people begin to look down their nose at my Walker)
Hi AareneX,
ReplyDeleteThere's an award waiting for you on my blog, come pick it up when you have time!
Jane
Yall, paints are just as gross and hard to clean as greys! Mine doesn't even have any brown spots where she gets dirtiest... sigh. I do miss having only bays, just for the cleaning!
ReplyDeleteI am glad I'm not the only person who vaguely distrusts spotted horses.
Jane, I am Funder. You can tell me apart from AareneX because my tack is purple - oh, wait. Because I have short spiky hair - waaiiiit. Hmm. Because my horse is spotted and I live in the desert, that's it! If there's green in a picture, it must be AareneX; if there's rocks, it's me!
Whoops. Sorry Funder, I did mean you! I'm afraid I was trying to notify everyone in the space of ten minutes and got my names mixed up. My sincere apologies!
ReplyDeleteDuh seems to be my middle name lately.
I prefer solid to any facial or leg markings. I don't like chestnuts. Give me a roman nose over a refined head any day of the week. And I'd have that mane pulled down to about 4" -- I like nice, neat manes.
ReplyDeleteMy prejudices are....
ReplyDeleteNo paints. No offense... :) but I just haven't met a paint I was impressed with. Ditto for most colored horses in general. I find that they are mostly owned by beginners who let them get away with EVERYTHING.
No grey arabs. I know I know I know. Totally irrational and I'm probably missing out on some great horses, but I just don't want to deal with the melanomas and the dirty horses etc.
I love dark horses, having grown up reading about The Black and now having my very own black stallion. My first horse was black too. Too much white doesn't do it for me, like everyone else, it's just too hard to keep clean.
ReplyDeleteQueen of Totally Bizarre Horse Prejudices here!!
ReplyDeleteI don't like bays unless they look like mine, and the only way I can tolerate one is if it's so dark that it's almost black with no markings whatsoever.
I don't like chestnuts.
I love black horses, but only with white markings.
I like paint horses, but if they have a "bald face", then they must have blue eyes.
I like dark colored hooves, not like colored hooves. For some reason I think they're more fragile.
Being a Belgian Draft X TB owner, I now look at "skinny-legs" with fear that if I go faster than a walk, their legs might snap. I also think that the bigger hooves, the BETTER.
I like palominos... But with long mane only. In fact, take a look at my mare, it hasn't been cut since the day I got her, so her one of her mare friends chewed it off for her.
Horses with small ears or refined heads look pretty useless to me. Because chances are, they probably have skinny legs too :P
PEOPLE WHO OWN AND BREEED HALTER HORSES bug the crap out of me. Them and their nonbroke horses with a crapload of muscle and tiny feet. With shoes. What on earth do they need shoes for?
I'm a huge "barefoot" fan.
I guess I'm just nuts then.
Owner of 2 racking horses, a quarter pony, and a warmblood.