Spa Day for the Horses

Last weekend, the weather was beautiful. Some of the first truly warm days we had this spring. It was the perfect time to take advantage and give the ponies their first baths since last fall!

Tools of the trade for the afternoon

Other than Grif, who is quite Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde about grooming, the horses really seemed to enjoy the extra attention. I mean who wouldn't love a full body massage coupled with a bubble bath?!

A clean, happy Staniel returned to his precious hay.

So skeptical of my BS. He totally kicked that bucket over before things were said and done, too. 

Trojan Pony: A Bathtime Beauty. Norah definitely was clutch in getting this photo lol

Stan was the only good boy who didn't roll post bath. Q rolled on one side only. And Grif? Well, I knew that was a losing battle so I put a cooler on him and let him run amok in the yard grazing, hoping the new grass and luxury of grazing would distract him enough. Not so much, but fortunately the cooler took the brunt of the roll so he's still relatively clean for a grey horse.

I had set him up grazing in the backyard but he decided the front yard would be better

And then when I went to fetch him to bring him in for dinner, he scurried away from me

So I just took his photo as he marched away, not wanting to encourage his little keepaway game any more than necessary

I finally ran out of my Cowboy Magic detangler and opted to order EquiFuse Gleam after reading multiple positive reviews in blogland about it. And, WOW! I love it. It smells amazing and definitely works better and with less required to make a big difference. Big plus that it works amazingly well on wet hair. The CM required inordinate amounts to do anything when applied to a wet canvas.

Trying to get them both to look at me for a photo was impossible

At least their tails are fluffy?

So when taken one at a time, here is Qdle

And here's Staniel - looking so damn good for almost-19!

While temporary in nature, I loved having soft, clean horses for several days in a row. I couldn't stop petting them! So soft. So fluffy. And so much nicer to groom to release shedding hair!

Additionally, it was really confirming to see that when their remaining winter coats were flattened out by their baths, each of their weight/body condition scores was in a great place. Sure, it was a minor winter, but we've had a lot of those for years now and this is the best they've all looked coming out of winter in a very long time. Goes to show what quality forage-focused diet can do!

And this turd

Still stained, but a clean stained! And whatever, all of that hair is gonna shed out this month, so I can't be too bothered to make him pretty right now.

I'm so excited for the warmer weather that is becoming more common as we settle more firmly into spring. More frequent baths will definitely be in the future for all of the horses.