Hair and Safety Checks
3 February 2010
Every winter the school horses, including me, Biscuit, get time off for vacation. We don’t get ridden very much, if at all, between November 1st and February, and Emily lets our manes grow out and of course we get very fuzzy winter coats. February is the month to get ready to go back to work in March! We get haircuts, a lot of grooming, and we are longed and ridden in preparation for the students to ride us when lessons begin again.
Yesterday was one of the Fish Bowl Horsemanship Club days, and I was the POTD (pony of the day)! Julia was here, and it was so fun to see her and play with her! She and Emily clipped off my crazy long mane and groomed me thoroughly. Julia picked out my feet, led me between the field and the grooming shed, and picked clumps of grass to feed me. Isn’t she nice?! Julia and Emily were amazed at how much I’m shedding, as most of the other horses have just begun to shed a little. But most of the other horses don’t have a winter coat like I do, so they don’t need to begin shedding this early! If I don’t start now, I’ll still have a thick fur coat when it’s warm every day, so the grooming shed was covered in a carpet of my brown dun colored hair! The bunch of hair Julia is holding in this photo is mane hair – can you believe how long my mane has gotten since last being trimmed in early October? Healthy living makes for good hair growth, I think!
Our topic at Horsemanship was Safety Checks, and boy did they talk about safety! They tacked me up and talked about all the things to looks at before having a safe ride: stirrup bars open, stirrup leather stitching ok, billet straps and stitching ok, girth snug but not too tight, saddle pad ok and not tight or bunched up, bridle adjusted and fitted well. That was just the tack portion of the discussion! After they put me back in the pasture with my buddies Buttercup (who whinnied at me while I was gone), Sherman and Molly, they went in the tack room and did something else. I’m not sure what, but I bet they talked about helmet fitting. Super important, right? Right!!! Maybe a little about knowing the location of the first aid kits (one for my rider and one for me), general stable safety (put those forks away!), and having a list of phone numbers on hand in case you need to call the vet, the medics, the farrier or your parents. And don’t forget to have a phone handy too! See you next time!