The day before the show is wash/clip/band day. Now once upon a time we had a heated wash rack. Those days have come to pass so now this entails going out to the pasture, hooking up the trailer and driving the horses to town.
We start by washing. Every inch of the horse must be wetted down, scrubbed with soap and rinsed. The tail requires a good scrubbing and conditioner that we let soak in for a good long time. In Oscar's case...that's a whole lot of tail. None of our horses like their faces washed so that gets to be a game of who can lift their head the highest. With the help of a step stool, I always win.
As they dry, it's banding time. Banding is putting a series of tiny little pony tails in very precisely so that the mane hair lays down neat and tidy against the neck. On our ponies I would put in around 50+. Not sure on the big horses. Oscar's mane has a curl to it and is unruly, Zippys is awesome and Ace wins the perfect mane award.
After banding, the horses are dry enough to clip. You can spend big bucks on horse clippers, but I cheat and buy the $20 pairs from the dog section. All of our horses have different areas they aren't fond of being clipped so we usually have to twitch everyone. It isn't the nicest thing to do to a horse, but considering how close my face gets to their feet and that I like my face just the way it is, it's what I refer to as a necessary evil. We clip their ears, bridle path (section of mane just behind the ears), faces (especially under the jaw), muzzles and fetlocks/feet area.
After clipping we put slinkies on to protect their bands and blankets to keep them as clean as possible. Again, in the old days it was put them in a stall for the night, but now it is back out to the pasture and pray they don't roll and it doesn't rain.
In the morning we head out to get the horses around 4:30. This can be a challenge in a dusky or dark 10 acre pasture. Sometimes the only way we find them is luck. After fighting a horde of mosquitoes we are loaded and on our way.
At the show we survey the damages. Oscar has usually rubbed half his bands out and has to be redone (perfectionist). Ace will have put a hole in his slinkie somewhere and do a vague impression of Elvis and Zippy, well Zippy always rolls and always has a dirty face.
After warming them up we bring them back to the trailer for their final show cleanup. Tails are conditioned again and brushed out. Zippy gets a tail extension put in to make his tail look longer and fuller. This is braided into his natural tail to try to make it flow. Bands are redone or tightened. Forelocks get brushed and banded. Ears, nostrils and face are all wiped clean and a clean rag is run over the whole horse. We use a lady's razor to get the close stubble off their muzzles so they are super smooth and apply a little face shine. Then the feet.
The feet and lower legs have to be scrubbed. I use a long handed kitchen scrubber and a bottle of water that we squeeze on to rinse. Then if we are serious we rough up the hooves with a little sandpaper and apply hoof black or clear hoof polish.
Last but not least a quick coat of body shine is sprayed on and then right before the class, the most important of the day, fly spray. Not that any of them last for more than 5 minutes. But we try.
And that's it! The horses are ready to put their best hoof forward as they say. Anyone want to help for the next one?
