Today I had every intention of going out and playing with my Rosie pony. The weather was supposed to be gorgeous, in the 50's. I wanted to go out in the morning before the wind kicked up and made things uncomfortable. I am kind of a fair weather person. I feel I put in my dues with cold weather growing up in Maine. Things took a little different route however. You see, my husband received a bunch of gift certificates to Men's Wearhouse for Christmas because he wanted to get a new suit and he decided that this was the weekend to go in search of said suit. Plus, he said he would take me out to lunch. For those of you who don't know me, after horses, going out to eat is my second hobby. I love to go out to eat. I think it has something to do with the food magically arriving at the table and then the dishes being whisked away when you are done. As much as I wiggle my nose this just DOES NOT happen at my house. I have even gone so far as to leave the dishes out over night so that fairies can come take care of them but evidently fairies have better things to do with their time. So we trucked on up to Fort Collins for lunch and a suit. Mission accomplished across on both fronts.
After getting home, changing, and putting my daughter down for a nap I was back out the door to see the Rosie Pony. I first made a trip to the feed store to buy some Cowboy Magic Green Spot Remover though. One side of Rosie is getting kind of nasty where she poops in her stall and then lays in it. She gets pasture turnout time during the day but I guess she doesn't want to waste it sleeping. Or maybe she has decided that sleeping on the ground is beneath her and she needs some nice comfy shavings to rest her head in when she getting her REM sleep. Finally, I get to the barn around four and guess what? The wind has kicked up. Not just a little breeze, I mean the tarp on the big hay pile is straight out flapping in the wind. This big hay pile is also on the way to the round pen that I typically use. I really didn't feel like getting killed so I decided that today would be a good day to stay in the barn and put some elbow grease into grooming my little Appy beast.
I brushed and brushed until my arms felt like noodles but there was still dirt coming off of her. Not much I can do about it until it warms up enough for a bath, which is probably going to be awhile. Rosie was good, she stood there like a gem. Usually if it is windy and she hasn't been worked she is antsy. Maybe she was good because I tied her up outside of her buddy, Jett's stall and they were able to converse a little. I remembered to bring in the Cowboy Magic bottle but I forgot about the rags until after I had already tied Rosie up and there was no one in the barn to keep an eye on her while I ran back out to my truck. She probably would have been fine but I didn't really want to take the chance of something spooking her and her pulling back. At the previous place where I kept her I used to tie her up and wander all around so that she would know I didn't need to babysit her but that was also at a private persons house and there really wasn't anyone around for her to hurt if she flipped out. Here there are always other boarders around or kids taking lessons and I just don't want to get anyone hurt. So I just brushed the crusty area really well. It is still stained but is not all stiff anymore. I also picked up and cleaned out all four feet, brushed her head and played with her ears a little. All in all a pretty good grooming session.
As a side note, Rosie has a new little sister! She was born in Texas two days ago in an ice storm. She is also solid! Both of her parents are Appy's and have had five babies previous to this one and none have been solid. I just got pictures of her today and boy is she a cutey even though she is solid. If anyone out there is looking, these babies have really good minds. I can't tell you the number of stupid things I have done with Rosie and gone thank God she is as good minded as she is or I would be a pancake right now.
