Things to do Inside when it's Too Hot to Ride

It's simply not decent riding weather. Period. It's too danged hot and, on top of that, there's some kind of tropical depression (thank you, Mexico) affecting our region, so each time I walk outside I'm reminded of my one and only visit to Puerta Vallarta. I believe I wore shorts and a bikini bathing suit top the entire trip, because I really couldn't tell the difference between being wet due to hopping in the ocean, and wet due to an outpouring of sweat.

By the way, a bikini top and shorts aren't really appropriate riding apparel. And don't ask me how I learned this many, many years ago.

While I did ride Topper, my sister's horse, at the proverbial crack o' dawn this morning, I am not planning on riding Wally. I keep tossing him cold carrots out of the refrigerator like they're popsicles, though, and he's inside his covered pen, so he's not suffering.

This lack of riding today led me to invent ways to spend my time, kind of like a rainy day at the barn. Only I have to remain huddled indoors with the air conditioner on. As you can see by the photos below, I became inspired to attack my schnauzer, Betsy, with my set of horse clippers. I figured, what the heck: How much different can it be from clipping a horse? Besides, clipping Betsy myself will save me $55 that would've gone to paying the dog groomer. And that's at least two bales of orchard grass hay for Wally! (See how everything is accounted for in bales of hay these days? It's the new currency for horse owners).

Here is Betsy BEFORE I began wielding my horse clippers like a madwoman. Notice how naively she sits on my kitchen floor, totally trusting in my expertise.

And here she is about 10 minutes later. I have no idea where all that hair came from. But I had to stop clipping because poor Betsy was beginning to resemble one of those old Shetland ponies I sometimes see that have been "body shaved" by an unsupervised child using a rusty pair of dull clippers. Fortunately, Betsy is not a barn dog. She's been afraid of horses her entire life, so she's just a house pet. Which is good, because I'm quite certain Wally would be laughing his head off at her new appearance.

Since I won't allow myself to get bored, I'll have to devise other Things to do Inside when it's Too Hot to Ride. Now that I have the clippers out and warmed up, perhaps I should inspect my husband when he gets home. Hmmm... I wonder if he needs a haircut?

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