Friday, August 8, 2008

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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Click on "comments" below to share your thoughts and your hot weather ideas!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could join one of those online forums.we would love to have you on the one i'm on.heres the link

http://theequestrianforum.proboards103.com/index.cgi

Anonymous said...

your dog looks really cute.oh and guess what?? i got first place at my show today!YAY!!

Jordyn Daniels said...

I feel bad fo you having to have all those surgerys. I have NEVER had to in my ENTIRE life(even though I am only 12 so I should'nt of had to have any surgerys!:) )

Nancy said...

Here in New Hampshire, we're doing...It's too wet to ride. All we have is rain - for weeks at a time, and massive thunderstorms and flooding! The sun was actually out yesterday - what a concept!

Anonymous said...

*****HUGE EAR TO EAR GRIN!****
Betsy looks cute anyways. Who could resist such big brown eyes? I shaved my pomeranian.. and oh my goodness... he looked AWFUL.. and when my husband came in from outside he asked me for a HAIRCUT!! Can you believe it? Even after seeing poor little T.J. the ragmuffin pommie, he STILL wanted me to take the clippers to his hair! Anyways. His haircut didn't turn out so bad. At least he actually stood still for his!! ;) Poor T.J. looked out from under the kitchen table like "Hey- what are you thinkin'!!! Look what she did to ME!" How funny. ;)
Jamie

Cindy Hale said...

I'm actually surprised that my doggie, Betsy, didn't sneak out to the tackroom and bury my set of clippers.

I WISH we'd get a dose of summer rain, but the closest we get is the chance to stare longingly at a bunch of thunderhead clouds in the distance. They're stuck over the desert and aren't coming any closer.

But I did get a chance to go on a trail ride at the lake with my friend Natalie yesterday. We left EARLY in the morning, so our ride was finished just as it hit 91 degrees. Thankfully there was a nice horse campground where we could water and bathe our horses before loading up and heading home.

As for joining an online equestrian chat forum... It sounds inviting! But I rarely have time to write anything "for fun" any more. But I might give it a look-- anonymously-- some day soon!

Anonymous said...

We tried to clip our barn dog, a Boarder Collie named Jackson, a while ago. It didn't turn out so well. He doesn't have a collar, so we had to put a lead rope around his neck to try to hold him still. That didn't work. Despite about 2 people holding him and one clipping, he kept slipping out of the lead rope and running away to hide in the corner of a stall. In the end, he looked ridiculous, because his fur was completely uneven and his belly was half shaved and we couldn't touch his chest. Now it's grown out, though, so he looks better.