This afternoon I went out and did the various methods of estimating Scout's adult height. All of them, aside from one (which said he'd be 21 hands, teehee) agreed that he will be between 15.2-15.3 hands. That's about Tonka's height, and that's just fine. I'd also be happy if he stopped at 15. I just hope he doesn't stay small like his mama. He's currently 13.3 hands, and almost a year old.
I thought I'd share my favorite shedding tool with you all. Again. I know, I do this every year, but I love these shedding blocks. Farnam sells them for around $5 to $7, but I go to the restaurant supply store and buy a grill block for $2.50 and cut it into probably about 5-8 shedding blocks. You run the corner edge along the horse and it pulls off the loose hair. When the corner gets dull or dirt-clogged, you scrape it on a t-post until it's square again. Works great. Smells like rotten eggs.
Here my handsome (and hairy) assistant will help demonstrate:
(That's Scout in the background. Growing as we watch.)
I think we're going to be able to get out to go to the health clinic tomorrow. Here's the hill on our driveway that I was worried about being too icy. It melted fairly well, and I did a silly jig all up and down on one side to try to slide the slush out of the way.
From the bottom:
It was good for Tonka to have to chill with me while I did my silly slushy shuffle, because he's been worried about the driveway lately. Some birds scared him, and then the neighbor horses scared him (well, actually just the one hiding behind a bush) and he figured it was a bad place to be. Today he stood there and gave me his dopey face. Then he browsed on some bushes. I gave him an inch and of course he took a mile, and I had to drag him away from the grass and bushes the rest of the way.
When we got back down to the bottom, here was beautiful Bella waiting for us.
From the top:
From the bottom:
When we got back down to the bottom, here was beautiful Bella waiting for us.
I think hand-walking horses is a great exercise, and besides it's fun when we can't ride! I love the grooming blocks, too - they also work really well to get dirt and stains off light-colored horses - and I've got a paint and a gray, so there you go!
ReplyDeleteYou sure have a lot of shedding going on even a cold as it's been in your area! Mine aren't shedding much at all yet...it's going to be 50 degrees today!!! Yeah!
ReplyDeleteI've used one of those grooming stones before. They work really well. I had a thoroughbred who was really touchy and sensitive about being brushed (he'd bite at you if you brushed certain parts of him and he's been known to catch skin before...he used to be a schooling horse and he'd gotten quite grouchy about it). But he didn't seem to mind the stone. Plus, his attitude really improved after they gave him to me to retire him...he hated lessons.
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