Once upon a time there was a show Pony (I use that term loosely). Show pony loved to go to shows, mostly because they were in Ohio, which has the best grass she has ever tasted, and she gets to see other horses of her kind, and she gets to take naps in the sun during halter and showmanship class. |
| Fall asleep during a class. . .never! |
In order to get ready for a show, show pony must get cleaned up and bathed. This was probably the worst part of being a show pony.
But after the bath, there is usually grass to be eaten while drying off, which is just fine with show pony.
Show pony has always lived outside, except for one year. So keeping her clean is a concern. She doesn't like to particularly get dirty and avoids mud for the most part, but she really enjoys rolling in sand and grinding that sand right into the bottom of her hairs. She also likes to travel the forest and collect burrs. And eat all the berries she can find.
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| Just a small portion of the burrs in the tail |
In order to help keep her clean overnight, show pony's mom got her a tail bag and a Sleezy. If nothing else, at least her tail and mane will be clean, the rest is can be handled by a stiff brush. Show pony likes her sleezy. It makes her feel like a superhero with a secret alternate identity. She has great fun being goofy in her sleezy.
However, one horse in her herd, who normally really likes her, could not recognize show pony in her sleezy. He thought she was an intruder! And this horse would not let show pony anywhere near the front of the pasture. Every time she came close, he would run her off! She ran through the woods dodging the trees and branches to hide from the mean horse.
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| Hiding, maybe a camo sleezy would be better suited for this? |
But show pony was hungry and usually does not let much get between her and her food. So she would sneak through the woods where she was hiding and try to eat, but the horse would chase her at a full gallop, ears pinned. Over and over this happened. She would kick at the horse, but he would not let up. Not even when she got him good and left a hoof print right on his chest. Finally, show pony just went to the back of the pasture, all by herself. Her beautiful super hero sleezy was all covered in burrs, she was sweating, and breathing heavy from all the running the mean horse made her do.
Her mom came out to rescue her, but even so, the mean horse tried to chase her away. Her mom got a stick to keep him away and took her out of the pasture to safety. She also grabbed some hay to satisfy show pony's rumbly belly. While she was eating, her mom took all the burrs of her sleezy and tail bag and legs. Then she took the sleezy off.
After checking show pony over, her mom found a couple cuts on her, probably from branches in the woods as show pony was running away. One was pretty wide though, but show pony was brave and showed no pain.
The decision was made to keep the sleezy off, but show pony had to promise to stay clean and burr free (even though she has a record of not keeping such promises, but one can dream). Tomorrow is an early day for the last show of the year. And we plan on having lots of fun, even if show pony can't stay clean.
