housekeeping

shiny horse shames my dirty tack

I was supposed to clean all my tack and assorted accoutrements when Major was on rest for a month. That didn't happen.

So I finally took a day, and decided to give it my all. The saddle was the worst, so dusty and sad. After cleaning it looks so pretty I almost don't want to ride in it...almost! I do wish that the black leather didn't fade, but when clean it looks almost black, but soon dries again to light-black gray-brown. Damn.

Actually, the saddle bags may have been the worst. How to describe it…I can't, see the photo evidence:

pack rat in my saddle bag? Nope, just my stuff

The usual: granola bar, glow stick, string, gum, fruit snacks, chapstick, vet wrap, matches, bandana, loose almonds, mummified carrots. Yes, the foreground objects are not hairballs from the cat, but mummified carrots, months old. I am rarely disgusted, but yuck!

The rest of the tack is much easier to wash, just hose off.

lovely orange again, not dusty rust-colored

I also finally got around to washing the winter blanket last worn at the endurance ride in June. Yeah, should have gotten to that sooner! I also ordered a new rainsheet (on clearance from Smartpak, if your horse is a smaller size sometimes you can find good deals there!).

clean, won't last long

I even painted the rubber feed pan! Easier for the barn to distinguish his pan from the others.

Major Danger gets a new feed pan

I was running low on supplements, and ordered Major his California Trace (upgraded to the Plus, shipped to me and delivered the next day, awesome service), picked up bags of beet pulp and grass hay pellets, and fed him many carrots. Housecleaning accomplished! (Oh, the actual house…well, I left the Roomba running in the kitchen, does that count?)