Bath Day and Mane Clipping with Laura

 Thursday, when I went to help Laura I learned how to clip a mule's mane. Mules have manes that stick straight up, like donkeys do(just like Fjords too). For shows, it is conventional to trim the mane to abut an inch long, rather than braiding. Laura demonstrated on BB first. To begin with, she clipped along the neckline of the mule, heading the direction the hairs go. For shorter necked horses, like BB, you clip further done the neck to make it appear longer(similar to adding more braids). Then she began shaving off the outer hairs of the mane to make it thinner. BB has chestnut hairs along the outside of her mane and grey hairs in the middle, so Laura clipped the red hairs off. Next she let me try. It's really easy and simple, and I had no problem doing it. When I had finished, Laura decided to leave BB's mane long because it looked really cute.

 Next, we gave BB and Moxie baths because it was a warm day and we wanted to take advantage of it. Laura showed me how to do it first, and then I did it myself. We used a special horse shampoo that attaches to the hose to spray them down(we gave BB a bath first), then I sponged BB down with a shampoo made for palominos, put the same shampoo in her mane and tail, and finally rinsed her off and put conditioner in her mane and tail. I did the same process with Moxie. BB was a much brighter, golden color by the time we were down, and both mules were soft and clean. Laura trimmed both mules tails, demonstrating how to do it. Bathing horses or mules takes a long time, so by the time we were done it was evening.

  Laura explained how important it is that your horse is well groomed, even if you are just trail riding with friends. You want to give a good impression and show how much you care for your horse. You also want to give a good representation of horses in general, or maybe the breed you have if you have a rare breed, a breed maybe most people have misconceptions about, or in Laura's case a mule. She wants her mules to give a good representation of mules since mules have a bad reputation to some people. She wants to always groom her equines like they are going to be photographed for the Olympics she says.

 We organized the tack room for a few minutes too. I enjoyed giving the muse a bath, and the next warm ay I might be able to give Lucky a bath too. I also might be able come when the veterinarian comes Monday, which will be great because I someday want to be an equine vet so it will be interesting to talk to and watch the vet work.