Saturday, May 14, 2011

Impossible Green

Someone who never before groomed a horse polished one of this pair.

Yesterday evening I was at the new barn for the first session of Horse Boot Camp 101, Muddy K style. My friend Tim has been cast in a film shooting in July, a wild, post-nuclear, apocalyptic Western of yet-to-be-revealed storyline. It seems that horses must have survived whatever calamity befell the country, however, because he'll be expected to ride in the film, something which he hasn't done since the proverbial mechanical pony circle of childhood. He asked me to teach him about horses. Twist my arm, why don't you? Longtime readers of my horse journal know I love sharing my horses with people, love it maybe more than any other thing I do.

My six-week boot camp is going to fun for Timmy, but not nearly so much fun as it's going to be for me. Sometimes you don't have a clue what you know until you're asked to share it. I'm curious to see where I run aground, hoping that I don't.

We started at the beginning: Here is a barn. In it is a horse. I combined basic anatomy study with a lesson in grooming. We began at the feet and ended at the face. As I showed him how to lift and pick a hoof, Tim also learned about the frog, bars, sole and heel, laminitis and founder. Then we groomed rough to fine, shedding blade to body brush, following the curves of the horse with discussion layovers at withers, croup, poll, eyes, nostrils, jaw. It was wonderful for Tim, wonderful for me, but wonderful most of all for Gambler, a once-muddy mess who went into an impossibly green pasture clean, bright and white.

6 comments:

Brooke (FBX Adventures - In Parenting) said...

This sounds like so much fun! Can't wait to hear more about your adventures!

The Demon's Kat said...

Wonderful I miss spending hours standing around brushing Gambler, now that schools out I could, but don't know where he is yet.

Wolfie said...

I LOVE it when a non-horse person grooms for the first time and feels the magic! Gambler looks fab! :-)

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

Well done! I bet that was fun too - I love sharing horses with someone who's into it :)

Rising Rainbow said...

I'm glad that you're finding some horse time and it's so great you get to share it with a friend. I think that can make it so much more enjoyable.

ToCatchAPony said...

Keep sharing your sharing! This is all the stuff I missed just riding but not having a horse to care for..time with horses is magical, hope he thinks so too!