Finally tested out my Show Sheen Try-Pack (on his tail only)

I took the pictures to do the stifle exercise post, but they turned out blurry and unreadable so I'll try again when my husband can help me hold the book open and still.  I did something fun today though, so we'll check that out instead.

I won this Show Sheen Try-Pack in a blog contest... last year... yeah it's taken me that long to use it lol.  I was going to give him a bath since it was actually warm today, but it was VERY windy and I don't have a place that isn't muddy to bathe him (which means mud splashing up on my legs, I need a concrete wash stall!), so I only did his tail.  

First I have to show you this picture.  My husband spread out the orange stuff we used around our garden to keep critters out so he could roll it back up neatly.  I walked Chrome over it.  He arched his neck (like in the picture above), but walked right over.  There was a part of it to his right that was piled up and he gave it the hairy eyeball so I laughed at him.  My laugh spooked him and he jumped forward over it.  It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!  I walked him over it several more times and he was fine.  :)

So here is a picture of my dirty, disgusting boy... I'm so gonna miss how well he hides his dirt after he turns gray....

 His gross, gross tail!  So yellow and nasty!

After washing it... still stained at the bottom, but sooo much better!

I washed his tail with dishwashing liquid first (without getting it on his skin) because I couldn't find my baby shampoo.  The water in the bucket after scrubbing it was soooo nasty!  It looked like mud.  Then I rinsed it and washed it with the Show Sheen 2-1 Shampoo/Conditioner pictured above.  After rinsing that out I used the stain remover and whitener.  The only thing I don't like is that it's in a tiny mister bottle, not a normal spray bottle.  Obviously since it's a sample pack that's understandable, but if it doesn't come in a spray bottle I probably won't ever buy it.  So I wadded his tail up in my hand and misted the brown parts really well (used a third of the bottle) and scrubbed it all together, then let it sit for five minutes.  After rinsing it out I couldn't really tell much difference.  It's more intended for stains on the horse's body though so I'm not upset about it or anything.  It really isn't designed for tails.  I need to get some of the blue kind for his tail.  After letting it dry a bit I sprayed (again an obnoxious mister bottle) it with the Showring Shine and Detangler and OMG I LOVE it!  I had obviously brushed his tail before washing it, but normally its very knotty again after, but not with this stuff.  The brush just glided right through his tail.  It made it soooo soft I couldn't stop running my fingers through it.  Now I know why people are such fans of Show Sheen Detangler.  Does Show Sheen still dry their hair out with extended use like people used to say years ago?  I hope not because I sure would like to buy a bottle for his tail.  :)

So I'm thinking about getting the blue shampoo or maybe trying very diluted bleach to get the stains out, then try to wash his tail weekly because it sure does look so much nicer after it's cleaned.  I'm really bad about sticking with stuff like that, but I'll try.  So does anyone have any tips for making tail washing easier?  I like using a bucket because it's easier to really get the shampoo in the tail, but it's so heavy holding it while his tail soaks... any secret tips??

The other thing I wanted to mention is....

His face is going flea-bitten!!!! Ahhh!!!!!!!  :(  I knew he was 99% likely to go flea-bitten because of his dam, but I was so hoping he wouldn't... *pout*  Oh well, if he's going flea-bitten I hope he goes all out and is covered in them, because the heavily flea-bitten ones look better to me than the lightly flea-bitten ones.  :)

Oh and the flea-bites are bay... much 

lighter than I thought they would be.  

See the ones up by his eye? 

 One more picture of my curried horse with his sparkly clean tail hehe.

So over all I really like the little Show Sheen samples I won.  It's hard to tell about the spot remover, but that's no big deal.  I might give it to a friend since it probably won't be any good by the time he's gray.  Tomorrow is his next workout so keep your fingers crossed it doesn't rain.... again....

Equine Fitness!

On Amazon HERE

A friend was asking me about the stifle exercises I'm doing with Chrome and I decided to look in my Equine Fitness book (pictured above) to refresh my memory on the ones we haven't been doing   Of course while looking at those I started reading over my notes and realized I need to get Chrome in shape.  Since I like structure and this book was laying out perfectly structured routines I don't know why I haven't been using it.  Winter always kicks my motivation out the window.

So since my husband and dad are both trying to get in better shape I figured maybe Chrome and I need to as well.  So our routine today went like this...

My husband, Chrome and I went for a two mile walk (yeah I walked too because I need it, although I really wanted to ride hehe).  I forgot my camera so you'll have to use your imagination, but Chrome did great!  As soon as we got past the point where we normally turn around Chrome's head shot straight up in the air.  He was walking fast with his head in the clouds and finally broke into a trot.  I corrected him (do NOT want him trotting without permission) and he calmed back down.  The reason he got excited is because there are horses in that direction and he knows it. Today we didn't see a single one... weird.  I guess they were all hiding in their barns.

So I started praising him when he'd lower his head and relax a little.  We passed majorly rutted driveways, puddles (he eyeballed those), Styrofoam (dang litterers), plastic bags, brush piles (eyeballed those too), junk piles, hay bales, etc.  We even passed a kid swinging on one of those brightly colored double swing sets and it was right by the road.  He barely even glanced at it.  We also had a kid on his bike going up and down the road.  He passed us four times.  When Chrome first saw him, his head shot up and he froze.  I let him stand and watch it pass us.  Chrome was already relaxed before the bike even passed us.  The rest of the times he didn't even look at it, even when the brakes squealed.  He met the kid's little rat terrier and didn't try to bite her (score!) while she sniffed his leg (she was as tall as his ankle!  Stinkin cute!).

The other thing that really excited me is that along a shady part of the road there is a fairly deep ditch.  It's about six inches full of rain water since it's been raining for about a week.  He started to go to the water but I pulled him back thinking he was going for grass.  After I thought about it a second, it was warm and we'd gone further than he has in a while, I decided to let him drink if he would.  So I led him up to where he was facing the puddle and asked him to stop.  He immediately stuck his nose in it and I thought he would drink, but then he popped his head up and stared around at everything (brush piles... really horse?) for a full minute or two, then he dropped his head and drank!!!!!  I normally don't like him drinking on the side of the road because you never know what's in it, but it was recent rain water and on a fairly quiet road so I took the risk.  I'm just excited he drank while out on a walk, even when excited.  That's a great trait for his future Competitive Trail Riding career.  :D

After we got home I did his pelvis tucks, where you run a quarter down their haunches on both sides and it causes them to tuck their haunches and raise their back, it's like the equine version of a sit up.  Then I worked on backing him up a slope... he's never been very good at this so I decided to try it in the driveway on a very small slope.  I faced him away from it, asked him to put his head down and then asked him to back up the slope in the driveway.  He did great!  I don't know if it's because it was a smaller slope or if it's because we walked for two miles and warmed him up, but he was moving great.  His stifles didn't lock at all either!  :D

Last we did two stretches that are part of the first routine.  The tail rotations, where you pick up their tail and circle it a few times in each direction, and the shoulder release, where you pick up their leg, let the shoulder relax, stretch it gently backwards and let him sit it back down (sort of like stepping backward really slowly hehe).  He did great at both of those.  Stretches definitely go better after warming up, instead of trying to do them first.  On Friday it will be a different routine and on Monday it will be another routine.  There are four of them that I can spread out doing only three sessions a week.  Mixing them up helps prevent muscle memory which slows down progress, just like when we lift weights.

It also says at the end of each month to assess their progress, so I'm going to do that on the nineteenth (I need to get back to doing his progress reports anyway) of this month for a baseline and then after that each month we will assess our progress.  :)  I'll explain more as we go along.  I'm also going to post all of the stifle exercises tomorrow for my friend!

P.S.  I thought Chrome would be tired after our walk since it's twice as far as we normally go, but no he was NOT!  He was feeling spunky and mouthy (when did he get mouthy again????)!  He was being a turd about trying to graze so I popped him with the rope and it startled him so bad he jumped two feet in the air LOL!  He stopped trying to drag me around after that.  :)

Blog Hop: Our Commercial Moment

Yay another awesome blog hop from L over at Viva Carlos!  For once I'm actually mostly caught up on blogs and got to this one in time to actually join.

L asked "So fellow bloggers, What are you buying next? Not your "Wish I could" list but your actual practical pony shopping list. And if its a high ticket item you are saving for what is it and when do you expect to order/get it?"

As you saw in yesterday's post (LINK) I just bought a leather halter and back up bridle which I've been wanting, but really had no plans to buy.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity though!

Here are the things actually on my list:

1. A new snap for Chrome's blue halter.  He accidentally broke it when it hung on the fence and I startled him.
2. With bug season upon us I need more fly spray and neem oil to battle flies and sweet itch.
3. Horse feed is on the need really soon list.  I'm almost out of Enrich 32.
4.  Hay is always on the list since I don't have a place to store it and buy it one round bale at a time.
5. As soon as my tax return gets here it's time for teeth and vaccines too!

The high ticket item I'm saving for, that is more a want than a need, is a new saddle pad.  I want one of those wool pads specifically for a treeless saddle that provides spine relief.  I haven't decided which one I want, but I do know they are pricey!

Well I think that's all.  That's all I can think of anyway lol.