Roached!

I've gone and done it. I finally roached Tag's mane. there was a definite majority in the poll, so I felt it was time to go ahead & roach his mane. I think drafts look awesome with shaved manes. Look at that beautiful, thick, cresty neck! So I did it. Not four hours ago. Well, more accurately, another lady at the barn did it for me because she had these mega, heavy-duty clippers. Tag's mane is in the blue bin (some pieces braided up and in my tack locker. I think he looks AMAZING. One of the guys there said I had shaved off his manhood, and I said "No, I shaved off his flowy Hippie mane and turned him into a marine."


I had another fall on Thursday night. Tag panicked as I was mounting him; fearing another horse, a tiny Paint named Spirit was going to kick him. I was on him, and didn't realize Spirit was stamping his feet and swishing his tail at the time, and kept preventing Tag from moving out of the kicking radius, getting upset that he wouldn't sit still. He freaked out, backed up and smashed into the side wall then into another wall, and then into Spirit... he ended up hitting the barn gate, and then fell back, sitting down like a dog. I slid out of my saddle, over his croupe and was deposited with a thump on my bum sitting on the hayloft ramp. I now have a horizontal bruise on my backside. Yay. I got on him right away, and made sure I rode him until he'd run his beans out. He's been really frisky and energetic these past few weeks; spring will do that to these guys.

He needs some more exposure to life, this poor sheltered boy. I wonder how a horse that weighs around 1400lbs can be such a big giant chicken. Seriously! He's scared of a 15 hand Paint that he could probably snap like a twig if he wanted to. You'd *think* a horse his size would be lazy and slow... but no such luck. Tag is 'hot' as they call it, a spirited dancer. He's eager to please, but he also fights me on occasion. It's the greenest horse I've ever owned, so we're both learning.

Anyway, I spent Saturday feeling REEAALLLY sore. Today we spent the early afternoon with him. He's so beautiful, I still cannot believe that I got this amazing creature for FREE. I look at him and I just feel so damned lucky. He's playful, sweet, gentle, energetic, graceful ... I just love him so much. And Dan loves him too. We made these movies today... he chases Dan around like a dog. LOL. Enjoy.