Hair Waffles

Yesterday I rode my horse for the first time in a long time.  It's a long story why it's been seven months since I've ridden her, and I won't get into that right now.  It was just good to ride again.

Being spring, The Mare is shedding.  She's naturally pretty short-coated, so on first glance it didn't look like she had much loose hair.  HA!  A few strokes of the Grooma, and I was tapping out hair waffles.

For those not familiar with a Grooma, you are probably totally lost at the moment.  A Grooma is a round rubber curry comb that was first created in the 1980's (yes, mine is that old--they last forever!)  It has thick, tapered 'teeth' that massage the horse as you work it in circles over their body.  If the horse is shedding, the Grooma's teeth collect and weave together the loose hairs until the teeth are filled up.  At which point you want to peel  off or tap out the 'hair waffle', as I have always called it.

They do look somewhat like circular waffles made of hair.

Now I'm dreading grooming The Old Man.  He has longer hair and much more of it.  Maybe I'll have DD2 do it; after all, we have The Old Man for her and DD1.  Once upon a time, many long years ago, he was my horse.  I bought him as a 2 year old, broke him out at 3, and showed him in 4-H, Open and even a few Arabian Circuit shows before selling him shortly before becoming pregnant with DS2.  He went on to have a show career with a few young ladies before contracting EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis--a very serious neurological disease) that left him with a hitch in his get-a-long and made him not show worthy.  After that, he was donated to a therapeutic riding program, where he spent more than ten years doing therapy with children and adults who have been afflicted with various mental and/or physical disabilities.  Along about the time he was in his early twenties and due to be retired from that program, I caught up with him again and purchased him for my daughters to ride.

So, I think then, that they can be the ones to deal with his hair waffles!

The Mare and I churned out close to a dozen hair waffles yesterday before I felt she was sufficiently groomed.  We went on to have a great ride in the warm weather, the last we are supposed to have for a while (it's in the thirties here this morning!).  She even got so sweated up from our workout that I had to hose her off when we were done.  With warm water, of course, which she enjoyed, along with the grass she got to eat while she dried off in the sunshine.

The Mare after hosing.  Loving the green grass.