Friday Entertainment

Image got a Bath today. Not a bath...a capital "b" Bath. I don't think he's ever been so clean in his entire life. I've never scrubbed a horse so much in my entire life! He was caked in mud (unlike him; he's usually pretty clean!) after all the rain we've had, so it took two good scrubbings to really get all the dirt out of his coat. Then, of course, I concentrated on his mane and tail. Mr. Stinkerpants has managed to rub a chunk of his mane out on something (grumble), but hopefully it won't be too noticeable. Once I had rinsed all the suds out, I attacked him with coat conditioner and mane and tail detangler. Then, it was into the barn to drip dry for a little while. He happily hung out with me, occasionally snuffling me for cookies or plunking his head in my lap for cuddles and scratches, while he dried off. At one point, he smushed his nose into the crook of my neck and wiggled his top lip around. It tickled like crazy and I'm not sure what he was after, but he kept it up for a good minute or so while I giggled and batted at him. Every time I pushed his nose away, he'd smush it right back in there. He was so reserved when I first brought him home that it's still surprises me sometimes that he's turned into such a lovey mush of a horse!

This is what Image thinks of the whole process, apparently.

It wasn't long until he had dried enough for me to be comfortable to initiate my plan for keeping him clean overnight. I have some errands to run tomorrow morning and a family get together to pop in to, so I really didn't have time to give him the bath I wanted him to have tomorrow before the shoot. So, I asked my friends at work (it is lovely to work for a tack company!) for a sleazy hoodie and sheet. This is what I ended up with:

He was posing!

Tears of laughter. My poor, sweet, TOLERANT horse...he is so, so good to me. I fumbled with the hood so much and he stood there in the aisle, his head down so I could mess with things, without a halter on. When I finally got everything in place, I laughed so hard I cried. He stood there with his ears forward, looking at me with a proud expression. I had to sit down to catch my breath.

"Stop laughing and give me cookies!"

I hadn't seen him much this week, so today was a much needed few hours of playtime. It's funny, because during the week when I'm busy, I think of him constantly but it's "dulled", for lack of a better way to put. Then I spend time with him, and my heart just sings because he is funny, lovable, tolerant (oh, so tolerant), willing and smart. He stuffs his head against my chest and heaves this big, blustery sigh: "Oh, I'm so glad to see you. Wait until you hear about my week!"

Today also brought the first real pang of anxiety I've had so far for the approaching date. I've been a little numb up until now, but laughing and playing with him today (and really, we were playing more than anything else!) made me realize just how much I'm going to miss him. We didn't get to have the adventures together that I had hoped, but honestly, it makes me happy to just be with him. Just a year ago, I was sure that I wasn't ever going to be able to love a horse again, so to be so "at home" in his presence is still a bit of a wonder to me. Now that this is real, the finality of it is looming over my head and I'm not sure how the following days will unfold for me. This is all new, unexplored territory so I am taking each emotion as it comes and allowing myself to do what I need to do to deal with it. GP was not legally my horse, and the decision to let him go was not mine to make. I was also not present for the actual deed, as I couldn't handle it. This will be a very different experience and the uncertainties are daunting, on top of the actual heartache of knowing this huge ray of sunshine in my life is going to no longer be there.

I'm excited for tomorrow, so I'm just going to focus on that right now...time for a little Castle therapy and bed!