Halloween Horrors

Title may be a little misleading as my overdue return to tack was far from horrific, however as you'll see from the photos accompanying this post the state of my hairy monsters after 6 months turnout is a horror show.
Those with sensitive disposition be advised, the gnarly knotted manes and tails that follow are not for the faint hearted...However thanks to some Canter Mane & Tail spray, they are at least somewhat on the road to recovery ;-)

Russet-hairy "clean" photo to start
 the post on a positive

All joking aside, both girls were superstars for our return to arena work today. I think i have sat on Kika once since Beka visited and i lunged her once in her headcollar earlier this week before turning her loose in an arena to meet a new turnout buddy. (I wanted to warm her up/take the edge off in case there might have been some running involved ppst-intro...spoiler alert - i needn't have worried)
It must be a testament to how far Kika & I have come in recent years that I didn't have any fear of climbing on board without lunging or popping her on the walker first. I guess the 24/7 turnout keeps her sane & as you can tell from the photos, she's pretty hairy and rather unfit so not quite in shenanigan-shape...but she is still Kika so we just never know what's going on under the hood ;-)

Before & After of Nancy's gnarly tail
Prior grooming and trimming

I wasn't worried and she proved i was right not to be, we walked, trotted and cantered without fighting or flailing. The closest we came to having a discussion was at the end when I wanted to open the door of the arena from her back and ride out she started thinking about getting into it with me. Before any of her shenanginistic ideas took hold i hopped off and led her out of the arena so that we wouldn't end on a sour note. We were already finished and cooled out at that stage, having her cart my lazy ass the 15m to the grooming area would have just been the icing on the cake. No harm - No foul.

Ditto Kika's stringy mess of a tail

I had had a very quick walk/trot spin on Nancy last night, before potential-leasee (i'm going to have to find an abbreviation for her as it's looking positive that she's going to take a 1/4 lease on Nancy) hopped up for a refresher spin. I just wanted to keep things calm and controlled yesterday evening as it had been about three weeks since I'd managed to ride N & I didn't want her getting hett up (in her Nancy way not Kika hot) as P-L said her back was giving her a bit of hip. N was an angel as per usual.
Today, it all started out well. We walked, we trotted, we cantered and discussed how I ideally wanted her to carry her head/neck as she tried to convince me that really careening around like a discombobulated giraffe was more her style. The conversation between Nancy & I came about after some lovely initial canter work on one rein and her desire to immediately canter in her terms going the other way whereas I wanted a more balanced/correct trot prior to transitioning up. I eventually won out and we did get some very nice canter work on that side too.

Sadly all that is left of N's lovely mane...deff investing in a fly rug for turnout ahead of next summer & going to do plenty research about links between Friesians and sweet itch. Am I deluding myself in hoping it was just a bumper year for flies this year (it was) as mercifully N hasn't rubbed the tail off herself...Just her mane.

Bless her little heart, she was smarting slightly from not having gotten her way re:cantering-on-her-terms and as we trotted rather nicely (if i do say so myself) passed the entrance a horse coming in had the audacity to rustle fallen tree leaves with its hooves. Nancy spooked, as only Nancy can by taking off for maybe 5 strides and then regaining her composure with a few soothing words of wisdom; aka my laughing gently at her while patting her and telling her not to be so melodramatic. Difficult to identify or unexpected sounds are prob Nancy's spook-trigger. But bless her, even when she spooks she does so so demurely that it really dost register on the Richter Scale particularly in comparison to DonKikate (aka Dumbo) when it comes to spooking at different coloured sand/leaves/sunlight-in-the-woods/watermarks-on-the-sides-of-the-arena/a-new-radio-that-was-never-there-before...you get the picture I'm sure ☺

And to finish with a cute
Nancy headshot

PS - word to the wise
If using Canter Mane & Tail spray prior to tacking up. I was reminded today (after dousing my hands in the stuff to rub into Nancy's forelock), not to attempt to tighten or close strapped leather goods (like a girth). The lovely spray that help brushes glide easily through gnarly knots makes for some super slippy fingers and while I did manage to not punch myself in the face while girthing - it was a close call *lolz*