I didn't ride yesterday because I spent a long time cleaning all my tack. I have been terrible about keeping everything clean this summer and we had some serious mold issues in the tack room, so I'm sure that took its toll on all my leather. I went all out, taking my bridle completely apart. It was GROSS, especially around the figure 8 piece. There was all sorts of grime caked on there that I had to get off with my fingernail, yuk! It's a really nice Pessoa bridle, too. I shouldn't have let it go that long. At least it's done now, as is my saddle, which was seriously in terrible shape too. I cleaned it really well and even went over it with a super soft brush to buff it out a bit. It looks beautiful.
Since I was in the cleaning mode I pulled Lucy out of her stall and went to town on her, too. She got her mane evened up (not pulled all the way down, but it was growing out a bit unevenly from the last time I pulled it, so I just made everything the same length), and I also clipped her bridle path. I brushed her really well and by the time I was done she was absolutely gleaming. I want to practice braiding her one day this week as I will be doing the wedding dress shoot with her in the near future and I want to braid her for that. This is why I didn't pull her mane again; I need a bit of length to braid it.
And as usual, I think every speck of dirt that was on my tack and my horse ended up on me and I went home feeling very grimy!
Oh, tack cleaning. I -try- to do it every two weeks or so, but you never know.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got some done, at least.