TCJp37 Spring Cleaning

SPRING CLEANING:
...getting tidy and organised after winter is a good idea.  You can donate all your unused and unwanted equipment to Redwings Horse Sanctuary, and clean up at the same time.

This is the time of year for cleaning:

Last weekend I cleared out both their stables and jet washed them with Jeyes. 

How did I get rid of the boys from the yard in order to achieve this performance?  Normally I just grab a grooming brush, have a determined look on my face, and that suffices...but they were busy eating a new tasty bale of haylage so I was going to need a stronger tool that sunny hot morning....the hose!

...ah, that sweet smell of medicated horse shampoo for sensitive skin wafting in the air, and the boys all shiny too...

Our annual visitors the swallows, who nest in each of the stables every year made a swift appearance.  The male comes first, and I saw him sitting on the top rail of the yard, just checking everything was as it should be before sending for the 'wife' and starting another family...twice!  I decided this was a good time to jetwash, before the swallows' missus arrives and the repair or rebuild of the nests get underway. 

This is the sort of image you can capture if, like us, you have cameras covering every inch of your property. This is an incredible shot, and you'd have to wait patiently and silently for hours to get it with a regular camera.

I have to make sure there's always a wet/muddy bit of ground near the yard, not hard when you have horses, so they have material for any repair, the blackbirds need soft ground too, so it's always worth making a wet patch if you can.

I get very grubby working the jetwash, all bits of old web and hay in my hair, but the end result is worth it.  I left them to dry all afternoon and overnight and put 5 bales of bedding down for the boys to sleep on.  Because when it gets hot, Tom & Henry spend a lot of time in their stables, eating haylage and sleeping.

You may notice above, I have draped the power lead across the hooks attached to the fronts of their stables to keep it out of the wet - safety first.

But the stables weren't the only things to get the spring clean as I mentioned...

I bathed the boys too!  It was 25degrees here, and my rule is: if I can wear flip-flops, it's hot enough for a bath...for the boys

They needed it too, all that dust and mud and old hair from winter, afterwards they smell so nice and clean too and so very shiny.  They still have lots of coat left to lose, but I gave them a helping hand.

I have a theory about grub: I call it 'Shelley's First Theory of Grub Tansferance' (or SFTGT), my theory is that like energy, grub is neither lost nor created, merely transferred from one thing to another.  Namely from Tom and Henry onto me!  So it was then afterwards, I began my own spring clean, I had to get the eau-de-jeyes smell off my hair from the jet wash, and I was covered in little bay hairs too!

...and of course they went straight out and rolled, but they must have been more comfortable, there was lots of grunting and head rubbing onto each others bodies.  They lean right into each other, it's great to watch - actually I'm lucky my boys get on so well.  They are matched of course in breed and are nearly the same size, but their personalities 'fit' together, they are different, but they are very good mates.

love those boys.....