Third Annual Spring Yak Shaving Festival

Yesterday was our third annual Spring Yak Shaving Festival.

Before

AFTER!

I had to overcome a really bad night on Friday, where a mandatory formal dinner event kept me out late and gave me a horrible, nauseating headache.  I thought I was past that stage with this concussion, but I'm still finding my limits and trying to stay within them in order to not feel like trash.  Anyway...after a late start on Saturday morning, I managed to:

- Quick hack around the farm
- Bathe Soonie
- Deep clean (soap and oil) bridle including scrubbing all the built up winter grime off and finally deciding to replace the (newly cleaned) laced reins with the rubber reins...BECAUSE WHY AM I USING LACE REINS ANYWAY
- Clean/oil the CWD
- Full clip Soon
- Not die

It got especially sporty when I realized this whole saga should have been titled "A Body Clip Too Far," since the motor on my poor Andis clippers sounded like it was on its last legs.  And let me tell you, when you're starting a full body clip and the clippers sound like they're not gonna make it...this is what that looks like:

We made it through.  Barely.  It was dodgey at the top of his rump and his lower legs, where it's very tough to get those totally clean with 3 inches of hair, and the clippers have to be really on point to cut through the grime.  Thankfully, Soon is a trooper and didn't seem to mind it taking a little longer than it should have.

I wish I could have gotten the cute parts of the clip on film, mainly him being a perfect freaking angel, including him "helping" me clip his face by putting his head exactly where I needed it to be depending what section I was trying to clip.  Totes adorbs. 

How Soon looks now when he gets ready for work

I admit, I was thinking of hiring someone to come out and clip him for me this spring.  But I'm glad I did it myself as usual.  There is something immensely satisfying about doing all the grooming work on your own horse.  I have absurdly high grooming standards...so it's always nice knowing that my horse looks ready to walk into WEF (now that it's over....) and I did that.  Job Recreation satisfaction!

He felt a little supercharged today with it being a little cooler and rainy today, so I'm sure that felt interesting on his nekkid body, but he was super polite about it as always, and we had a nice little flat school.  I'm looking forward to getting back from Omaha (World Cup here I come!) and having a perfectly clipped horse and perfectly clean gear to carry out my newfound motivation.

But best of all, no more of this...