Being a Groom (In Pictures)

I started my weekend with a very early morning walk through the Christmas Tree farm next to the farm...

...because it'd be the last time I get to see this view of the ears!

Many of these, and things like these, are consumed when being a groom.
They may or may not start being consumed before noon...

And all you see is manes.

And more manes.

And yet a 3rd mane.

You get the pleasure of turning this tragedy (it's super thin and needs the length, so no pulling to even it)...

Into this fine looking mane number 4.

And when you're ready to slit your wrists, you finish mane number 5.
But wait! Someone else wants to buy your braiding services and you take them up on it and do mane number 6.
But you forget to take a picture of it.

You begin to realize that your trainer's rides for the weekend are quite the homogeneous group.

You also figure out the best way to water 7 horses effectively without a hose or a close hydrant.

Sometimes you even get to leave stabling and see some riding!

But then shit like this goes down and you make a chart and realize you're never leaving stabling again.

You stuff five sets of numbers in the pinny holder at the start of the day, to be pulled out as you do tack swaps for the jumping phases... and feel slightly like a revolving door.

Sometimes you get to sit down and chat with a paint friend and watch your horses from not in their stalls.

Then you wrap legs. And more legs. I wrapped 16 legs Saturday, 18 legs Sunday, for a grand total of 34 legs.

So your trainer can get her job done- riding 5 horses and coaching 5 students.

Two days that ran from 5am to 11pm, lots of horses, lots of ribbons, lots of fun!