Truthful Tuesday

 

So my non horsey confession is that I'm having a little bit of anxiety... My state has moved to phase 3 of our reopening. Which confuses me some as our positivity rate has been going up. We've been staying under 1% for most of the summer, but now that school has started we're just over that. Not a terribly alarming number, but still, I would think lightening up restrictions might help that number climb to something that is alarming. That's not really what give me angst though. I obviously can still avoid anything that makes me uncomfortable. What I'm anxious about is the thought that I might have to go back to the office. You guys. I DO NOT want to go back. I'm not sure how I'll get all the horses done everyday with the added commute. I haven't really had three to do on the daily while also driving to the office. Plus, I work on the second floor where the windows don't open. I don't want to share recycled air with all of my coworkers. Many of them have kids in school. The others are younger and I know do a lot of going out to "restaurants" (bars are still closed, but restaurants with bars are open). So yeah. I don't know wanna go back. My original contract had a clause in there that I could work remotely but I'm not sure if that's carried over. They haven't actually mentioned anything yet... I'm just having preemptive anxiety about it. What can I say? I am who I am.

But you're not really here to listen to my non horsey woes. You're here for horse stuff. So I have a horsey confession too.... You know that old adage about the shoemakers kids? How they always have no shoes or threadbare ones? Well. Same applies to braiders's horses. Shiny and Eros had been looking absolutely feral. Look at these manes!

It was bad. But these two are both kind of terrible about having their manes pulled. Which makes me not want to do it. So I don't. But that's not really the answer. Plus we're getting some photos taken next month and they can't be looking feral for that!

Shiny's isn't terribly thick, so I can get away with just shortening it. But Eros' really needs to be thinned. He has enough mane for three horses.

I got one of those de-matting rakes Amanda had mentioned trying to see if that might work for him. I hate to make Mr. Perfect unhappy by pulling if I can find an alternative method. At the same time, I do hope to show him some day and I'll be the poor sucker that has to braid him. So thinning really needs to happen. I think the rake really did a decent job! I'll probably still need to pull a little before braiding him, but since that's not any time in the near future, I think it's good enough for now. I tried something a little different in the process... Instead of raking his mane on the right side, I flipped it over and worked on it from the left. I figured if i messed up and thinned too much, it would wind up underneath and not be so obvious. The plan didn't really work... There is a section in the middle where I wound up with a few short spots. Oops. Next time I'll probably just rake from the correct side. It was a good thought though. One of my braider friends had told me with a mane like Eros' she pulls from both sides, which is what made me try that. But I guess it doesn't work as well with the rake. Anyway here are his afters:

I braided it over too, so hopefully it will lay flat for our photos in a few weeks. In the first photo you can see the oops spot pretty well in the middle. 

I used the rake on the top part of Shiny's mane and then did a combo of upright scissors and clipper blade for the rest.

It might still be a little too long, but definitely better than it was! Both horses were very tolerant of the rake. So I'll definitely keep that tool in the tack box.

Anything you guys need to confess? Do you stay on top of your horses mane or do they have feral looking periods too?