First Bath...

I decided to get a little bit adventurous and give Mystic his first bath. It was Saturday, July 20th. It was a warm, humid day and Mystic had been cavorting around in the round pen. I wanted to tire him out first before beginning something as "monsterously scary" as showing him a "big, green snake" with water coming out the end of it. Of course, he did his obligatory roll in the dirt and high kicks in the air safely out of harms way before we got started. There were the usual loud snorts of "what the heck IS that?" but I kept the water to a trickle and slowly inched it around his head and over his back. Mind you, this was no small feat considering I was holding his lead rope in one hand and the hose "snake" in the other as he was dancing and prancing and snorting around. Not exactly a cooperative partner in this game initially. It took about 10 minutes of this before he began to resign himself to the fact that this was not going to stop so he might as well give in. He actually began to enjoy it once he discovered he could grab the end of the hose with his mouth and drink from it. I think I ended up getting wetter than he did and by the end of everything he was clean and I was filthy! We have done this "bath thing" two times since and each time he gets better and better with it as long as I keep it away from his tail. I will get that too eventually! I am really pleased with the progress we are making and I look forward to the day he stands quietly while I scrub and clean every inch of his horsey hide!

Whoo hoo!