Horses have belly buttons!

A few days ago, I made a startling discovery while grooming my horse: On the underside of his belly, about four inches ahead of his sheath, is a round, flat, button-like "growth."

At first I thought it was dirt, but of course it didn't come off. And then it occurred to me where it was and what it resembled, and it hit me.

Horses have belly buttons!

I looked it up online, and found a blog post from another horse owner who discovered her horse's belly button. She even crawled underneath to take a picture of it! Of course, that inspired me to do the same, so here's a glimpse of Panama's belly button:



As the other blogger noted, this shouldn't be a surprise, but I'd never thought about it before. Too funny!

Spa day for my horse

After I was done mucking stalls today, I decided on a whim to give Panama a bath. It turned into a horsey spa day: I gave him a very thorough scrubby bath (even cleaned his hooves!), put detangler in his mane and tail, and sprayed a hair moisturizer on his coat.

I can't believe how clean and soft he was after all was said and done. His coat is amazingly white!



Spa Day was very long in coming. I've had the hair moisturizer since wintertime, but kept forgetting to buy a spray bottle and mix some (it's concentrated). And about two weeks ago I bought a nice bath brush — like a dandy brush but with a sponge in the middle — but then Panama got hurt and I decided not to bathe him until his wound healed up a bit.

The biggest incentive, though, was that I bought some Cowboy Magic on Monday. I've been thinking about switching over from my usual Mane & Tail, mainly because Cowboy Magic doesn't test on animals — but the smaller feed and tack stores in my area don't carry the Cowboy Magic detangler. But Monday I had something to pick up at the big tack and feed superstore in town, and they had the Cowboy Magic I wanted, so I bought it.

So, having finally used Cowboy Magic I have to say that I love it!!! Now I know why I've heard horse people rave about it. It's definitely worth the price! The detangler made Panama's mane and tail unbelieveably soft and manageable. I highly recommend it!

And the hair moisturizer I used wasn't bad, either. The biggest advantage is that it's not greasy — products like ShowSheen can't be used under the saddle because they make the coat so slippery. I don't know if it was from the Cowboy Magic shampoo or the hair moisturizer, but his coat was extremely soft when it dried!

Of course, right after I got home it started to rain, so all my hard work is probably for nothing. Oh well. He would have gotten dirty again soon enough anyway!

Panama's bath

I didn't mention it in my post about our trail ride, but after we got back yesterday I decided to give Panama a bath. He had ugly, dirty saddle marks on his back from our ride (I need to wash his saddle pad!), and anyway, it had been a couple of months since his last bath.

Panama tolerated the bath pretty well, much better actually than last time. It is cold water, though, which I'm sure isn't particularly fun — so I made sure to get through the bath part quickly. Then I towel-dried him, put leave-in conditioner in his mane and tail, and let him graze for a while in the yard with the lead draped over his back. (I didn't turn him out wet because I didn't want him to roll.)

See how pretty and clean he looks?



I did notice that when he's all clean, it's much easier to see his scars. Look at the picture below — the rough lumps right above his hoof are called proudflesh, and were caused by the trailer accident two years ago. The diagonal lines and the scarred area between are from the wire fence he got tangled up in last summer. The mark on the front of his fetlock (ankle) is from jumping the fence around his run earlier this year; I don't know yet if that scar is permanent.



Even with the scars, I still like Panama much better when he's clean!

My horse's first bath of the year

Today I gave my horse his first bath of the year.

Panama has only had a handful of baths in his life, his first being late summer or early fall of last year. Plus, I moved to the new barn in the middle of winter, so until today he had never had a bath in cross ties.

I was a little worried that he wouldn't take it very well, but I was pleasantly surprised. He is still a little nervous about the hose, and not crazy about being sprayed with water, but he tolerated it all pretty well.

It was about 65 degrees today, so I bathed Panama as quickly as possible and then took him out into the sun to dry. The afternoon sun was quite warm, and he dried off pretty quickly. He also got a bucket full of hay to munch on while he dried, which (I'm hoping) made up for the indignity of the bath.

Unfortunately, Panama was still slightly damp when it was time to leave, and he probably laid down in his run shortly after I left — he likes to nap in the late afternoon sun. I'm guessing that my horse will be dirty all over again tomorrow.

Bringing a friend to the stables

Yesterday evening I brought a friend to the stables to meet my horse. I was good friends with Cindy several years ago, but we haven't been in touch for the last couple of years.

Cindy is a little afraid of horses, but she was still game to go with me to meet Panama. Unfortunately, he was being a little bit of a jerk at first: When we were standing next to him in his stall, he swung his head around and tried to bite my leg. He got a good smack for that, and you could almost see the wheels turning as he thought about why he was in trouble. After a moment, he turned around to look at my leg again, but he didn't try biting me again.

Panama was also moving his head all around as Cindy was trying to pet his nose, which made her nervous. She went and visited with the other horses over the fence and through the bars of their stalls (there are some pasture horses, some stabled horses). Meanwhile, I put Panama in cross ties.

When Cindy was done visiting, we brushed Panama for a bit. This was when she really blossomed. She loved brushing Panama, which enabled him to relax too (he is sensitive to when people are nervous around him). I think he actually enjoyed the brushing quite a bit.

In the end, I'd say the introduction was a success. Cindy wants to come with me more often to visit my horse, so that she can get over her fear of them, she says. Next time we're going to go during the day, so that she see him strut his stuff on the lunge line (and maybe with me riding him, too)!

Braided horse tails grow longer

I love the look of a really long, flowing tail on a horse. Of course, they take a very long time to grow, and since my horse was so young, his tail hasn't gotten very long yet.

It also didn't help that on the trailer ride to Denver, he rubbed the topmost layer of hair off his tail. I was really disappointed by that, because the top of his tail is white, while the rest of it is black. Before the white section got sheared off, it was about half the length of the rest, making it look like his tail turned from white to black midway down — a very pretty effect.

The white section is slowly growing back, but to encourage it, I've kept his tail braided for most of the winter. Because the hairs were very short, and because his tailbone is about a foot long, I couldn't just do a simple braid after the tailbone ended — the braid wouldn't have protected the section I wanted to be able to grow! So instead I have been French braiding his tail, starting the braid at the very top.



The braid helps by preventing the hairs from getting snagged and breaking off as easily. When the flies aren't out as much, horses don't need their tails for swatting them, so it's a good time to try to encourage tail growth.

I also really like the way it looks when I first braid Panama's tail, before some of the hair starts to escape!