Holy Sunburn

It's been a crazy summer to say the least.......

Silly Lady and her freckles.

I do love "chrome" on my horses, especially a blaze. Wayne had the text book perfect shaped blaze down his face. Lady's freckles in her blaze are just cute. And while Cody's blaze is more narrow and subtle, it's still perfectly pretty. But Cody definitely has one distinct advantage in the blaze department.....her blaze ends before it reaches that soft delicate peach fuzz nose, and the only white she has there is a tiny little diamond snip.

My poor sweet Lady and her nice big blaze. She usually gets a mild sunburn on her pink little muzzle every year (as did Wayne, though he at least had the advantage of massive forelock to help protect his face), but normally some sunscreen gets Lady through it till she "gets her tan on" and then she's fine till the fall when the "photo sensitivity sunburn" due to whatever it is she decides to eat every fall sometimes happens. But anywho, mild summer sunburn......not so this year. She fried. And I mean fried! Even with using 90 SPF sunscreen twice a day the minute she started looking a little pink on the nose. And of course I couldn't find a long nose fly mask to try to shade more of her face anywhere around town, so had to order one, which meant waiting a few days for it to arrive, and no matter how much I poured the sunscreen to her, she continued to fry.

Collar and almost healed up face!

Within a matter of days 3/4 of Lady's pretty blaze was burnt, peeling, angry red, weeping, and even the dark skin on either side of her blaze was showing signs of an angry red burn! She spent a couple days in the barn in Cody's stall just to get her out of the sun. I didn't even bother trying to put a halter on her head, just looped it around her neck, and finally gave up on the halter all together when I finally found a horse collar, which she's been wearing ever since, thankfully she's an angel about leading and tying.

Since stalling her every day wasn't an option since she's pasture board, I waited on pins and needles for that new long nose fly mask to arrive, praying that would help shade her face, but it took forever to get here, holiday weekend and all that good stuff. So in the meantime, I went in search of zinc oxide, since the highest SPF sunscreen I could find wasn't doing a bit of good. I finally found two big bottles of zinc oxide sunscreen, and Lady ended up with lifeguard nose or the bald face paint look twice a day.....which she promptly tried to wipe off on her knees the minute I got out of distance to stop her. Thankfully if I could get her to leave it alone long enough to dry a little bit, most of it would stay stuck through her attempts to wipe it off, but we had a lot of white knees and legs in addition to white face. I guess she was going for the full bald face paint look with high white socks? Occasionally Cody had white stripes on her butt, as did the Richie waterer. But the zinc oxide definitely help turn the tide in the war against the sunburn, protecting her enough to at least keep her from burning more, and let her skin slowly begin to heal.

Bunny ears!!!

Finally that new long nose fly mask arrived, complete with pink ears and her name embroidered on the front. It was perfect, shaded her entire face, right down to that normally soft pink skin right between her nostrils that was currently angry red and peeling. Finally shade for her face, and no more lifeguard nose.....she was such a good sport, but you could tell she was really getting tired of having stuff rubbed on her face. Day one with the new fly mask went great, you could already see the difference in her burn!

Day two, not so good, she rubbed it off, went all day without it, and got fried. Ok, two can play this game little girl, say hello to your friend zinc oxide! War paint slathered on, then fly mask! Double protection, so when she took the fly mask off, at least she still had something protecting her from the sun. And an extra bottle of zinc oxide sitting out in the barn, so other boarders could have fun with face painting if she managed to rub off both the fly mask and the war paint while I was at work. Of course, Mother Nature didn't help much either, sneak attack thunderstorms that soaked her new mask to the point that it had to spend a day or two in the barn to dry out, then more rain to wash the war paint off her face while her fly mask was drying, and then hot hot sun.

Oh Lady girl, you're so naughty!

Thankfully the fly mask stayed on more often than not, though she likes the one ear out look, and seems to think the forelock hole is supposed to be an ear hole, but we finally won the war against the sunburn. Her skin is finally healed up, except for the occasional scratch now and then from trying to rub that mask off on something, and her hair is slowly growing back. Still no halter though, that skin is a little too delicate yet with only peach fuzz protecting it. But that was definitely the most bizarre sunburn I have ever had to deal with. And I felt just awful, because you could tell Lady was miserable. I'm not even sure what caused it, I know some weeds can make them photosensitive, but honestly, there's not much in their pasture and they were on the same hay and grain diet they've been on forever now, so who knows. But at least this time I know how to fight it should sunburn rear it's ugly head again. Long nose fly mask and zinc oxide seem to be my two best weapons....I'm ok with owning a part time bald face paint or war pony, and the "lifeguard nose" is just funny.

Salted pony anyone?

Course, then we went straight from sunburn to sweet itch when good ole Ma Nature decided to crank up the heat for an extended period of time, going from low 80s to high 90s. Poor Lady sweats easy to begin with, so she was just wringing wet during the day, some evenings she was so covered in salt it looked like it had snowed all over her. And while her mane isn't nearly as long and thick as Wayne's was, apparently it was long enough and thick enough to cause her to sweat enough under there to create the perfect storm for sweet itch on the underside of her mane.

And itch she did! I pulled in the driveway one evening after work to find Lady girl out by the shelter going to town itching her mane for all she was worth on the corner of the shelter. And when I brought her in the barn, she was itching like a mad woman on anything within her reach; post, stall, door, stairs, cross tie, me, Cody (that one did not go over well). She'd rubbed out half the underside of her mane and her scalp was a scabby, scaly, weeping mess. I guess this is where Cody's pitiful Thoroughbred mane is a blessing.

So, braided Lady's mane to the opposite side for ventilation to get some air flow under there and slathered on the MTG. That didn't help much. She was still pretty itchy. And it made one heck of a mess down both sides of her neck. Time for a betadine shampoo. Did you know MTG will waterproof your horse? Seriously, even after three shampooings, the water just beaded up and ran right off her neck and mane like she'd been waxed or camp dried. Why can't fly spray stick like that? But at any rate, betadine shampooed and braided to the opposite side again, and still pretty itchy and not healing much.

Crooked, but still covered!

Then I remembered the mysterious yellow ointment in the plain white jar who's label only says "Scratches" that Dr. Irving gave me last year when I couldn't get rid of the scratches on Cody's legs. I have no idea what's in it, the jar literally only says "Scratches" on a taped on paper label. Looks like furazone, but he assured me there was none of that in there, and rambled off a few names of things that I don't even remember now, but it's a concoction of some kind that the MSU vet clinic apparently came up with, and whatever it is, boy does it work, it cleared up Cody's scratches in no time flat last year, and did the same thing for Lady's sweet itch, by the next day, her scalp was nearly itch free! And the skin on her neck where she'd rubbed some of her hair thin while scratching out her mane was turning pink with sunburn......yes, here we go with the sunburn again......

Apparently skin that has spent 17 years under the dark side of a mane doesn't like full time sun exposure. Oops, my bad, braids out, sorry girl. And of course, even though her mane was only braided to the opposite side for a few days, it decided to stay there. Skin's a little pinker and looking a little flaky peely. My poor horse! So back in braids to retrain her mane back to where it belonged. At least the braids gave her a little shade, and after a couple flaky peely days, her skin was back to normal, her scalp was healing up, her mane trained back to where it was supposed to be, and acclimation to the insane heat and humidity makes for a less sweaty pony under there, so hopefully no more sweet itch.....or sunburn!

Super models!

How come yours has a long nose and mine doesn't?

Horses, Renaissance, Sewing, and.....Star Wars!?!?

I love being a seamstress. I never used to be one. I think it was 2004 before I made my first attempt. I started going to the renaissance festivals more and more with friends, and dressing the part in borrowed garb. I wanted to get some of my own outfits, but they were way too expensive to buy them already made, especially considering you can make them yourself for literally a fraction of the cost, but I had no idea how to sew. My first outfit, I bought the fabric and had someone make it for me. I wanted another outfit, but that still meant paying to have it made.

I finally said what the heck, how hard can it be, and took the plunge. I bought the cheapest sewing machine I could find, some cheap fabric, and a skirt pattern and headed home. I had no idea how to sew. Had never used a sewing machine before in my life. And really had no one that could teach me how to do any of it. But I read through the manual to figure out how to set the machine up and how to thread the darn thing and attempted to decipher the "greek" on the pattern pieces and instructions. I was flying by the seat of my pants and figuring it out as I went, and thankfully being an engineer and fairly mechanically inclined, sewing actually turned out to be pretty easy, at least for me and my oddly wired engineering/programming brain, it's all simple logic, like putting together a puzzle, and what I didn't understand, I could usually figure out after some thought and a little trial and error. And before I knew it, I had two new skirts!

Ok, I can do this! Next project, pirate garb! I tested the waters, so might as well jump right in the deep end! I picked up tips and ideas here and there from friends that made their own renaissance gear, and paid more attention to the construction of various garments, and soon, I had made my first full outfit! And my sewing skills exploded from there! I have quite an array of completed renaissance costumes in my closet, and several in progress. And have gone the full spectrum of renaissance garb, from simple wench garb, to the courtly dresses of the nobles with all heavy layers and corsets and pleats, etc. Throw in a little Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings for good measure, and a bridesmaid dress! It's been a fun journey to improve my skills and see what all I can create. And with so many ideas in my head...... And for the most part, I'm pretty much self taught.

   My Garb Closet              The Garb Gallery

This blog is about my horse life, right? Well, eventually my new sewing skills branched over into my horse life. Wayne started that, Cody helped it along, and now Lady gets in on the fun too. Wayne had a long full tail that I kept trimmed and inch or two above the ground, but his tailbone was actually docked like a draft horse (a fad the Haflinger breed went through for a while), so it was amazing that he grew any length of tail at all, let alone down to the ground! Considering the massively thick tails on his offspring, I can only image what a beautiful tail he would have had if his tail had not been docked, but hey, I was more than happy with what he had, and his mane definitely made up for anything this tail lacked. But when your tailbone is docked, yet those flaxen tresses on it hang clear to the ground, it's a little difficult to get that nice blonde tail out of the way of them road apples! So unless you wanted a tail that was flaxen at the top, and road apple green and gross at the bottom, a tail bag was required in the winter, and frequent washings, lots of show sheen, and the occasional tailbag in the summer!

Then along came Cody, who has that long thick lush tail that is the envy of any show horse. No fake tail required here! And while she had a superior summer fly swatter, in the mud season it collected mud like you would not believe and could leave every thing it touched plastered with the gooey stuff, and in the winter, the ice balls on the end of that thing was like getting whipped with a cat of nine tails if you were standing in the wrong place at the wrong time! Not to mention the destruction the mud and snow reeked on the end of that beautiful tail! Tailbag is a must in the mud and winter months on that show tail! And to protect it from the tail chewing goats at one place I boarded at, who seemed to prefer Cody's tail over all others! Go figure. Mmmmm....yesterday was show sheen, taste like cowboy magic today!

And Lady, well, she pretty much had no tail, it just hung to her hocks and was pitifully thin. But thanks to Wayne and Cody, I'm a little obsessive about beautiful long locks on my horses, so my furkids all get tailbags in the winter, and by summer, they all have beautiful fly swatters for the fly season. Even Lady has a pretty tail to the ground now.

But tailbags only last so long. Especially with the geldings in the next pasture reaching through the fence and ripping them off my girls, I swear the goats talked them into it so they could have a snack!! And you can only repair a tailbag so many times before there is just no repairing left to it. And while tailbags used to be like $5 a bag, it seemed like they took a sudden price increase and you were lucky to find one for under $10 a bag, and then there was shipping.

So how hard can it be to make one of these things? And it's gotta be cheaper than $10 a bag! Well, I bought a yard of lycra for $5 and got 7 tailbags out of it! You do the math! I will never buy a premade tail bag ever again!

My horses are usually pretty darn easy on their clothes, unless there's a blanket ripper in the pasture, but rips still happen. And soon my sewing skills paid off there too, and my poor sewing machine was fixing their winter blankets, sheets, slinkys, shipping boots, polo wraps, splint boots, fly masks, hay bags, the list goes on and on! If it belongs to my horses and is sewable, I've probably fixed it, sometimes more than once! And they all still have their original winter blankets, that are still going strong at 7 to 8 years old, even with the patchwork of repairs on them!

I miss that sweet furry little face.....

And this year I ventured into making show shirts for Western classes and selling them on ebay. Though at that point, I had to break down and replace my sewing machine. But I sure can't fault that $70 very basic cheapest one I would find machine! I put that thing through 6 years of hell, getting dragged down to the barn and repairing stuff for my horses (and sometimes other people's horses), and yards upon yards upon yards of fabric for costumes and misc clothing repairs, and getting dragged around to many a stitch n bitch with friends! But it was definitely getting a little on the wore out side, and if I was going to be making shirts to sell, I needed something a little more dependable. But on it's last leg or not, that old machine is still going, and been relegated to the horse repairs, because those filthy dirty horse clothes aren't coming anywhere near my new machine!

So this summer I bought a new machine, and upgraded a couple steps up from the old one. Oooo, this baby is nice! And I've been punching out show shirts over the past several months, which actually turned out to be easier to make than I thought they would be! It's been a lot of fun picking out fabric and adding all the bling, decorating each one a little different from the next! Almost makes me want to show western pleasure again.....almost! They don't sell on ebay quite as fast as I had hoped, but it's usually a nice little profit when they do, and an added bonus to put toward the horse hobby or sewing hobby, since I seem to have two rather expensive hobbies!! I suppose I could do a little bit more with marketing my shirts to get them to sell better, rather than just putting them on ebay, but honestly, I'm not looking to make a career out of them. I already have a career job, and a husband and horses, so my time is pretty limited already, I don't need another added pressure. So I have fun creating them as I feel like it/have time for, and when they sell, great, and if they don't, well, eventually they will.

Show Shirt Made So Far

But one of the added bonuses of making show shirts, is left over lycra fabric (and cheap lots of remnant lycra) make great tailbags! I have tailbags coming out my ears, so my furkids are definitely sporting some of the coolest/wildest/loudest tailbags in town! And I have more than I will ever use, so off they will eventually go on ebay too!!

And sometimes it's fun to combine the horse and renaissance hobby, even if only for pictures! I mean, what's a musketeer without her loyal mount!

Or taking a ride on the castle lawn (ok, so the castle is actually photoshopped in)!

More Horses and Garb pics!

And as soon as my gold and burgundy court gown was even remotely wearable, I had to have pictures riding Cody in it, because the fabrics in that gown couldn't match Cody's coat more perfectly! It's definitely still a work in progress, it needs sleeves, and a few mistakes fixed, and a new undershirt, since Cody completely destroyed the undershirt that day with green slobber stains that didn't come out, but I work on it as I feel like it, and hopefully next summer I will be up on Cody's back again, and there will be more pictures to come!

More Nobles on Horseback pics!

Though lately I've been a bit bored with the western pleasure shirts (have a few stocked up waiting to sell) and the renaissance projects, so I've switched gears a bit toward movie costuming for something new to try. And needless to say, my inner geek is having a ball......

A Jedi Quest blog

Hmmm....western pleasure and horses, that works. Renaissance and horses, that works. Star Wars and horses?!?!  Well, Obi-Wan had Boga, I guess I have Cody! Yes, I am a geek, the cowgirl look is merely a disguise!

*insert slight move of hand here*

This is not the geek you're looking for.....

You can go about your business......

Move along......