Today’s teaser looks at the fifth book in my Middle Grade series, Free Rein. Enjoy A Dollar Goes a Long Way! You can read the Kindle or paperback versions of this book and it is free to read on Kindle Unlimited.
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Before lunch the three again followed Jan’s instruction to wash over the little mare. They were to take turns in pairs; Jan pointed out that she didn’t want all three girls in her wash bay with a pony.
“It’s just too many bodies, not necessary and I feel, unsafe,” she’d told them.
When Geordie had asked how it was unsafe, Jan pointed out that one person needed to hold the horse and it was better if that one person was on the same side as the person doing the washing. If two people were washing, they were often tempted to be on opposite sides of the horse and the handler couldn’t be on both sides at once.
“If any horse you’re handling gets scared of something, it’ll try to move away. If there are people on either side of the horse, it cannot safely move away from whatever is bothering it and move away from you. You may find that one of you gets squashed! That’s why I want Hannah to hold and Jacqui to wash.”
“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Jacqui said uncertainly, holding the hose that Jan had given her.
“That’s ok Jacqui. Let’s start with turning the hose on so that there’s a good flow of water, but not so that it’s really strong and splashing everywhere. Start by watering at the base of Dollar’s front left foot and work your way up her leg until you reach her shoulder. Then you can wet her back and belly and then work towards her hind leg. We’ll do one side at a time. ”
Jan pointed out that they wanted Dollar wet all over before they were going to use any shampoo. She also told the girls that with Hannah controlling the head of the mare; it was Hannah’s job to move Dollar’s head towards herself and Jacqui if the mare tried to kick out with her hind legs, push her hind end toward Jacqui or got nervous.
“If you two can stay on the same side and have her head near to you, that’s the safest way to get the job done.”
Once Jacqui had managed to thoroughly cover the mare with water on her near side, Jan suggested Jacqui hold the mare and Geordie use the hose to wet the mare’s right hand side.
Once this was achieved, the girls again switched positions with Geordie holding Dollar and Hannah getting the job of using a bucket of shampooed water and a sponge to go over Dollar’s body, mane and tail.
The mare’s white socks and flaxen mane and tail were given a really good scrub with the sponge, making sure that shampoo got worked in thoroughly. Jacqui was amazed to find that as they rinsed off the shampoo, that the white socks that had previously had green and brown stains were now a really bright white.
“She looks great!” Geordie enthused, earning a smile from Jan.
“She does indeed. You three have done a wonderful job. Now we need to work some conditioner through her hair and tail and then give that a rinse off.”
Again under Jan’s direction, the girls worked in alternating pairs to get the job done. Jacqui was pleased to find that she was familiar with a sweat scraper and how to use it to remove any excess water from Dollar’s coat. Although she’d never washed a horse before, she had seen Bob hose over and scrape off his mare Venetian at Genesis. It was nice to actually do something that she’d seen someone else do before.
Once a light cotton rug had been placed on Dollar to keep her clean and dry, Hannah placed her in one of Jan’s smaller yards, taking off the head collar before closing the gate securely after her. The three girls then followed the older woman inside for some well earned food.
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