Any part of showing a horse includes bathing…for one good reason.     They often look like this. One has to have a good attitude to take on a job like this.  Nattie and Cathy, drivers for Big Feather Shires,  have that good attitude.  Remember them from “Driving with Nattie”?  See the smile?  See the laughing?  That is how you have to start out.The upper neck is about as high up as you want to get on a horse with a hose.  Especially one as big as this.They don’t like water sprayed in the face.  Would you?After wetting down the foam comes.  Just like the car wash.The butt especially needs soap.  We know what comes out of there.“PLEASE don’t squirt foam into my face.”   I think this guys name is Turbo.  But I can’t be sure.  I pay attention to taking photo’s not learning names.On a Shire, just like the Clydesdale,  cleaning the long white shaggy hair on the bottom legs and feet is an important part of the bath.This lady is just getting started with her Clyde’s lower legs.  Look at that shiny body.  At least she has that part done.Belgians have easier legs to clean, not a huge amount of hair and coat.  But they often have white socks which presents more work to get spiffy clean.

As any horse owner with any part white on their horse agrees.Speaking of white, or technically GRAY, here is a gray horse looking really cool wet.  She is one of those pretty Percheron in the red barn I showed you yesterday.She takes one look at me and says…..  “Get me away from this bath, out of these cross ties and back to my buddy who’s looking at me over there.”“It is not fair to tie me like this.  I can learn to stand still if we could just communicate better about it.”Meanwhile the Belgian by the tree stands perfectly still.After a bath standing in the warm sun to dry is required.  So far technology has not come out with horse dryers.  Although I’m sure in some fancy horse barn they have them.While standing a little horse love, I mean horse-play is in order.In the end it is all worth it to look at a mane as pretty as this.