Mucho Grassy Munchies all!

Now the weather is colder my extreme hairiness is reaching extraordinary new levels.

I am a trail riding horse with the most lustrous facial and belly beard and my feathers are so dense it’s practically impossible to find my legs.

I’m rather proud of this hairy abundance, which serves its purpose very well in the Winter weather. Unfortunately, it does present a dilemma during my training sessions. I’ll come to this later.   

On the plus side my hair has the ability to fluff up – literally stand on end – creating a lovely toasty layer of insulation around my body.  Kat says I look like I’ve put my hoof in an electric socket.  See what I have to put up with?

This insulation trick works a treat – up to a point. Heavy rain or strong winds will mess the hair up making the insulation less effective. Huddling together as a group can help but, unfortunately, where I live there is a lot of wind and rain!

Between you and me, I really think Kat should have given my accommodation a bit more thought.

My extremely hairy winter coat also has two layers. The outer layer prevents rain and snow getting through to the inner layer, keeping my skin nice and dry.  Amazingly, snow will sit on this outer layer without penetrating further.  Even more amazing, this snow can act as a third top layer adding even more insulation!

On the down side, I sweat during our training sessions.  And, I mean really sweat.  We’re talking right down to a drippy belly beard.  It’s quite embarrassing to be honest.

I’m glad Murray isn’t around to see me in this hot and bothered state. I would have been hot and bothered on top of hot and bothered. If you get my drift.

Having a fabulous roll in the mud after training helps cool me down, not to mention gives Kat some extra work to do cleaning me up.  Fair do’s I say.

I have discussed the sweat issue with Kat – even making the helpful suggestion of abandoning training until it’s a bit warmer.  When my hair is, well… just less.  Perfectly reasonable if you ask me. Kat doesn’t agree.

She says we won’t be able to choose the weather when we’re out on the trail all day every day and its good practise.  Mmmh, I still haven’t been consulted about this trail riding malarkey.

Some of my friends have their hair cut short in the Winter.  This means they don’t have the unpleasant sweat problem, but they do lose their outer layer and also the ability to ‘fluff up’.  To keep them warm their humans put a blanket on them.   Seems like a win-win to me.

They don’t have to contend with any humiliating ‘dampness’ and their humans don’t spend hours de-mudding them.  They also never have to contend with the wind and rain messing up their natural insulation.  In-fact, they just stay a lovely snug warm temperature all wrapped up in their blankets.  

I do sometimes wonder if their mud rolls are a bit of a disappointment. Or, how they keep cool on warmer days.

All in all though I can’t imagine being without my extreme hairiness.  

Not only does it perform amazingly throughout all seasons to keep me warm, dry, cool and relatively free from bothersome summer flies, it ensures a damned good groom between me and my pals.  

For my friends who wear blankets they only have a bit of neck to be nibbled on.  I on the other hand can present my whole body for grooming, belly beard and all.  

It’s positively lit. Init.

I’ve been hanging out with Kat’s young human. He seems to use a different language.

GMFN

F x