Horse Laundry

I'm on a horse laundry mission this week. And boy, do horses have some laundry. There's polo wraps (above), sports wraps, saddle pads, towels, coolers, quarter sheets, dress sheets, rain sheets, heavy blankets, fly masks...I've probably left something out. I have 18 years worth of horse "clothes," much of which was given to me, as gifts or handmedowns. The polo wraps and saddle pads can go in the washing machine - IF you keep them regularly washed and they aren't too scuzzy. But this is my big spring washing, and the cats have been sleeping on my stuff all winter, and no way is any of it going in the washing machine that washes my delicates. So I have this 20 gallon tub I fill with water and detergent, and stir the clothes around with an old broom handle like a witch at her cauldron. And then the blankets - yeah, those are too dirty to even think about the washing machine. In the tub they go. Rinsed on the driveway with the hose. Then on the fence to dry in the sun. Then everything will get folded, rolled, wrapped and stowed in a clean place so they're ready to use.

You don't know glamor until you're rinsing wet cat hair down the driveway with one hand and swatting away red wasps with the other. Somehow, I think the next time I put a saddle pad on Markus's back, he won't be thanking me for the Spring Mountain scent.