From Mountain Horse to Pampered Pony

My friend Shelley is someone who takes immaculate care of everything from her house, yard and car, to her personal appearance and the welfare of friends and family.

So it's really no surprise that the first thing she did with Corky, the mustang mountain-outfitter horse she just bought, was to introduce him to the concept of "product."

Beauty product, that is. If you look closely at the top of Corky's rump, you'll see a tube of Cowboy Magic tail conditioner perched up there. Which, I have to admit, totally cracks me up.

Here's a little old gelding who'd surely never had an evening of beauty-pampering before in his entire 28 years. In fact, I'm not sure he'd ever even seen the inside of a barn until last Sunday, when we unloaded him from our trailer and brought him inside.

But, like everything else he's ever been asked to do, he took it as just another matter of course. (I'd been out on the trail several times with Corky in the string, over the course of a decade, and he was always cast in the role of Ol' Reliable.)

Little does he know that there will be more of this pony-pampering to come, from little grandkids' hands on up. Shelley has four grandchildren, including two small girls, so I'm expecting to see some pink in Corky's immediate future.

Pink tail comb, pink brushes, pink halter, pink turnout blanket, pink saddle pad...whadaya think??