Spring is one BUSY time of year on a ranch. You have branding season taking place, new animal babies are being born, crops are starting to green, and you’re praying for rain to provide for a long year ahead.

I always look forward to the sunshine and warmer weather that starts in spring, but one thing that always comes with the warmer weather on the ranch; the infamous shedding season! Yes, you read it right. Shedding season!

This refers to my horses that look to turn into wooly mammoths over the course of the winter, and as soon as the warmer weather arrives, they start to “shed” their winter coat. To the unknowing, this probably doesn’t sound as bad, or as tedious, as it actually is. But my explanation of the grooming process might change your mind, and to those who are familiar, you will understand this yearly tradition all too well!

In the beginning of the shedding process, imagine a horse that doesn’t even look like a horse, just an animal with four legs and a TON of hair. I have my curry comb and hard bristled brush handy, maybe some cowboy magic, and I’m wearing clothes that are certainly NOT my best. I start with the curry comb in a circular motion to bring up the already loose winter hair, as well as the hair that needs some extra assistance. I follow up with the hard bristled brush to “brush” away all the winter hair I just worked off, in order to expose the summer coat waiting below. A horse’s summer coat is where their most divine color comes out, and when they look sleek and shiny.

After all the hard work is completed, it’s nice to be able to enjoy the springtime weather by hopping on my freshly groomed horse bareback, and taking a much needed ride through the fields, and, of course, finishing the day off with a Pendleton® Whisky on the rocks. How do you enjoy spring, Pendleton fans? Let us know!

Kassi