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In Loving Memory...
~ Gogo Fatale ~


6/2/01 - 10/11/11
~ Forever the Marest of Them All ~
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Trojan Chic

To everyone planning on shipping their horses nationwise (or even locally) in the near future – PLEASE get updated information about the Herpes virus outbreak. DON’T ship your horses, and DON’T let anything come on or off your property. This is a dangerous situation, and horses are dying. We’ve already had people on their way to shows get stopped at the state line and turned away. DON’T put your horses at risk!



Onto things that are more fun.

I had the bright idea today to decide to trim up Gogo’s amazing mohawk, which is now approaching two inches in length. (I roached her mane a month ago… I roached the old horse’s mane at work two months ago and he has only grown an inch of hair!) Her hawk was tall but spiky looking at the top, a bit catawampus to tell the truth. (Use that in Scrabble next time you play.) Future Hubs’ best friends have a little dog with grey and white hair that they have cut and dyed into an amazing pink hawk/mullet, and seeing Gogo’s mane in a similar fashion made me really, REALLY wish she had lighter colored hair… I would TOTALLY DO THAT. I decided today that I should try and trim down the topmost part of her hawk, and make it a more uniform Trojan look. I wasn’t really sure how that would turn out… either it would be fantastic or it would go horribly wrong.

I’m glad I did it. She looks awesome. I’m totally keeping this roach for possibly the rest of forever. It’s the perfect way to enhance a topline on a ewe-necked wundermare.

I hate to say it, seeing as she has reached morbidly obese, but… Fat kinda looks good on my horse. As so many dressage and hunter people know, fat is a GREAT way to completely skip out on training and actually putting real muscle on a horse. Just overfeed and hey! Instant topline. (This also produces neverending lameness… ever see a 400lb person run a marathon? Didn’t think so.)

I’m still brainstorming ways to keep Fattie from getting fattier. I had to abandon our walks down the paved road unfortunately, seeing as on one end of the street there is a massive Gogo-eating Great Pyrenees, and on the other end there is a pack of semi-feral dogs running loose and chasing/attacking anything that comes near their house. Add in cars flying by at 50mpg, and it’s really just not safe. She’s wearing her grazing muzzle from morning until late afternoon, but I still don’t think this is a good solution – she still refuses to eat anything while muzzled, and it’s not exactly good for a grazer to go for eight or more hours without SOMETHING in their tummies. She is finally drinking with the muzzle on, however, so maybe there’s hope for her yet. We’re about ready to cut hay out in the pastures as well, so that will help enormously. (Wish I could set up a track system, but again, this isn’t my property… it’s my landlord’s hayfield, so I have to respect his wishes!) Hopefully summer will come quickly and the grass will go dormant, which will also make a huge difference. I had a great suggestion today – why not take her swimming once or twice a week? Brilliant! We have a few options close by which I will for sure be looking into, although I probably will wait until after the Herpes virus scare is over.

Aside from being grossly disgustingly hugely obese, doesn’t she look sexy? Wish the pictures were better… they were taken with my iPod, seeing as I can’t find the memory card for my other camera!







BOOMBLATTIE FATTIE!

15 comments:

Melissa said...

Are you SURE you didn't breed her? Quite the hay belly she's got going there. Nice and shiny though. :-)

Would different types of food be enough motivation for her to figure out the grazing muzzle? Poor silly horse.

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha... I LOVE the bit about fat dressage horses.... what is WITH THAT anyways?! Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that so many of the "dressage" horses I see are bouncing with blubber and a cup of Ultium away from cardiac arrest!

As soon as the grass is cut and the ground dries up... you shouldn't have a problem with her gaining any more weight.... it's just that time of year!

Perhaps after haying... you could talk your landlord into letting you set up a track around the perimeter with hot-wire? If you use push-in stakes then it can be easily removed...

Dressager said...

haha the best fattie horse was a dressage horse at a show here in the ATX I went to whose "topline" along his neck was so thick and cresty it would completely flip over to one side. And I thought camel toes were gross......

As for the roached mane: I dig it. And your time not spent messing with it will also dig it too. If time could be personified in such a manner, it would most certainly dig it :)

Frizzle said...

Love the 'hawk! I am seriously considering roaching my horse's insanely thick, never-lies-completely-on-the-right-side-no-matter-what-I-do mane, but everyone keeps saying, "Nooooooooos, don't chop it off!"

Muriel said...

My mare has just been on a "crash diet", because the YO kept feeding her as if she was in training, thought she was not anymore. She looked like a Sorrel Hipopotamus (she is QH, I let you imagine...). She is back to healthy weight, but NOW I can see the muscles loss because she is not in training anymore O_o

Yes you are right fat can make a horse looked muscled up...

Minus Pride said...

I read a thread on COTH about horses not eating with muzzles on. One woman said she had several "transition muzzles", with varying size holes in each.Starting with the large, going to the small. Perhaps that would work?

Jill said...

I know it's your land owners field, but could you put up some temporary tape-like fencing and do a pasture paradise kind of thing? I don't know much about it, but the people I've seen do it set up lanes that keep the horses moving as they graze...and it keeps the grass intake to a reasonable amount. I think Gogo looks great, especially love her mane!

jenj said...

Well, despite being a tad bit tubby, she's um... nice and shiny!

If you can't put up a track system (totally understand that one), maybe you could set up her run-in shed so that you can keep her up during the day with a small-mesh haynet? That way she'd only have grass 12 hours/day, but would have access to slow snacks the rest of the time.

Kate said...

Actually, I'm not a huge roach fan, but it suits Gogo! She looks so cute! I don't think chubby suits all horses. My fat little pony looks MUCH better thin. He's got such a wide barrel that even when you can see his ribs, he still looks fat :P

SprinklerBandit said...

She looks great. Love it!

And yeah, the roads by our barn are no bueno, too. Cars go flying by and there is no shoulder. Yay.

Anonymous said...

Loose dogs...one of my pet peeves.

Anyway, she's lookin' good! She could always get a side job as a plus sized model :)

Allyssa said...

I really don't think she's that fat! My two horses are bigger. Maybe that's because they are just thicker...

Nicku B said...

I love it!!!!! I am SO tempted to buzz Pongo just for kicks. He and Gogo girl have sorta similar necks. I just wonder spots + roach??? Is it too much...I mean, we're bold but are we THAT bold? I'm not even sure my clippers could get through his afro mane to tackle this!

Abby Toppins said...

Is her next ultrasound really in 9 days? :O

Achieve1dream said...

She's so gorgeous! I was having problems with Chrome's weight too. I couldn't use my dry lot because of storm damage so he just had to stay out on the grass twenty four seven. He was actually getting fat pads on his flanks and behind his elbows. I've noticed they have started to go away though so I think the grass might be finally dying back or the weeds are just taking over. I really need to get it cut again. Good luck getting her trimmed down. Her hairdo looks fantastic. :D