As a lifelong horsewoman I’ve figured out how to remove gunk from my clothes. I can get Furacin off a sweatshirt and Thrush Buster off my jeans. I can even coax horse slobber from cashmere. But my cleaning talents are useless against rain soaked muck.
All of these pungent aromas combine to make a most unpleasant scent that permeates the very fibers of my clothes. When I finally peel the offensive garments from my waterlogged skin, I stand in front of my washing machine and try to decide if it’s worth the effort. Should I just chuck the jeans, the long-sleeved t-shirt and the socks? They’ll never be the same again. Like a magician armed with bottles of potions, I can get the muckity mud stains out. But I can’t seem to remove that smell. I fear that after all this rain none of my barn clothes will ever pass the Sniff Test again.
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And now, just to illustrate a few hours of getting doused once again with both rain and the complementary odors of a wet stable and wet horses, here are some snapshots:
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| During a brief break in the storm, I got Joey out of his stall and longed him in my paddock. But since he churned up the ground, I had to hurriedly rake it so the rain would run off and into the drain outside the fence. Don’t I look fetching in my Gore-Tex parka? Allegedly it’s waterproof. But it’s certainly not smell proof. |
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| Because I only have one box stall, Wally is temporarily stabled in the barn at my parents’ place. For the short drive over there I dumped the parka and pulled on my rubber rain suit. Once there, I saw that my father had installed a rain gutter on the roof over Missy and April’s corrals. But hmmm…. My sister Jill and I pondered just what exactly we were supposed to do with the huge tub of rainwater that had accumulated under the downspout. I mean, it’s not like the grass needs to be watered. |
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| Trust me, the horses living outside at my parents all have dry, cozy areas to sleep under their roofs. But they all got to bucking and playing around while Jill and I were trying to longe and clean corrals, so the mud turned into slop in some areas. I tried to dig a canal to drain off the water, but I gave up when the goop literally sucked my muck boots off my feet. Needless to say, I threw away that pair of socks. |
As you can see, horsekeeping is not very enjoyable this time of year. I long for a bright, sunny day before I forget what it’s like to wear a tank top and sunscreen. In fact, while Jill was taking that last photo, she noticed an odd reflection on the view screen of the camera. I took a look at it. There was a strange glare in the upper half of the frame. What the heck was causing that glint? Then I realized it was the sun, breaking through the clouds. Oh, grand orb, come back to us! Soon. Before we all grow slime and start to stink.
Back to Life with Horses
I know! Weve had so much rain here too!! 🙁 Im ready for nice warm sunny days so that I can train my project horse more consistantly. (right now Im lucky to get out there a day or 2 a week to ride/play with him.) And then this morning I woke up to 3 inches of snow and we now have 5-6 inches! Not a lot for some people, but it is for southern Tn!!
Every pair of shoes/boots i wear outside to do chores or ride seem to suck up every offensive odor out there,no amount of time can lessen it’s potency !! Sometimes in a burst of laziness I will wear them when i go to town to shop ( who wants to change shoes again??) It seems they smell worse in town………
I have two comments – Cowboy is so hot from too little exercise that he took a bite out of my arm as I walked by his stall. Good thing I was wearing a heavy thick shirt so he only got a quarter-sized chunk. In exchange he got a few pokes from a manure fork handle and yelled threats.
2. Cindy’s mother thought it was perfectly normal to bring wet horse blankets- with the smells Cindy described – into the house to dry out. It was one of the few times I put my biggest hoof down. No way!!!
They did too smell worse than my dog Skipppy!!
I know exactly the smell you mean. It is true that you cant get it out of shoes, ever! And if you try to wash icky smelling muddy horse stuff in the washing machine, the next ten batches of clothes end up with the same smell.
Cindy, have you tried a couple of drops of bleach in the washing machine water before adding your horsey clothes? Seems to be the only thing I can get to kill the smell of a load like that!
Bleach? I tried that once and ended up with faded speckles and a loss of vibrant color on my fabulously expensive t-shirts from Target. A good pre-soaking in the laundry basin in water that contains a few drops of bleach does wonders, however, for smelly tennis shoes, ripe with wet barn odors. Then I rinse them out and toss them in the washer. That’s the only way I can ever wear them again, and prevent other shoppers from giving me a wide berth at the grocery store.
omg… i still dont know which is worse. a load of rain or a load of snow…
I hate rain!
yeah, riding and doing horse chores in the rain is uncomfortable, but imagine having to bike three miles in the rain and wind, uphill both ways, just to get to the barn! Yay for being a poor, carless college student. 🙂 We still know its all worth it.
Some HoofGrid would help stabilize the paddock area.