Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

Though the creeks are swollen,
Keep those dogies rolling.
Rawhide!

I think that's how the song goes.

But this isn't about an old cowboy song. It's about what happens when there's a nice, freshly tilled, clean piece of dirt around here.

 There's a lot of rolling going on.

I tried to get these two rolling together, but Hooper went down as Wahpeeua came up.

A while back I showed my round pen just after Tom groomed it. I used it once, and then it started raining and snowing.  When it finally quit, there was standing water in it. I dug a trench through to drain it. It was a huge mess. Now it's finally dried out again and re-groomed. 

 And nobody can resist rolling in it. Esmay,

and Abby got in on the action.

But the horses, who are in full shedding mode, enjoy it the most. Here's a sequence of Hooper enjoying a roll.

 Oh, yeah.

 A good shake to finish it off.

An equine chiropractor once told me that it's important to let your horse roll after being ridden. The things attached to the vertebrae (I don't remember what they're called) become compressed from carrying the weight of a rider. A good roll and shake helps realign the spine.

Everybody knows to count the number of times a horse rolls over on its back to determine its worth. You know fifty or a hundred bucks a roll. I think there's some truth to this bit of  folk lore. First of all, it seems to me, after watching a lot of horses roll in my lifetime, that the more athletic ones have an easier time getting over.

Also, horses with sore backs either don't roll, or go down and only rub on one side. Both these things help determine a horse's worth.

Of course, the real deciding factor on how a horse rolls is where the itchy places are.

But give your mount access to a nice loose patch of dirt after your ride to help maintain his/her health.

I'd finish with more Rawhide lyrics, but that's all I remember.


Read more about Wahpeeua here.
And here's more on Hooper.