Hair, Hair Everywhere!

Ordinarily, I am not a fan of finding any form of hair in my food. In fact, a respectable person should be repulsed at finding these follicles floating in a bowl of soup or entwined around a strand of spaghetti. I'm not sure what that makes me because last night as I was eating my chicken and rice I discovered a few (ok many) brownish colored hairs intermingling with my dinner, and I was really happy.

I had been at the barn earlier in the day yesterday and while I had removed my outer clothing, I was still wearing the sweater and jeans that I had worn to the barn. And my sweater and jeans were still wearing my bay horse's hair! Shedding season has begun and I think I speak for most horse owners out there when I say...bring it on!

Shedding season means that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that we will not, in fact, be encased in snow and ice forever, because really I was beginning to believe this. But those dinner time companions last night reminded me that the end is in sight. My ordinarily dainty mare will not look like an unshaven, unkempt old man for much longer. Blankets will soon be stored away and the cowlicks from their constant presence will disappear. Shedding blades will be dug from the bottom of brush boxes while ribbons of winter hair fall to the ground as they meet their death from the sharp blades. Trimmers will be unearthed from the back of lockers and those unsightly stragglers will be swiftly clipped away. Shampoos and conditioners will be purchased, buckets cleaned of mud (and creatures) in preparation for the first bath of the season. Oh happy days!

Isn't it spectacular how nature does what it's supposed to do when it's supposed to do it? I have a friend who owns a Norwegian Fjord (although this winter I'm pretty sure he turned into a teddy bear) who started shedding over a month ago. She was concerned that he might be cold if he shed too much hair too soon but in her always infinite wisdom said to me, "Well, I guess he knows what he's doing." And of course, he does. He knew spring was coming and was preparing for it while the rest of us were stuck in winter mode.

I'm pretty sure there were some cream colored hairs from the Fjord mixed in with the dark ones on my dinner plate last night. The more the merrier.