Zippy thinks she's going hunting.....

In a very unusual move, never done in the twenty years Zippy has belonged to Mum, Zippy has been given a full clip. This came out of the blue. We had been out in the field all day, Zippy spent most of it persuading spikey trees to scratch her.  They did such a good job the trees rubbed all her fur off!

Mum decided she needed to have all fur chopped off, so out came the hair eaters. Zippy is very excited as the last time she was fully clipped like this (before Mum owned her) she went hunting.  Though I think she looks a little surprised at how much fur Mum chopped off!  Mum decided it all needed to come off as she thought Zippy might be getting too hot, I'm not surprised all that fluff filled a whole sack. 

We were put to bed with our tea and Zippy was very excited about going hunting the next day, she swore she had been given extra rations. Up early the next morning with the sun shining final preparations were under way, Zippy had a full bath in hibi scrub and just when she thought she would be loaded up onto the box on wheels, she set off down the road with Mum and left me behind. 

I shouted to Zippy to enjoy her hunting. She wasn't tacked up which was a bit of a worry but maybe Mum was going bare back because of Zippy's sore back. They had taken Benji with them which is always a good idea, he's great at flushing out foxes. They came home an hour later, well Zippy is old so maybe she couldn't hack the pace, though she had a big smile on her face. 

I don't believe it - she hadn't been hunting, she'd been walked around the farm and had been allowed to fill her face with lots of grass while the sun and light wind dried her out, how come I didn't get to go, I would have loved to munch on all that grass. Zippy didn't mind she didn't go hunting, she enjoyed the snack outing. She doesn't look too bad considering she's in her late 20's with no fur!

Mums not sure when she can be ridden now as she has to wait for her back to heel. Thanks to her scratching we have been quarantined in the very small back paddock as it's the only place with no trees for Zippy to scratch on. This means I now have to stand and scratch her back when she asks, but I get bored quite quickly so I don't scratch for long and Mum would kill me if I hurt Zippys back any more. Wish we could go play in the big field, hurry up and get better Zippy.