Bathtime… a first step

If George is going to develop itches, then sooner or later I’m going to need to start washing him off at intervals – fly sprays and lotions can leave a residue on the skin that needs cleaning off, and a soothing bath can help relieve itching as well. Since I have no idea what his opinion of being made wet and soapy is, I decided to start small.

I know he’s not thrilled by hosepipes being held near his hooves, because I’ve tried that while filling water buckets a few times. He snorts and walks off. I decided I’d start with a damp sponge instead, so as he was in a good working mood this morning and wanted to hang about after the others took themselves out (not too hurriedly – I got to groom everyone first!) I brought out the treat bag, a bucket of water and a clean sponge. George played target with the sponge nicely for a start, then I let him watch as I dipped it into the water bucket and held it up pouring water, squeezed it out and finally offered to him for a sniff again. That all went fine and I repeated it several times until he got bored and walked off for a drink, after which he dribbled more than the sponge!

I asked him to stand and then gently held the sponge towards his shoulder, and he allowed me to stroke him with the wet sponge – not dripping wet, but wet enough to leave a soggy patch on his coat. He got plenty of treats, of course, and allowed me to stroke him with the sponge up and down his neck, along his ribs and even down his shoulder towards the top of his leg (he expressed his opinion of me applying fly repellent to his lower legs this morning by picking me up by the hood of my sweatshirt for a good talking to!)

I rinsed the sponge out and repeated the intro-to-bathtime exercise on his other side, where he accepted it rather less happily, but he did accept it.

Who knows where we might have got to if my local Jehovah’s Witnesses hadn’t interrupted us?

Still, it was an excellent session and a good start on one day being able to wash him all over.