1.
Christi was in her kitchen at home one sunny morning after her husband Joe had left for work to go to his construction company. His 35th birthday was coming up and as she sat at the table sipping a mug of Chamomile tea, she pondered what she wanted to do to surprise him this year for his birthday. She thought back to last year and the trip to the Grand Canyon she had given him and all the hot sex they had had that week. She blushed as she recalled those hot steamy nights in the rented RV with candles lit and soft music playing in the background. She thought about the gentle caresses and kisses, the way his sun-bronzed skin shimmered with sweat as he thrust his hips against hers, the romantic picnic they took at a small secluded lake about a mile from the GC campgrounds, which they had gotten to on horseback.
She suddenly sat up straight in her chair, knowing exactly what she would do for his birthday. She grabbed the phone book and flipped through to the yellow pages and quickly found the phone number she wanted. She picked up the phone and dialed the number and made the reservations necessary for the weekend. She decided that she would treat him to a weekend at the Circle P Horse Ranch, which was about 50 miles from where they lived, and offered trail riding, horse shows, camping and many other horse-related activities. She knew Joe would love it, since he was a farm boy himself.
She made the reservations for the following weekend, and with this day being a Thursday, she knew she had to get their bags packed and the arrangements made for Joe's mom to stop by every day to tend the animals while they were gone. Marcie, Joe's mom, would stop by every afternoon to feed the rabbits, pigs, dogs and cats, water and feed the cows, and gather the eggs from the henhouse. They would take their two horses, Star Fire and Sun Fire, with them for the trip. Christi knew Marcie would take good care of the animals for them.
She finished her tea and went upstairs to the bedroom to change out of her pajamas and slide on a pair of jeans, socks, her bra and a white t-shirt. She slid her feet into her work-boots then brushed her long, dark-brown hair, pulling it back into a pony-tail before she went back downstairs and out the back door to the barn. She went in the barn and grabbed a pitchfork and broom, then went to the horse trailer which was parked by the barn. She leaned them by the trailer, and went to get the garden hose and a bucket of hot soapy bleach water.
For the next hour and a half, she emptied out the old hay and horse droppings from the trailer, swept it then used the hot water and the broom to scrub down the floor of the trailer. She wiped down the walls, ceiling, and the hay bin as well then used the hose to rinse it out well before going outside and washing the outer area of the trailer. She used just plain old soapy water for that, without bleach in it. When she was finished, she put away the tools and hose then went into the barn to bathe and groom both horses. She fastened a lead rope to Star Fire's halter, and led her out to the hitching post on the other side of the barn from where the horse trailer was parked, grabbing the grooming box on her way out the door of the barn.
Star Fire was a white mare with a silvery colored mane and tail who stood 14 hands high at the withers. She was 7 years old and was a champion show horse. She had been a wedding gift to Christi when she and Joe married four years ago. Christi fell in love with the mare immediately upon seeing her in the barn stall with a big red ribbon tied around her neck and on the stall door. She smiled as she remembered how Joe wouldn't let her in the barn for a whole day before their wedding to keep the horse a surprise for her. Christi picked up one of Star Fire's hooves and began cleaning them out with the hoof pick, scraping out the manure, mud and stones which had stuck in there while the horses were in the pasture.
With all four hooves cleaned out, Christi took the sweat scraper brush from the box and gave Star Fire a brushing with it to remove the loose hair from her coat. Christi picked up the curry comb next and ran it in a circular motion all over Star Fire's coat, getting the loosened hair off the horse. She then picked up the soft bristled brush and swept all the remaining loose hair off before getting ready to bathe the horse. Luckily for Christi, Joe had built a "shower" for the horses, which was a system of PVC pipes set up in a frame, shaped like an upside down U. There were holes drilled in the pipes to let the water spray over the horse like a shower, once the water hose was attached and turned on. The frame was about 7 feet long, 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall, and it was attached to a hitching post. She led Star Fire into the horse shower and tied the lead rope to the hitching post, then ducked under the bar and turned on the water slowly so she didn't scare the horse.
The water poured out of the holes in the pipes and Christi ran her hands all over the horse to wet her down, then turned off the water and added some shampoo to the container on the hose. She turned the water back on to distribute the shampoo, turned it off again and hand-scrubbed the horse from head to tail, back to hoof, being careful to keep it out of Star Fire's eyes, nose and mouth. She washed the horse's mane and tail and scrubbed her hooves with a soft bristle brush. Christi removed the shampoo dispenser from the pipe, and turned on the water to rinse the soap from Star Fire, rubbing her hands over the animal to help get all the soap off her coat. Once the horse was rinsed off well, Christi grabbed a large chamois cloth from the tack box and used it to absorb as much of the water as possible from Star Fire's coat, ringing it out every few minutes.
Christi led the mare back to the other hitching post, and proceeded to dry her off with a towel before brushing her again. She applied some protective oil to the mare's hooves with a sponge, and applied a detangler to the mane and tail before combing it out. She put mini braids in the mare's mane, fastening them with small rubber bands. She brushed and combed the tail and braided that as well with several small but long braids. Christi led Star Fire back to the barn and placed her in a clean stall, closing the gate behind her. She then put some water in the bucket in the corner of the stall before getting Joe's stallion, Sun Fire, from his stall for his bath and grooming.
Sun Fire was a caramel-colored palomino stud with butterscotch-colored mane and tail with white stripes mixed in. He had dark caramel-colored hooves as well as a white sock on his right rear leg. He was around 9 years old and had fathered the baby that Star Fire gave birth to a couple of years ago, a white & caramel spotted filly with butterscotch stripes in her mane and tail. Joe had sold the foal to his friend Bill just 2 months ago. He and Christi were planning on breeding Star Fire to Sun Fire again soon, possibly after they return from their trip. Christi cleaned Sun's hooves, brushed him down, then led him to the shower and tied him. He loved this part because he could lift his head and open his mouth to get a drink when it was just plain water. All Christi had to say was the word 'water-up' and he would lift his head to the sky and the water would spray in his mouth. Christi always laughed at his silliness in the shower frame.
She always made sure to wear a raincoat when she bathed Sun Fire, because once he was all wet, he would shake his head, spraying water all over from his mane. He would whinny afterward, like he was laughing at her standing there dripping. She knew that he did that with Joe as well. Christi proceeded to bathe Sun Fire then rinse him. She made sure to stand back after rinsing him so she wouldn't get sprayed too much when he shook his mane. She wiped him down with the chamois cloth then towel-dried him before brushing him down and putting the oil stuff on his hooves. She didn't braid his mane or tail after she brushed them. She knew Sun Fire didn't like his mane braided and several times had pulled out the rubber bands on the braids at the base of his neck by his withers, so she just brushed it and let it air-dry on its own. She led him back into the barn to a clean stall while she cleaned the 2 messy stalls that the horses were in before their baths.
She removed all the wet messy straw and wood shavings, hosed down the floor, then swept out the water with the push-broom before laying down a layer of fresh wood shavings about six inches thick, then a layer of fresh golden straw on top. She refilled the water pails and grain bins in each stall before putting the horses back in their stalls. After the horses were taken care of, she went to the far end of the barn and fed the 4 rabbits, giving each a couple minutes of being held and petted, then giving each a half of a fresh carrot from the garden. She went out the back door of the barn to the cow shed and pigpen to feed the cows and pigs, throwing a couple bales of hay into the feeder for the cows, and a pail of grain mix in the pig trough. She finished with the cows and pigs, and went to the henhouse by the garden to gather the eggs in the basket on the post by the coop. She gathered almost two dozen eggs that morning from her eight laying hens.
As she came out of the henhouse, their German Shepherd dog Bubbles, came trotting up the path from the back pasture with something in her mouth. Bubbles placed it carefully at Christi's feet. Christi saw that it was a baby bunny with a broken front leg and quickly but carefully picked it up. She looked at the dog and said, "Good girl, Bubbles. Go find a treat, girl." The dog whined but went into the barn where she knew some treats were hidden in a crate. Christi carried the baby bunny and the basket of eggs into the house and sat the eggs on the counter before getting a pair of small towels from the drawer in the kitchen. She took a small box from the closet, laid the baby bunny on a towel in the box then got her animal first aid kit from the cabinet by the door and set it on the table, laying out everything she would need to help the bunny, which looked to be about 2 or 3 months old.