Some things you just don’t want to do with your mouth open.

I have a minor cold.

Right now, I’m in the stage where I cannot breathe through my nose. Consequently, I’m breathing through my mouth.

The beauty and curse of this state is that when you cannot breathe through your nose, you generally cannot taste, either.

So, whatever flies into your open mouth is … quite often… undiscovered. Or at least not as offensive as it would be should you have the ability to taste or smell it.

TODAY

My experiences today have prompted me to remind you all, especially if you presently have a cold, to NOT do these things.

–Sweep.

–Groom a shedding horse.

–Pick hooves.

I did all three of these chores today in preparation for a farrier visit scheduled for tomorrow – that probably will be canceled due to the torrential rains here in CA.

SWEEPING.

Just don’t do it when you have a cold. First off, it is too much activity and you will perspire, but also, one tends to breathe more heavily when one is physically active, which draws whoknowswhat into the mouth.

I was sweeping my horse mats… which led me to sweep the barnshed… which led me to sweep the garage… and then I almost fell over from the nasty dust lunch I had consumed.

I’m guessing the farrier will not notice if I swept or not… but he’d notice if I was dead, so better not to sweep when sick.

GROOMING A SHEDDING HORSE.

Do I need to paint this picture for you?

I will say that besides grooming a shedding horse with a cold and my mouth wide open, I had also just applied lip balm on my chapped lips (from all the mouth breathing). Ugh. I looked like I had just sucked on a bear. I kept chewing hairs and finding them lodged between teeth kinda like natural floss. Oy.

PICKING HOOVES.

Just don’t do this if you have a cold.

First of all, your head is inverted which makes everything go haywire. The nose runs, you become light headed and you cannot focus your eyes.

But, for me, today, I needed to do this so I could have my horses ready for the farrier.

Suffice it to say, it is still raining torrentially, so whatever I picked is now right back up in there, but at least I got the Thrushbuster applied…

Above all, whatever your motive, wear a MASK if picking hooves during your cold because (drumroll please) I totally flicked a ball of guck into my mouth.

So, if I die or come down with any horrible muck disease, you now know why.

Really, though, the imminent danger was in my revulsion. At first, I laughed – which was bad because I inhaled… – and then I spit while still holding a hoof… the spitting made me reel around due to lightheadedness, as I leapt towards the water spigot, I lost a boot in the mud, fell forward, hit my head on the fence and nearly rolled under Gwen (she was laughing at the time).

Once at the spigot, my bruised body grabbed hold and opened it full blast. Swish and DON’T SWALLOW! I swished so much, my cheeks were frozen (the water was from the icy well).