Nine, congrats on the cart! I have a meadowbrook and a bay gelding, too, wtih the same tempting questions about what color! Mine is natural wood but the seats are burgandy, which I don't like and want to change. Thinking of dark blue, forest green, or black against the bay. I also have a B&W tobiano gaited mare I'm thinking of training to pull the cart, so would want the new color to look well with that combo as well. I had something purple on the bay a while back and it looked really good. Bright White is sharp but I can never keep a cart from getting dusty around my parts of the country. We need pictures when you have them!
Stan, we need pictures of your horse trailer! I think most of us would rather have a horse trailer than extra diamonds, so you need to share pics!
Critter, congrats on success with trailering. Yay for Bre! Sounds like her mom raised her right! As far as your new guy, I think your first 'date' with him should be with the vet present. For one thing, there may be something going on here that needs a vet; geldings can get stuff up there that causes irritation/infection and it could be as simple as a reaction to a soap that was used during the PPE. For another thing, even if this is just normal (which I have never seen anything quite so impressive in my 33 years of owning geldings) there would still be a great deal of benefit in having the vet show you (and let you feel) the simplest way to get the job done. It's not hard if you know what you're feeling/doing; but the best way to learn is to actually have someone show you.
This past Sunday I wanted to ride but it was too cold, so I got all the darlings up to the barn and checked them out. Found the pony under the fur and he's doing fine. I got a "The Stick" for Christmas (it's a bendy stick device with rollers for sports massage) specifically to use on the horses. I took it out and gave a rub down and massage to Windy and Dallas. I swear, Dallas' eyelids were at half mast with a dreamy drooly look on his face when I was rubbing that on his shoulders. I expected more of a reaction from rollering his rump but he just tried to groom me in return when I did that area. The shoulder area was where he lost muscle mass a few years ago in training, and I wonder if he still has some scarring there (?) or something. Anyway, it was a big "ahhhhhh" for him to have that deep massage. he's so expressive I was pretty sure I was doing some good. With Windy, the stoic, she was all eyes ahead, standing quietly and barely looked back to see what I was doing. She was relaxed, though, so it must have not been unwelcome to her. (With Grace, I thought of you...it would have been nice to have your expertise to give me an idea of whether I was doing anything helpful.)
Roadyy, it's good to think that Spring is gettling closer and we can have more daylight to put the hours in with the horses, isn't it! Looking forward to progress reports! (and more pictures, loved the pictures!)