My favorite movie is The Palm Beach Story, a B & W screwball comedy from 1942 written by Preston Sturges and starring Claudette Colbert. Crooner Rudy Vallee plays John D. Hackensacker III (think “John D. Rockefeller”), who has a small notebook in which he writes down all his purchases and expenditures. As he confesses, “I write them down, but I never add them up.”  Or words to that effect.

Sounds like someone with horses, doesn’t it?

In the spirit of John D. Hackensacker III, I’ve decided to start a list of things to buy, all horse-related, that I hope will be of use to you.  I have no intention of discussing costs or, even more horrifying, adding them up.

First on my randomly generated list is Sore No-More.  It’s available as a liniment or what they call a “gelotion.”  I keep a bottle of each in the barns. I’ve been using the liniment all summer as a bath brace — just an ounce or two in a bucket makes a refreshing and invigorating sponge bath after work (for the horses, that is…if I had someone to give me a spongebath, I’m sure I’d enjoy it as much as they do).

Even though sponge baths are not in my own personal hygiene repertoire, I do keep a bottle of gelotion at home as well, because this stuff is as effective on people as it is on horses.  Not only does it work, it smells great, dries quickly and doesn’t stain.  I use it anytime and anywhere that I or my loved ones (human and equine) are sore.