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My lessons with Flossie, a roan Standardbred mare |
| FLOSSIE'S 141st LESSON Flossie went like her regular self today. It was good to have her back again. She never once shied at anything and never balked. Not even once, neither when I was riding her, nor when I was leading her. She didn't seem to have the energy she'd been exhibiting lately, however. I'm not sure what that was all about, but she was willing and obedient today in every respect. I had her doing figure eights in the "arena", circles in the corner of the paddock, with smaller circles inside the circle every now and then just for variety, trotting around trees and then cantering as soon as we hit the track. She used to love doing those exercises. It's been a long, long time since I had her doing them last, though, and she started to act as though she were coming apart at the seams. It's the same behavior I used to see when she was younger, whenever I'd work her off the track. Without a track to follow, she'd lose it. Anyway, I still had her working off and on the track for a while and she seemed to get the hang of it again. At the end of the lesson I had her circling at a canter and she went all the way around going to the right, which was a surprise since she's always been less willing to go in that direction. She did it sweet as pie, too, so I brought her down and called it a day. I was happy to be ending on such a positive note. To cool out, I rode her down to the end of the driveway where we watched the goats that live across the street being herded from one paddock to another. It wasn't much of a deal, but they were bleating their little horned heads off just the same. Des has the little filly I've been calling Brandy in the big paddock now with Bambi and Flossie. I had to yell at her once when she became a little too interested in us while I was riding Flossie on the track. She ran off when I yelled and she never bothered us again. She's still very lame and favors the poor leg she had injured when she walks. I took my camera out to the paddock after I had let Flossie go and she rolled, so I got a photo of that. I was looking for an action shot. She walked up to me to see what I was doing, so I got a shot of her walking. Later, when she was with the other two horses, I saw her trotting around. Wouldn't you know I didn't have my camera ready, and even if I did, I wasn't close enough to have gotten a good photo anyway. So the roll and the walk will have to suffice. I've yet to view them so I have no idea how good they came out yet. The weather was perfect for riding. I rode with a T-shirt under a flannel shirt along with my jodhpurs and felt comfortable until I dismounted. By then it was starting to heat up, so I took my flannel off. In Australia, these shirts aren't called flannels, they're called flannelettes. Strange, huh? When I got home I cleaned my dusty riding boots off with saddle soap before putting them away. In the evening, Norm was called out by Busy Bodies to do a boot camp outdoors in a park in Woodlands, which is near Waterford, not far from where Flossie lives. So Norm dropped me off so I could be with her for the hour he'd be working. It was 4:30 pm, but by 5:15, it was already dark. It was special to have that time with Flossie. I had always wanted to be in the paddock when the sun went down for the night. It got so dark, the three mares looked like black blurry dots on the grass. They keep chasing each other with teeth barred, ears pinned, and feet kicking, so I had to watch myself. It's scary to be in a herd like that. Mainly, it was Flossie and Bambi picking on the little filly, and Bambi picking on Flossie. Bambi came up to me and sniffed my face, blowing in my ear with her warm, soft muzzle. I love the way she does that. I think she likes me. I really do. She always has. The little filly, I call 'Brandy', let me approach and touch her. I scratched her neck and she wanted to groom me back. Flossie didn't come looking for carrots as I thought she would. You should have seen her and Bambi when I first arrived in their paddock! They were on the other side of the paddock, heads up, alert, necks stretched as far as they could go, and I imagine, their eyes were open as wide as possible, too. They really checked me out. Then, satisfied it was only me, they put their heads to the grass and I was soon forgotten. |
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