Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 60th Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 60th LESSON

I had a great day riding today! The weather couldn�t have been more cooperative. It was
sunny and bright, but the wind was cool and invigorating. Flossie didn�t mind the wind at
all. In fact, she was very happy to see me today. She was in the yard when we pulled up
and even when she saw me putting the saddle on the fence and taking my tack out of the car
she didn�t run off as she usually does.

I love my new bit. It�s absolutely wonderful. I love being able to relax my hands and know
Flossie is going to go slowly. The only problem I had was when I forgot to be gentle when
we were cantering. She let me know in no uncertain terms that it wasn�t necessary for me to
take such a strong hold of her mouth. I �had her in my lap� at one point and I thought I
was going to go off. I stayed in the saddle, though, even though my feet left the stirrups.
I let go of the reins, put my hands down on her neck, and said, very calmly, but firmly,
�walk� and the mare came right down for me. I nonchalantly slipped my toes back into the
stirrups and asked for a canter again. This time I gentled my hands and got the response I
wanted. I was so grateful the mare gave me a second chance to redeem myself! Oh, Flossie,
be patient; I am learning!

Other than that, I can�t say one negative thing about my ride today. I worked on downward
transitions and half-halts, both of which Flossie responded to like a seasoned horse. No
kidding. She�s amazing. I also worked on circling at the trot. Flossie still wants to
throw her shoulder out. I had to use my outside heel on her to get her to bend. She also
likes to fall in on the turns, or she tends to cut the circle too soon, so I had my work cut
out for me.

One thing I can say, Flossie did everything at a nice pace for me. It doesn�t take a lot to
slow her down the way it used to. She took the bit like a trooper and seemed to enjoy
herself as much as I did. Oh, and there were no snakes or lizards on the track this time.

I had a nice chat with Des after my ride this morning. I found out the
gelding-in-the-blanket that�s turned out with Flossie and Bambi is �Magic Harry� and he
belongs to Gary, Hannah�s father; the guy who used to board five horses at Des� before
moving them to Eagleby.

Des sold Bobby, his little bay colt. He also sold his gig and his horse float. He said if
he keeps them around he�ll be liable to get back into the business again and, healthwise, he
can�t afford to do that. He hasn�t been well off and on for months and the doctors have no
idea what�s wrong with him.

Gary is a chef and works on Main Street across from Kohl�s in Beenleigh at a restaurant
called Roast Gourmet which does deliveries. Des buys his meals for $5.50 each and freezes
them so he doesn�t have to cook.

I told Des about the snake I saw last week and he told me the brown snakes are really bad in
his area and people have been finding them in their homes. All brown snakes in Oz are
venomous so they aren�t the kind of snakes you can be nice to, if you know what I mean.

When I gave the three paddock munchers their carrots today, I had Flossie stretching for her
share. I read an article on how good stretching is for horses; much like exercises are for
an athlete. I had her stretching to her chest, between her front legs, to her shoulder, her
barrel, her stifle, and her hip on both sides. She seemed to enjoy the �game�. I didn�t
worry about how far she was able to reach; according to the article, it said not to push it.
The more they stretch, the better they get at it.

I offered Flossie water out of her bottle again this week and she actually held it with her
teeth and tilted her head back. That�s a first. She usually opens her mouth while the
water trickles out and kind of licks it or bites at it as it falls to the ground.