Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 86th Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 86th LESSON

It was so humid today I was perspiring just standing still. Even the horses were sweating
around their ears. When I went to rub on BamBam's back, it was so hot I felt I could
start a fire from the friction.

I started Flossie out in the paddock working on circles. Then I took her to the track. As
we came to the part that's closest to the road, we suddenly saw a person on a riding
lawn mower cutting the grass along the road on the other side of the street. Of course
Flossie had to stop and check it out. She went past okay, but when I turned her around and
asked her to go back the other way, she didn't want any part of the track that runs
along the road. I got off her and lead her up to the fence so she could get a better look.
She backed away once, shying, but allowed me to lead her as close I wanted her to get. Then
I remounted and we went on our way as if nothing had happened. She didn't worry about
the lawn mower again after that no matter how many times we went by or at what gait.

After the lesson, I walked Flossie around the track in hand to cool her out as I always do.
When we came to the road, the lawn was still being mowed by the same machine as before, but
there was also a large machine with a crane-like contraption that hovered over the grass
along the side of the highway. It, too, was moving along coming towards us. Flossie
didn't know what to make of it; but she never stopped or showed any signs of shying. By
the time we came close to the road, thankfully, the machine had moved up and away. We could
still see it from the track, and it was still cutting grass, but it didn't look as scary
from that position.

When I was giving the horses some carrots, I offered one to BamBam. He bit off a tiny piece
and moved it around his mouth for the longest time before spitting it out. I gave the piece
to his mother, Bambi. I didn't want him to choke on it.

The colts want to bite me whenever I groom them. I've been yelling for them to stop
whenever they open their mouths. BamBam seemed to catch on. He started sniffing me
instead.

Oh, Blaze was so cute today! When I first mounted Flossie, he kept following us as we
circled around the cones. He'd try to get our attention by bouncing around beside us,
then running on ahead of us. I decided to use him as part of Flossie's training, so I
didn't chase him off immediately. Flossie had to ignore him and pay attention to me,
which she did extremely well. I was really proud of her. That colt is so cute, though!
His tiny little neigh, for one thing, and the way he turns and kicks up his heels. He ran
off when I thought it was time to send him away. I had Flossie chase him until he cooled
his jets and started hanging out with the rest of the herd.

I've been trying to get Flossie to bend around my right leg when we're circling to
the right because she has a tendency to fall in in that direction.