Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 90th Lesson

Oh what a scrumptious day today! The sky was sunny, full of cumulus clouds, and the trees
were filled with breezy gusts that came and went throughout the morning. I could have
ridden all day! Flossie was perfect. What can I say? Her only fault was at the end, while
we were winding the ride down, and she acted as if we had never done side passes before.

I put the cones down so I could ride her in a serpentine around them. Then I used them for
a large circle and had her working around them that way. She was a lot of fun and guess
what? I get to do it all over again tomorrow! Norm didn't have a club meeting this
morning after all; it's been scheduled for tomorrow morning. So, while he's
residing at the Weight Reduction Club of Eagleby early tomorrow morning, I'll be riding
around the track in Waterford again!

I scraped the bot fly eggs off Flossie's knees after our ride with the knife Des gave me
for that purpose last week. Then I went out to the paddock and walked right up to BamBam.
He let me scratch him down his neck, withers, shoulders, and even his back. He kept
stretching his nose out and wagging his neck back and forth to show his appreciation. He
wanted to groom me back a couple of times, but I wouldn't let him. He got the picture
early on and never tried to nip again after trying once or twice. He was so dirty! I took
half his body with me under my fingernails when I left.

Billy took both his geldings out of the big paddock; not enough grass for so many horses.
He put them in the small paddock; the one I used to use when I first starting training
Flossie. He put an electric fence around it, though, because one of the geldings had gotten
out last week. Two girls chased him back up the driveway.

In two weeks Des will be going in to have surgery on the arteries in one of his legs.
He's talking about fixing all the fences when he can get back up on his feet again. I
told him I'd give him a hand if needs it. He'll be spending a full week in the
hospital. He's going to have Dave, one of Gary's handlers, take care of things
while he's gone. Dave's a good guy. I met him once last year. He's probably
in his twenties and talks like he has a real passion for horses. Des already has someone
else scheduled to take care of Sooty (his cat). He said he's not looking forward to
having the surgery, and he's going to be very happy when it's over.

At sundown it was still so pretty out. I love this time of the year and am so happy to see
the hot weather drifting away. My jodhpurs were perfect for today's weather; comfy
cozy.

I can't think of anything else to say so I'm going to leave you here. At least you
won't be in the dust; I collected all that stuff on my boots.

Aussie ya after my ride tomorrow!