Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 153rd Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 153rd LESSON

I never saw the sun today, not once, due to the overcast sky. It had that water color look
to it, as though it were going to pour down rain any minute. It never did, though. In
fact, it turned out to be a nice day for riding.

I noticed first off the cut on Flossie's leg when I was grooming her this morning. It
wasn't there last week, but it looked old already. It wasn't deep. In fact, it just looked
as though the skin had been rubbed or cut off. I asked Des if he knew what happened, but he
didn't know anything about it. I hate to see Flossie's perfect legs flawed like that. At
least it wasn't anything serious.

Flossie was feeling high this morning. She wanted to giddy-up and go, go, go. Although the
bulldozers and other heavy earth moving equipment, near the yard on the other side of the
fence, was loud and noisy, and Flossie wanted to balk in the worst way at every step, no
matter what direction I aimed her in, I wouldn't let her, so she obeyed in spite of herself.
It seemed as though she really wanted to work and she really tried to be obedient. She
worked on the bit, and she worked hard. She sort of took the plunge and just kept pumping
away, chomping at the bit, giving me the steadiest gaits imaginable. She worked so well for
me today that I told Norm she went like a horse that's been ridden for twenty years.

Gary showed up with BamBam pulling a gig while I was already on the track, so I had to yield
to him whenever he came near. I used his presence to my advantage and started doing things
with Flossie that I've been wanting to do for a long time, but never had a reason to. For
instance, I trotted her off the track and into the paddock, along the edge of the dam, cuing
her to keep on the gait, nice and steady, no matter where I asked her to go. It was fun and
totally changed our normal routine. She was so with me, and my seat and my legs were so
right on!

She circled well in the corner, where we spent a great deal of our time until Gary finally
took BamBam off the track, and once we had the place to ourselves again, she cantered on the
track as fast as she could go.

Des has two new race horses, but he's selling one because he's too slow. The other has yet
to prove itself. I just "met" both of them today for the first time. One is a dark bay and
the other is a chestnut.

Billy has a gelding I love to play with. He goes after my feet, my hands, my legs, my pant
cuffs, and my sleeves, with his nose, sort of "chasing" them, like a kitten. He lets me rub
the side of my shoe against his muzzle. Every time he looks at a certain post in his
paddock, he snorts at it. A very soft snort, but a snort nevertheless. He's not afraid of
it and I can't figure out why he's doing it.

Do you have any idea why a horse would eat the bark off a tree? Is it the sign of a vitamin
deficiency, perhaps? I'm asking because all the horses on Des' property are eating the bark
off all the trees.