Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 162nd Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 162nd LESSON

I arrived early enough at Des' again this week to see Billy, Gary, and Dave before they left
for the day. It was only 6:00 o'clock and Billy had already worked his horses and Dave was
in the middle of working four around the track at once. I didn't ride immediately, however,
since Billy told me his mare, Jenny, had broken loose and was chasing Flossie around the
yard earlier this morning. They had run through some wire fences and I was told I better
check Flossie for injuries before saddling her. When I told Gary what Billy had said, Gary
assured me Flossie was okay because he had already checked her out after he had caught her.
She didn't have even so much as a scratch on her. Jenny had a few cuts, though, but they
didn't look bad.

The fence the horses broke through is the one that separates the small paddock, where I used
to ride Flossie when I first started working her, from the big pasture where she lives now.
Gary had to roll the wire up and put it outside the paddock so we don't have to worry about
Flossie getting tangled up in it. No one knows how Jenny got loose or exactly what
happened, but at least neither of the mares were seriously hurt. The fence is fixable.
Gary said he'll work on it tomorrow.

I cut my finger on Flossie's hoof when I let it slip out of my hand after using the hoof
pick on it this morning. I used some liquid sanitizer to clean my hands with, and then put
some bandaids on the cut. I needed three because it was bleeding so much. It throbbed at
first, but I found the perfect cure for a sore finger. Ride! Once I got in the saddle, I
forgot all about my finger until my hand started sweating and I could feel the bandage
slipping off. But that was at the end of the ride, anyway, so it didn't matter.

I had waited for Dave to finish with the track before I mounted Flossie, so I had the entire
track to myself this week for the third time in a row. Flossie was feeling good once again.
She went off like a rocket. I worked her hard in both directions since we were both up to
it and because the weather was far from hot. It wasn't cold, or even cool, but it wasn't
hot or humid, either. It was perfect, actually. The bulldozers were out like huge metal
bees buzzing around the track from two directions. Flossie wanted to stop when she saw
them, but I refused to let her, so she kept going for me. She never balked once. I had her
circling in the corner after we finished with the track and she never hesitated. It's so
nice to ride such a willing and cooperative mare! I never lost my seat today, not even for
a moment, and it felt so good to be so in tune with this little red roan affectionately
known as Flossie!

Des told me he's noticed how nice and straight Flossie goes down the center of the track. I
was glad he noticed because I had been thinking the same thing today. She goes like a horse
that's been ridden for ten years.

I had taken a couple of photos of Flossie standing at the gate at the end of what I refer to
as 'the shedrow'. I took them in such a way that I was able to include Billy's horses who
were in the paddocks on either side of the shedrow. The photos didn't come out very well,
however, so I deleted them. I plan to try again next week. While I was downloading them
onto the computer, six movies appeared on the screen and I had to wait for fifteen minutes
for them to finish downloading. Now I've got them uploading into Photobucket, where I keep
all my movies online. They aren't uploading completely, though. They've been stopping at
50%. I don't know if I need to leave them longer, but I keep cancelling them when they sit
on 50% too long. I may try uploading them again later tonight, while Norm's at
Toastmasters, when I have more time to spend with them. I don't have any faith in these
movies. I honestly don't expect them to come out. I will do everything I can to get them
uploaded fully, but I'm not holding my breath.

When I had turned Flossie out after her last grooming and I had given her all the carrots I
had with me today, I followed her out to the paddock and sat down behind a huge shrub. I
started rattling a big branch around in the underbrush, making a lot of noise, but stayed
hidden behind the tree so she couldn't see me. She started running when she heard the
noise, but then she paused for a moment to take a good look at the shrub. When I knew she
had spotted me, I started talking to her and she started walking up to me, then stopped half
way and put her nose in the grass to graze. I wish I hadn't been so quick to give myself
away. I think she would have come up to the tree to investigate and if she had, I could
have played with her. She might have tried to chase me around the tree the way Concho did
the year he had slipped on the ice at Lakewood Stables and got up, leaving me on the cold,
hard ground to fend for myself. He ran around to the other side of a huge snowpile and when
I tried to approach him from the left side, he immediately ran off to the other side so I
couldn't catch him. When I turned and tried to approach him from the right side, he ran to
the left as if to laugh, like the fairy tale hero, and say "You can't catch me, I'm the
Gingerbread Man!" He had finally deserted me altogether when he tired of the fun and went
zooming off to the stables where my sister, Eileen, captured him and rode him back to me,
hoping I was okay. It's a good thing she brought him back because I was in the middle of
leading a trail of patrons at the time and we had just gotten as far as the river crossing.