Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 174th Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 174th LESSON

I mounted Flossie at 7:30 this morning, and I had the entire track to myself. The big
bad power shovel was doing its thing in the lot across the street from us, but it was far
from the track this week so it wasn’t a problem. Only once near the end of the ride the
machine started coming towards us and Flossie wanted to balk, but I was expecting it, so,
being one step ahead of her, I managed to keep her going in spite of herself. I had her
circling in the corner as always without consequence, even with the machine running
heavily in the background.

Since it was such a warm day, after about seven or eight laps around the track, Flossie
was hot so I stood her in the shade for a good ten minutes so she could catch her breath.
It took that long for her body to dry and for her temperature to come down. She
appreciated the break because she stood as still as a statue. In fact, actually, she had
taken herself to the shade before I even offered it to her. Even though we worked under
a half cloudy sky, the other half was sunny and it didn’t let us forget it for even a
moment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very breezy, either, so all we could do was stand and
wait for time to cool us down.

Bambi is getting wise to me. When she sees me coming with that bottle of True Blue, she
knows what’s in store for her. Especially when she sees me with a halter and lead rope.
I managed to doctor her, anyway, as she tried to circle me to get out of it. I don’t
think I’ll be using that stuff on her much longer because the wounds are healing nicely
now. The wound on the front of her leg had had a piece of dead skin hanging from it, but
that’s fallen off, and both wounds are much smaller and less open now.

Dave’s mare, Glenco Girl, was in the paddock with Bambi and Flossie today. Neither of
Des’ mares seem to like her around. Bambi doesn’t tolerate her at all. She doesn’t do
anything to her, like kick or bite, but she shows her distain by throwing her head and
running off in circles. Flossie, too, gets out of the mare’s way as well when she comes
around, but she’s not as demonstrative as Bambi is. I think Glenco Girl is obnoxious and
that’s what the other two mares don’t like about her. She’ll come screaming up to them
when they get separated, like some kind of prima donna, then wander off, nose to the
ground, once she’s made her presence known.

Dave’s going to have his hands full when he sees her. She had been rolling near the dam
and is covered from head to toe on both sides of her body with a thick layer of mud! She
looks like Flossie did that day months ago when she had done the same thing to me. I
watched the caked mud on her body go from shiny wet to a dull finish as the mare dozed in
the summer sun. She stood next to Gina’s stall, (Billy’s mare), and when Gina took her
mane in her mouth and pulled on it, Glenco Girl squealed up a storm. She let Gina sniff
her neck and ears, but when she put her muzzle on her cheek, she squealed again.

I told Des I may not be around next month because Norm wants to take me to Adelaide. He
said he’s never been there. According to Norm, it’s a beautiful place. We wanted to
take our vacation in America this year, but we can’t afford to do that, so we’ll just
have to stay in Australia. Adelaide is located in South Australia, just above Victoria.
I’ve never been to South Australia before. We’re planning to drive to Melbourne while
we’re that far south so I can finally say I’ve been to Victoria, too, which is the
furthest southern state closest to Tasmania.