Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 178th Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 178th LESSON

It was a nerve-wracking ride this morning. Well, not the ride itself per se, but the
atmosphere in which I had to ride. First of all, we started late because we took the car
to the garage first off to have the tire replaced. We had run over a nail or something
on the way to the market yesterday morning, so we only had the spare on it. It turns out
they didn’t have the size we needed, so we had them order one. Later this afternoon Norm
will take the car in to have the tire put on. All that put us an hour behind our usual
schedule.

However, there were some pluses regarding my ride, nevertheless. First of all, there
weren’t so many machines running on the road next to the track as there had been last
week. The power shovel, though, was in full swing and it was working in various
locations, from one end of the track nearest the road, to the other. I had thought it
would knock Flossie for a loop when it appeared at the beginning of the track, which is a
place where we have never seen it working before. We had to confront it on the first lap
around and wouldn’t you know, Flossie didn’t even bat an eye at it! However, on the
second lap around, she didn’t want to walk through the rivulets of water that were
running down the track in that very same spot. They were coming from the area where the
shovel had been, following the tire tracks towards the muddy puddle that sits near the
corner where I usually put Flossie through her paces at a circle every week. Because of
the ‘new’ water, she would not approach that spot no matter how much I tried to convince her she better. So I dismounted and led her over the water back and forth. Once she had put her head down, with her nose
close to the ground, and gave it a good inspection, I finally re-mounted and rode her
over the water. On the next lap around, she was confident enough to trot through the
water. It never gave us a problem again.

I didn’t bother circling her, though, in the corner of the paddock as usual because the
shovel was there, digging right next to the fence, coming at it with the shovel appearing
as if it were an open maw, as though it were a monster ready to attack. I had her stand
there for a while, though, just to show her she was safe. I ended up taking her to the
‘arena’ and circling there. I only worked her lightly, however, because we had arrived
late, as I mentioned, and it was already getting hot.

Glenco Girl, Dave’s mare, isn’t as nasty as she used to be. She still ‘herds’ the other
two, but when I’m riding, she no longer charges us with bared teeth and pinned ears. I
still have to yell at her, and Bambi, too, for that matter, to “Go on, git!” when they
block the track, but it doesn’t take much more than that to get them out of the way.

Because it had rained both Friday and Saturday, day and night, the two usual muddy areas
on the track were deep and took up a lot of space. I couldn’t do anything with the one
near the railroad track but walk. The other area, near the road, however, I could do any
gait I wished as long as I could keep Flossie in one of the two tire tracks, which were
relatively dry. Once the running water got a hold of the one track, however, we didn’t
have a choice. It was either the other track or nothing. Luckily, I was able to keep
Flossie in the track . . . well, I had to keep working at keeping there, but she wasn’t
too bad about it.

When it was time to cool Flossie out in the driveway, she didn’t want to go down the
‘shed row’ (the lane that leads to Des’ front yard between the stalls where Billy’s
horses live, where I had allowed Flossie to graze the last two weeks). I don’t know if
she remembered being shocked last week, or what, but I couldn’t convince her to go until
I dismounted and led her down. When we got to the end of the driveway, there was a water
pump running, making lots of noise. We could see the water running through the hose. It
looked like a boa constrictor digesting its food. Flossie wouldn’t go near that, either.
I got off again and led her up to the end of the driveway as far as she would go. I
didn’t force the issue, however, since there’s so much happening around us these days. I
rode her back to the yard and then dismounted and washed off her back.

She also likes to stop when she’s in the ‘shed row’ now, too, wanting to pull on the
grass and have a snack, so I’ve decided never to let her graze there ever again. End of
chapter, close the book, shelve it away forever.

Billy’s gelding is back again. He’s the one that had freaked out and run his wife, Liz,
down months ago. Gina had been living in his stall while he was gone. Anyway, the
gelding’s blanket was sliding off his back and a strap was stuck under his tail. It was
driving him nuts, so I straightened out the blanket. I couldn’t fasten the strap back
into place, however, because there wasn’t a clip on the end of it, so I tied it up in a
way that it couldn’t dangle down and bother him anymore. I wrote a note to Billy and
left it on the gelding’s stall so he’ll know how and why the strap was tied up that way.

Des only had to spend two days in the hospital after his surgery last Thursday. He was
so pleased about that since he was told he’d be in there for four days. I was amazed to
find him walking around, without support, this morning, as if he had never had an
operation! He wasn’t even limping! He said he has an appointment with the doctor next
Thursday to have the stitches taken out, even though he doesn’t think a week gives the
wound enough time to heal.