Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 189th Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 189th LESSON

I had the best ride ever today! I mean it was absolutely astounding! I walked Flossie
around the track on foot after tacking her up, as I’ve been doing lately. She balked in
all the same places, but not as long or as fearfully as in the past. When I mounted, she
refused to go by the men that suddenly appeared in the paddock where the old barn is. In
fact, I had her trotting at the time and she took me sideways across the track when she
spotted the men. I circled her on the spot, just once around, then asked her to pick up
where we left off and she obeyed flawlessly. It helped that the men were no longer in
sight. In the past, though, she would have refused to go on immediately, and would have
preferred to wait around just in case the men came back again. It used to take a lot of
convincing on my part to get her to move on again after such an interruption.

She did every gait well and obediently in both directions on the track. I had her circle
in the paddock and she even cantered to the left, which is normally her worst direction
at the canter in a small circle. Today it was slow, rhythmical, and easy to sit, and she
never once broke into a fake canter. She normally enjoys circling but today was the
first time she acted like it in a long, long time. I think it’s because there weren’t
any machines running today to distract her.

It was a perfect day for riding, too, weather-wise. We could have gone all day at top
speed and never worry about over-heating. It seems we were both in a business frame of
mind, and were eager to work towards a common goal. At the very end, I had her canter
down the paddock in a straight line. I kept her nice and slow and she went like a real
trooper. I didn’t want to dismount. I really didn’t. I rode her down the driveway to
cool out, and sat in the saddle while talking to Des in his front yard. I would have
given anything to have been able to stay in that saddle!

I had to put more putty in the groove on Flossie’s right front hoof. The other was fine.
I also put some dressing on every hoof as I did last week. I’m hoping this will start
to show that it’s doing some good soon.

I had an overabundance of carrots since two different people gave me free carrots at the
market yesterday. One gave me a bunch of broken carrots that he couldn’t sell and the
other person was just being friendly. Norm also had some carrots for me which he had
left over from one of his latest healthy cooking classes. So all those carrots, plus the
normal amount I always buy every week, enabled me to treat every horse on Des’ property,
including Billy’s and Gary’s, with double the amount they usually get.

Just as I had finished riding, Gary came down to work Bambam. He’s doing so well! That
little colt looks nice, too. In fact, Bambi and Flossie both look nice as well. So far,
the change of season hasn’t affected their appearance.

Oh, there was a pelican in Des’ dam this morning. I took a photo of it. If it comes
out, I’ll have to show it to you.