Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 202nd Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 202nd LESSON

There’s an annual holiday in Australia called Ekka, or The Royal Queensland Show (or just
Show Day for short) that’s celebrated at this time of the year, but on different days
depending upon where you live. Ekka is Australian for ‘exhibition’, and has been called
that for years since the show was originally referred to as the ‘Brisbane Exhibition’.

Because of Ekka, the power machines weren’t running today at “Dessyland” (Des’ place,
which I’ll be calling Dessyland from now on), so there was nothing to distract Flossie
when I rode her past the road. Last year when we had a break from all the commotion,
Flossie still acted as though the machines were running, nevertheless, but this time she
seemed to know the difference because she never balked with me today, not even in hand as
I walked her around the track before mounting.

Gary came up behind me with a colt pulling a gig while I was still on foot just as I
arrived at the spot where the dam is on one side of the track and the road is on the
other side which leaves absolutely no room whatsoever to pull off the track to get out of
the way. The only thing for it was to high-tail it out of there as fast as I could. I
had to coax Flossie to run with me. She got the hang of it soon enough when Gary got
close enough for us to hear the sound of pounding hooves approaching from behind.

Gary’s colt threw a knee guard and it was lying on the ground directly in front of me
right in the middle of the track so I reached down and grabbed it as I went by. When we
got past the dam, I had Flossie pull off the track to get out of Gary’s way, but he had
already stopped. He asked me to pull off the other knee guard, which was still on the
colt, which I did. I had to slip them both under the elastic waist band of my jodhpurs
because I had no other way of carrying them. I mounted Flossie and trotted through the
paddock up to the yard where Des was waiting and gave him the knee guards.

I started working Flossie, in the saddle, at 7:40 this morning while it was still chilly
and the sun was still a baby in the sky. Flossie was a speed devil again this week! It
took four laps to bring her trot down to a nice pace. She didn’t want to canter, though,
so I had to bring her to a half-halt again and again until she finally gave me what I was
asking for.

On the circle, though, it was another story. I had no problem getting her to canter in
the corner. I had her counter-bending to the left until she gave in and cantered
properly. In the other direction, she wanted to canter off the circle entirely, trying
to follow the track, so I took hold of her head and started bringing her around into a
smaller circle before we got to the spot where the circle reaches the track. It was a
challenge riding every stride and having my body ready so my legs, seat, and hands could
do what they needed to do right at the exact moment in order to get the proper response
at the right time. Eventually she did get the idea of what I was trying to do, though,
so we finished off on a nice positive note.

During my ride on the track, earlier, there was a time when I had brought Flossie down to
a standstill and she hesitated when I asked her to go forward again. I didn’t have to
get tough with her, though. I raised my voice and said, “Hey? What are you doing?”
That was enough to get her going again. I would have doubled her if I had had to, but it
didn’t come to that. I didn’t even need to use my crop. My voice was all it took.

I can always tell when Flossie’s coming into season. She gets a certain way about her.
I’m not sure what it is or how to explain it, but I can always tell. Inevitably she’ll
do something eventually to confirm my suspicions, like pinning her ears and/or squealing
when she wouldn’t ordinarily do that. Sometimes she’ll lift a leg as though she means to
use it. A swift swat and a raised voice brings her to her senses, though, but I always
have to be on my toes with her.

Flossie looked worn out when I was done with her today. I’ll bet anything she took a
nice long nap this afternoon!