Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 223rd Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 223rd LESSON

I was in the saddle at 6:15 this morning! Being able to ride so early during the week
has been a prayer of mine since I can’t remember how long! While everyone else I know is
working in a building somewhere, behind a desk, no less, here I am, listening to the
sweet sound of hooves embracing the dirt track and to the sound of the wind in my ears!
How lucky is that??

I entered the track just as Gary was exiting. There were absolutely no power machines to
speak of unless you want to count the neighbor’s measely tractor he used to cut his lawn
with this morning.

Although we were alone, Flossie still treated the new road like it were made of monsters.
Every time we went by there she kept a wary eye out for trouble. However, when it came
to working on a circle in the corner of the paddock, it was a different story. She was
very relaxed. It’s been a long time since she’s been so relaxed on the circle! She’s
slowing down at the canter, but it’s still not as slow as I want yet. It’ll take time,
but at least I’m seeing some progress.

Flossie refused to eat the last two carrots I offered her. I was worried that she may be
getting sick again, or that she’s just not over being sick from last week, but she didn’t
show any signs of colic. I fed her on a tarp instead of straight off the ground and
Bambi didn’t bother her so she was able to take her time and eat real slow, which is what
she did. Des was surprised to hear she had turned the carrots down, too, and said he’d
keep an eye on her. Once I turned her loose, both she and Bambi went right for the
grass, as usual. I didn’t see her lie down at all and she seemed to be grazing like
normal every time I went out to check on her, which was often. She was still up on her
feet and grazing even six hours after my ride when Norm came for me.

I had planned to ride yesterday morning, but had to forfeit my time in the saddle because
I didn’t get Norm out of bed in time to take me. It turns out it’s just as well because
Des had the road crew digging out the bottom of his dam to make it deeper so it’ll hold
more rain water. They started working on it during the time I would have been riding.
It took them two hours. I asked Des if they charged him for their work and he said just
a couple of cases of beer. Norm said that would have come to about $60 worth. That’s a
lot of beer!

Billy hasn’t been working his horses on Des’ property for a few days because he doesn’t
have a trainer’s licence, which comes with an insurance policy. Every year it has to be
renewed so Billy promised he’d do that tomorrow. If anything happened to Bily or his
horses while working on Des’ property, Des would be held responsible and, knowing Billy,
he would take advantage of that to the greatest propensity.

PC, the little, teeny, tiny skewed Shetland that belongs to Pat was sold today. A woman,
Sandy, and her two daughters bought him for their business. They run the Brisbane Pony
Parties. They’ll be giving him a new name and will use him at school fetes and
carnivals, birthday parties and the like. He’ll be lead around, carrying children on
his back. The two girls are both riders and the smaller one will be riding PC. He’ll be
getting a whole lot more attention now than he ever had at Des’ place. The woman will
spend the next two months getting him ready for his new life by saddling him, riding him,
leading him around, etc. He should have a good life with that family. He’ll be getting
groomed regularly and will have four other ponies to play with!

As for me, I’m going to miss him terribly. I loved giving him carrots every week and
just having him around.

Well, I have no other news to share with you so I guess I’ll just come to a sliding halt
and say Aussie ya af-tah.