Hoof Blogs

Flossie's 128th Lesson

FLOSSIE'S 128th LESSON

My ride on Flossie this morning was a totally different experience than it has been in a
long, long while. First of all, Gary came down to work his horses at the same time I was
down. Usually Gary comes down early and is gone before I arrive, so it was odd to see him
there. He said he had been down earlier, but the ground was much too muddy so he waited for
a few hours before trying again.

The track was muddy mostly in the spot closest to the road, but otherwise it was perfect
footing. I love the way the ground is after it's been raining because it makes for a
softer surface.

Gary uses a truck with a contraption he fastens his horses to so he can work several at a
time. Today he had three horses running behind his truck. While he was getting the
equipment turned around, his wheels started spinning, which made a lot of noise. I had
Flossie in hand at the time and I could see the noise was getting to her. She stood for me,
though, and I saddled her and mounted her okay, but when I asked her to move on, she
refused.

Little Miss Stubborn had arrived. So I got off and put my spurs on. Good-bye Little Miss
Stubborn! I only used the spurs once, initially, and never had to use them again. She knew
they were there and that's all that she needed to know.

All the training I've done with this mare so far started to show today while I was
riding her around Gary's contraption. I was able to go in both directions, even though
Gary just worked his horses to the right. I just kept an eye out for him and manuevered
Flossie around him when necessary.

She listened to my every command! I had her trotting, pacing, cantering, off the track so
Gary could get by, and she never missed a beat when I brought her back to the track again.
She was feeling good and wanted to race around at the canter, but I held her down and she
went remarkably well. I could truly see the training that's been put into her, and
it's paying off!

I could see when she wanted to respond to all the commotion that was going on around her,
and I could see her choosing to listen to me and to do what she knows she's supposed to
do. It was a wonderful way to measure my progress with her and it made me feel proud.

I took a real good look at the fetlock that had been swollen last week and found a wound
that might have been the cause. It was shaped like a hoof so I wouldn't be surprised if
Bambi had kicked her sometime between lessons. The swelling is totally gone now, but
there's a hard lump right where most of the swelling had been. I touched it all over
and she never flinched, so I don't think she's feeling any pain from it. Anyway,
she went well today.

Sometimes she felt a little off to me, but I think it was the wet ground collecting in her
hooves. After my ride, I tried to put some dressing on her hooves, but they were so muddy
it wasn't worth it.

Elizabeth, Billy's wife, came down to prepare the feed for their five horses which they
weren't going to be fed for the next four hours or so. I guess the idea is to have
everything ready so when it's time to feed, all they have to do is dump each individual
bucket into each of the individual feed troughs.

On our way home, I stopped at Horseland and bought some more hoof dressing, because
eventually I'm going to need it again since Flossie's two front feet are starting to
get raggedy again. I also purchased another pair of spurs since the ones I had were
designed to fit the boot of a man and they're too heavy and too long for my feet. I
bought a ladies pair of training/dressage spurs that fit me perfectly. The others would
eventually come loose and dangle off my heel so I was constantly adjusting them.

The day started out sunny and bright, but as each hour passed, the sky started to get darker
and darker until it finally poured. We haven't seen a totally dry day in months. The
clouds keep the sun off our shoulders, which has given us a nice cool summer, but it's
also been a very gray and depressing one as well.

I wonder if I'll ever see another day when I don't have to worry about whether or
not it's going to rain on my ride.