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My lessons with Flossie, a roan Standardbred mare |
| FLOSSIE'S 238th LESSON Cool, dry weather! Sunny, cheery, breeze-free! Flossie wanted to work today there were no two ways about it. She accepted the bit, put her nose to the grind-stone, and hauled, pardon my French, ass! I rode well in spite of the pain in my seat bones and kept weight in my heels without a second thought. I let Flossie work at a fast clip, then brought her down and concentrated on going nice and slow. The chilly weather seems to hone a horse’s energy level and lifts it up a notch or five. I love a strong, quick mount, so I thoroughly enjoyed my ride today. Circling was more fun than work even with the small power machine that was digging up the ground directly across the road from us. I had Flossie at a slow pace and kept it going even at the canter. In the arena, I asked Flossie for a short canter, something I don’t usually do because it pumps her up too much, but I wanted to put some spice into our experience and I knew a short canter wasn’t asking for trouble. I worked on backing but she refused to cooperate so I did a lot of backing with her on the ground. When it came to Bambi’s turn, I picked out her hooves before doing anything else, just to get her used to having her hooves picked up and cleaned out because it’s been a long time since she’s had anyone working with her in that capacity. Then I led her down the track, stopping, moving from side to side, and backing periodically. The horses we left behind would whinny now and then but I wouldn’t let Bambi respond. She kept wanting to run with me, so I put her on a circle. When we came to the little power machine that was across the street she stopped and lifted her front feet off the ground. I swatted her and hollered, then made her walk alongside me. When she tried to run ahead, I smacked her chest with the crop and jerked the chain on her nose. She actually got the idea and walked nicely, albeit with every antennae quivering, beside me all the rest of the way around the track. Both Pat and Gary were on their gigs working their horses side-by-side on the track when I first arrived at Des’ today. When they finished, Gary took Des’ little stallion for a jaunt. He was still working him when I entered the track riding Flossie. We had to yield to him when he came around, but by the time I was ready to start Flossie on the trot, Gary was done and I had the entire track to myself. When Norm came to pick me up, we had the leftovers from his cooking class for lunch as he drove me home. Yum, a two-course meal consisting of exquisite chicken and rice mixed with spinach and onions. As soon as I began to hang my clothes out on the line when I got home, it started to rain. The sky had been clouding over right after I had finished working with Bambi, so I wasn’t surprised to see it rain. It sure surprised the forecast, though, because the possibility of rain wasn’t mentioned at all for today, neither on the Internet, nor on the TV. Cloudy, yes, but no rain. Go figure. |
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