My lessons with Flossie, a roan Standardbred mare |
MOSSY FLOSSIE I wasn’t going to take my tack to Des’ with me this morning, because of all the rain we’ve had lately, I wasn’t expecting to ride, but I thought I’d take a chance, anyway. As soon as I arrived, however, in just one glance, I could see the track was such a muddy swamp, and the grass was so soaked, I knew I wouldn’t be riding today. So, I took a carrot, Flossie’s halter and lead rope, and stomped through the tall wet grass to the middle of the big paddock where Flossie was hanging out with her pals. I picked a spot, near her, with relatively short grass, dropped the halter and rope to the ground, and sat down on them. She wandered over to me immediately, which is what I was hoping she’d do. I didn’t get up until she was close enough to give her the carrot. I spent the morning grooming Bambi and Flossie from head to toe. I pulled Flossie’s mane, which needed to be done for quite some time now, and I took all the tangles and knots out of Bambi’s mane. She loves to be groomed and I could tell she enjoyed the attention. I used the bot knife and took the eggs off Flossie’s forelegs. I also used the new brushes on Bambi that I had bought at the market not too long ago. They came in a set and I only paid $3 for the whole lot of them. They are better than the ones I’ve been using, so I might just do a switch after I wash them and use the new ones on Flossie from now on. The super glue I used last week held the wood putty in the grooves on Flossie’s hooves perfectly. I added a bit more to both hooves, anyway, just at the top of each crack to discourage any more splitting. All-in-all, though, they looked good and I was pleased with the results. I did discover that hand sanitizer takes excess glue off human fingers. I reckon as long as Flossie doesn’t run into any hand sanitizer while in her paddock, the glue will remain in place until her hooves grow back! I gave everyone carrots much to their delight. The two geldings who are in the big paddock with Bambi and Flossie now didn’t seem interested, so I didn’t bother giving any to them. Des told me the black gelding in the paddock with Flossie and Bambi is a new horse Gary just purchased. He had broken the fence and got out of the paddock last week and ran into the road. Luckily, it was the new road, which is still blocked off from the main drag, so there wasn’t any traffic for him to contend with. He followed Des’ driveway and wandered back onto the property that way. I don’t know who caught him, but at least he didn’t run away. The weather is supposed to remain dry now for a while, so by Monday, which is four days away, I’m expecting to be able to ride on the grass again. As for the track, even Des has given up on that for the time being. His horses have been using another track, in Jimboomba, owned by one of his racing friends. He said he wants to get his own track back into shape again, though, once the mud dries up. Norm bought a lobster for Des and brought it down to him when he came to pick me up. I hope he likes lobster. We really don’t know him that well. Some people, including myself, can’t eat lobster. I sure hope he’s not one of those people! |