Horse Speak - Stories from a Farrier

"Just One Fly"

......How well does the Barefoot Lady, Wendy Harrison, know horses, you ask. And, it is a fair question. Well I know a few things about Wendy that might be of interest. You see, I met her along time ago when I met and married her mother. By that time she was already enjoying equines more than humanquines. I learned then that as a slightly skittish child, the only thing she was completely comfortable doing was being on a horse or pony. She sat on her first horse at age three, by six she was riding, as an adolescent she was pony clubbing. At fourteen she got her first job mucking stalls, training horses, and coming up with new ways to treat wounded and sick animals. At eighteen, she bought her first horse (instead of a car,) worked after school hard enough to pay for boarding, got certified as an advanced instructor in English and Western everything, and learned to speak horse.

That’s right. I said speak horse. Let me explain:

.....I learned this fascinating detail about the Barefoot Lady one evening when I went along for a ride to help her feed and turn out some horses she was taking care of for some vacationing friends. While she was feeding and watering a variety of these hooved creatures that seemed to watch and hang on her every move, I was watching some fellows that had already been turned out and were enjoying the last of a beautiful setting sun.

.....I noticed one guy was swatting the same fly over and over again who was repeatedly biting him on the butt. Ouch. But, I also noticed his other end was steadily munching, undeterred, on the pasture beneath his hooves....