One word..... FLIES!!!! I totally forgot to fly spray Chrome before our walk (but hey look at me I remembered his bonnet... go me!) so the flies drove us bonkers the whole walk. I think I literally killed fifteen or twenty by smacking them when they would land on him and then stepping on them when they fell to the road. He got to where he would stop and wait for me to walk around him when those evil green headed flies would land on him. Poor guy!
He likes sniffing asphalt.
Some of these pictures are blurry because it was very overcast and I didn't put my camera on shutter priority until a ways into our walk lol. Some of them look a lot alike, but what can you do when all you're photographing is a horse walking down the street LOL!
Chrome was lagging behind and stopping when we first started the walk because he wanted to go home and hide in the barn to escape the flies. Then he remembered that the neighbor's horses were up ahead and picked up the pace. Poor snubbed Chrome. They wouldn't even come out of their barn. That's how bad the flies were. Then he spotted a herd of cattle in the distance and stopped.... I asked him to walk on, he went two strides and stopped again. And again and again and again, every two strides. So I finally got frustrated and spun the end of my rope at him making him trot circles around me (which I hate to do on asphalt but it was only a couple of circles). That got his attention and he started paying attention better.
Unfortunately it also riled him up. He was staring at everything and had his head in the clouds, but at least he was keeping up (I was in a hurry because I was hot and my back hurt). So we got to the hill at the halfway point and he walked up and down the other side, then turned around and walked back over. On the downhill side headed toward home he wanted to trot, but he listened. At the bottom I turned him around to do the hill again. He balked. That is getting so annoying. I swung the rope at him again and he scooted forward, so I trotted next to him about halfway up the hill and then let him drop back to a walk since we were on asphalt. We went to the top then turned around and came back down because traffic was getting bad (50 mph on a 30 mph road... grr!).
Oh I almost forgot to mention, when we trotted up the hill and then I let him walk he swung his head toward me so I blocked him with my arm. I do that all the time because I don't like his head too close to my face. He actually tried to nip me!!!!! I'm thinking it was probably the flies because I was really close to him so I got in the way, because he hasn't tried to nip in years. I made him get away from me and we were fine for the rest of the walk.
On the way home he was striding out great (barn sour brat!), but about halfway home he slowed back down because of the flies and he was tired lol. I was tired too so it was okay hehe. It was getting really hot too. I forgot to mention that.
On the way out at one point Chrome slammed on the brakes and looked behind him. There was a turkey vulture in the road. As soon as he recognized it he kept going. Then on our way back home he was still there. I got some pictures of him on the road in front of us, but I'm not going to share it because he had literally turned his roadkill squirrel inside out and I don't figure you want to see that. I did get this shot of him when he flew up into the pine trees to let us go by.
The rest of the walk home was completely uneventful. Once I made it back into the air conditioning with my heart racing I decided I need to start walking every day again because I am SO out of shape lol.
holy crap that bird, i've never seen one of those. i shouldn't complain about crows. but maybe your devil bird is actually quiet?
ReplyDeleteLOL!! They are related to the vultures in Africa so they are scavengers and keep roadkill cleaned up. I've never heard them make a noise at all. They are very quiet. Only time I've ever seen them be a problem is when they fly in front of vehicles lol. :) They may be ugly, but they are good birds.
ReplyDeleteFlies can make horses so irritable. I've been keeping my fly spray in the house, because if I leave it in the horse trailer it can get up to 150 degrees in there and all the liquid dissipates. I've started buying one $15 bottle of Pyranha squirt and wipe spray for the face and one $15 can of Pyranha aerosol spray for the body, and this time of year I run out in just one or two weeks, and I don't even apply it every day. That's on top of the Fly Predators/Eliminators and fly traps with fly attractant. I just bought some Pyranha shampoo that contains fly deterrent as well, and the horses are wearing fly masks round the clock. Fly management can be really time consuming and expensive.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I took some extra time to spray down the horses, and just delaying the dogs' breakfast by a few extra minutes resulted in Midge having a low blood sugar seizure. We're going to have to break up her meals into more, smaller meals and keep syrup and honey on hand at all times.
Poor Midge!!! Diabetes is such a pain in the butt to deal with. :(
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm using Ultrashield for tick control so I use it every few days and I'm using a homemade mixture of Avon Skin So Soft and citronella for flies. Then I'm using neem oil right before dusk for those stupid gnats that cause his sweet itch. Insects make life miserable! I wish I could bring him inside my house so he could have some relief LOL.
Flies are a real PITA but chrome still needs to listen to you no matter what. I think you did the right thing getting him to listen.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that he's looking very handsome and building muscle on his hind end. :)
Yep that's why I finally got after him because the balking thing is really annoying and only gets worse under saddle. I just wish it wasn't on asphalt! Thanks for the compliment! I guess because I see him everyday his haunches still look so scrawny to me hehe. I'm glad you can see a difference. :D
ReplyDelete