Not Tse Tses

But Paralytic Flies, Nonetheless

It was warm, but not oppressive this morning, so I opted to ride Tucker. I still may work the other Boys later, but that will depend on the temperature and my energy levels.

It would have been a totally great school if not for the amazing paralytic horse fly. Now, this is not one of the big B52 bombers, but rather a smaller cousin, only about a half inch long. Some people call them greenheads, presuming this one had the bright green eyes--I cannot testify to that.

Despite the good fly spray, this pest persisted particularly persistently. (Say that three times fast.) But that was not the amazing part!

What was amazing was that when he made his attack, Tucker simply stopped working. Had he only kicked out or protested, it would have been one thing, but he acutually stopped.

It was exactly like the kind of shut down stop he will do if I over correct. I did manage to get him going in a tiny circle, but forward in any kind of line was not in the offing. We finally managed to press on, but it happened at least two more times. I got off once when our last leg yield to the left collapsed into a halt, but be darned if I could get the fly.

His canter work was good to erratic, also because the fly kept insisting on a bite of horse.

Otherwise, the school was great.

One fly. Only one. The rest of them were not yet out of bed.

That'll teach me to put on the fly armor every time I ride.

Even if there isn't a fly on the horizon.