Odie and the muzzle

            Here I am in my new pasture, totally ignoring Mom.    

 'K...things are pretty cool at Cross Creek with Aunt Janet.  Can you believe the size of my pasture?  Well, I do have to share it with my buddy, Mars.  There is so much grass and so much room to run and to roll.  Nothing feels better than a good roll in the grass on a sunny day.  Mars and I get to be in our pasture almost all day, until suppertime.


Now, Aunt Janet decided that I needed this black thing on my nose and mouth.  Mom said it was a grazing muzzle and would keep me from overeating & getting really sick.  PLEZZ!  Eating lots of grass is what horses do.  Whoever heard of grass making a horse sick?? I decided to ask Mars about that.  Mars told me that he had gotten so very sick from eating too much grass that he thought he might die from the pain.  His belly hurt and his feet hurt and all the shots and treatments were terrible. I asked him what this "sick" was called and he said colic.  The other two horses in the barn told me that colic is the worst thing ever;  they had surgery for it.

Yep, I had been rolling and rubbing my face in the hopes I could remove this thing.

Not my best look but you get the idea of "muzzle".

 

So I will wear this muzzle thing and be glad that my humans care about my health.  It is not cute.  I cannot get hunks of grass in my mouth but I can get carrot pieces from my humans!

Mom told me that my muzzle was a gift from another boarder.  Her incredible Hanoverian, Palisander, had worn it when he lived at Cross Creek. Palisander was a great and famous dressage horse, who spent nine years at Cross Creek. Palisander died last year;  there a monument to honor him near the barn.


Knowing all this makes it better to be wearing my muzzle.  Did I mention that Aunt Janet gave me one of her leather halters?  It is comfortable and fits perfectly.  Mom sold her leather halter.  Guess she figured I would not need it. (Odie, you have a leather trail halter/bridle, a rope halter, a bath halter...stop sounding pitiful.  Now you have a leather pasture halter.  Be nice.)

ALL RIGHT!  I get the message...I am such a lucky horse!!  (Yes, you do not even know how lucky you are.)

Mom still cannot ride me for that nasty bite on my back.  She takes me for long walks to show me where I live.  On our walk, she told me that my favorite "fans" were coming to visit me this week.  C & M are the sweetest little girls. They love to pet & brush me. Hope Mom takes some good, new pictures of my fan club.  Here are some from March when my mane was still growing.