May 8, 2011 The bugs are out

It somehow doesn't seem quite fair that we've been freezing and drowning this spring, and the flies are coming out before we get any warm weather.  The horses haven't been out of their blankets for very long and it's time for fly masks already.  I remembered to take Rory's mask out today, but I'd forgotten that I cut the ears off last summer.  Ears make great handles to yank masks off and I had no doubt Totyo would have figured that out very quickly.  Despite the lack of ears Totyo managed to get Rory's mask off often enough that I gave up.  After Totyo left Rory was able to keep the mask on.


Totyo and Rory (in his new flymask)


The little black bugs attack the horses ears at this time of year so Rory really needed ears on his flymask.  I put the old flymask on Rory to check the size - it still fits - and then went off to the tack shop to pick up a new one.  They're on sale right now and all they had left were a couple of warmblood sized masks.  I got lucky because someone had just returned several masks in Rory's size (Arab/Cob).  When I got back to the stable Rory was still wearing his mask and shaking his head as the flies crawled around in his ears.  After I swapped the new mask for the old one Rory shook his head a couple of times, rubbed an ear and then realized the mask wasn't biting him.  Totyo had a mask of his own as well, so maybe he'll let Rory wear the mask this year.