# Geordie, a real horse whisperer.



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Geordie was a little man, I doubt he was much more than five feet in height. He had dark brown eyes that were creased and always twinkled. 

He and his wife would come to stay in my Grandmother's guest house every summer as they had since the 1920s. When Grandma stopped taking guest Geordie and Annie came to stay with us. It was only then that I realised just how much he knew about horses and a few years later wondered what he didn't know! 

That man was an animal magnet, they all wanted to be with him, dog, cat, horse cow or pig would immediately go to him within minutes of him being around. 

I have mentioned him before with things that happened and although most animals would do whatever they could to please him, there were the odd ones that were not going to play ball. 
One of these was a shire mare. A big grey horse, intelligent to the point of being over clever.

Geordie had worked with heavy horses for years, he had been in charge of a brewery team that showed around the country. He was called for advice on the mare. She had been broken to harness, would pull a lightweight cart but anything with a bit of weight and she refused to move - even in a team which ended up trying to pull her along too. 

Geordie bought her and she was delivered to our farriers small holding. Somehow they borrowed a four wheel wagon and harnessed her to it. She was happy to pull the empty wagon around but the moment there was any weight on it then she just stood. You could have flailed every inch of skin off her body but she still would have stood there.

Geordie never really tried to get her going with a laden vehicle. He just unhitched her and put her away.
Next day that cart was loaded with rubble. You could not have fitted half a house brick on there. The mare was brought out and hitched up. She felt the weight and just stood.
The farrier was driving her whilst Geordie stood by her side. From his pocket he brought out his knife and cut the strings on a bale of straw. He spread the straw under the mare.
"Ah," thinks I, " She's slipped and lost her confidence." 

Next thing he is sprinkling something from a can on the straw. He stands and thinks for a bit, the horse is asked to move but refuses to even try. 
Geordie pulls out his pipe, lights it from his old petrol lighter, take a puff or two and nods to the farrier who asked the mare to move. She refuses again. Next thing Geordie has dropped his lighter with the flame burning onto the straw. There is a whoosh as the petrol ignights and the straw starts to burn fiercely, just as she is asked to move again.

She moved that time and pulled the cart to the top of the hill where it was unloaded. At the bottom it was refilled, not quite as full as the first time. She refused to move but as soon as straw was shaken under her she moved on. 

The two messed with that mare for several weeks before taking her to some big shows where she was never unplaced in the heavy horse driving classes. They sold her back to the brewery for a heck of a lot more than they paid for her! 

This was one of the few times I ever saw Geordie get after a horse. He said that she was an ungenerous mare and would never give her all. It ran in her family lines.


----------



## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Encore, encore


----------



## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

Oh, my!!!! That was fabulous . . . I don't think I could ever do that to a horse, but I can understand how it would work, and I bet it saved that mare's life in the long run. Thank you for sharing about Geordie. (Is that a soft "g" for "Jordie?")


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

I know I've said this before but you really do have the best stories!!

I love the Geordie ones. Would of loved to of met him.

Agree, not sure I'm brave enough for that but he seemed to know exactly what and how much was needed.


----------

