My Dad

I've talked quite a bit about my mom but I've never mentioned my dad so I think I'll tell you about him today. I love my dad. I don't see him as often as I see Mom but every time I do, he says, "Hi, Bella!" and gives me a treat. Then he pets me and makes me feel special.

Sometimes my dad pretends he didn't bring a treat but I know better. My dad ALWAYS has a treat. Usually it's a carrot (those are my favorites) but sometimes he brings other things like cookies. When he has a carrot, he puts it in his back pocket and just starts petting me but I know he has it somewhere. I poke my nose at him and sniff him all over. I sniff at his pockets and at all the fun things he carries on his belt. He has this little square thing that he uses when he's building things - it's just small but he can pull on it and a big long flat piece comes out and stretches for as far as he wants it to. It's like a big flat snake but I'm not afraid of it. My dad wouldn't carry anything that would hurt me.

He also carries one of those little boxes that I see people with all the time. They make funny noises and people talk to them. I don't know why. One day my mom was talking to hers and I heard her say, "Say hi to Bella." Then she held the box up near me and I heard my dad's voice saying, "Hi, Bella!" I looked around for him hoping to get a treat but I didn't see him anywhere. It was strange.

Anyway, I sniff all those places and then I sniff his pockets and try to poke my nose under his arm to get behind him. Then he laughs and reaches back there and breaks off a bite of carrot for me. My dad is lots of fun. Sometimes he puts one bite in one hand and then holds out both his hands and makes me pick one. I always pick the one that has the treat in it. I have a good nose. He always calls me Good Girl and pets me when I do that.

My dad doesn't make me do stuff like my mom does but he does nice things for me. One time when my mom was sick, he came to the barn every day with her for a real long time. He cleaned my stall while Mom turned me out. She was so sick, she couldn't ride me or anything. She'd just turn me out and then sit in a chair while I played. I could smell how sick she was so I tried to be good. Sometimes when he was done cleaning my stall, Dad would come to the arena and pick grass for me nearby. Then he'd feed it to me and pet me. That was nice.

Sometimes he comes to the barn by himself. He brought shavings for me a couple of times and one time when Mom left my door to my paddock closes all night, he came the next morning and let me out. I was glad he did. I don't like being cooped up in my stall for very long. My dad understands that. He brings me treats when he does things like that too.

My dad can also fix things. He can fix anything. He's the one who hung up my ball toy and the broom Mom uses to clean my stall. He fixed my water bucket too so it doesn't drip water all over the floor of my stall. And he made the box Mom uses to keep my food really nice with a shelf and hooks to hang things on.

I love my dad. I think there should be a special day just for dads so their kids could tell them how much they love them. That would be nice.