I felt great today! Mom seemed a little concerned about my scuffs but I wasn't sore at all. She lunged me and I had a good time trotting and cantering around and she seemed happy. I think she could tell that I wasn't hurt.
Before we lunged, Mom let me out of my stall to have my hay snack and Sparky's mom brought him over! So we had hay snack together. I like Sparky lots and I felt kind of bad because I'd bit at him and been grumpy the other day when I got my shoes so I tried to be especially nice today. I didn't put my ears back or anything.
Then we lunged and after that, Mom brought me over to where Sparky was and started putting my saddle on. So I was happy because I knew we were going to ride together! That's my favorite way to ride. It's always a lot more fun to ride with a friend. I was pretty excited and bouncy even though I'd run a lot when we were lungeing. I haven't been riding with shoes on my back feet in a long time. That's because I kept losing my back shoes back when it was still raining. They just didn't seem to want to stay on.
After I'd lost them a few times, Mom told the Shoe Man to just leave them off. He said that made sense because my back feet were so short he couldn't really put them on right anyway. But then my feet kind of hurt. They hurt worse whenever I was out of my stall. Stepping on little rocks and things made them really ouchy and the road is so hard that it hurt when I walked on that too. Mom didn't ride me much - only in the arena where it's softer - but even so my feet got more and more sore. She finally stopped riding me and started soaking my feet every day.
I didn't like that at all at first. I had to stand still which I don't like anyway AND I had to keep one of my feet in a bucket of water. It was stupid and made me mad. I was pretty bad about it but Mom was really patient with me. She just sat by my feet and kept putting my foot back in the water every time I pulled it out. After a while I got used to it and didn't really mind anymore. It kind of felt good on my feet anyway.
After she soaked them, she put medicine on them and wrapped them all up. That made my feet feel funny but it was kind of nice because they didn't hurt so much. But it was really hard because I couldn't exercise at all! Mom took me for walks on my lead around the Flat Arena which helped but sometimes I got so bouncy that I couldn't stand it! She let me bounce but I wasn't allowed to run for days and days and days. Finally when they started feeling better, she stopped soaking and wrapping them and she let me run a little in the round pen. They didn't get sore again and she started riding me a little bit in the Flat Arena. And finally the other day, the Shoe Man put new shoes on them and they feel all better. I like the way my feet feel when I have shoes. I can walk and run on anything and it doesn't hurt at all. They feel really strong when I have shoes on them.
So that's why I was so happy about riding today. Mom got me all saddled up and we went out on the road and rode around the farm. I like to do that. The road goes in a big circle all around the whole place and we go past all the different barns and arenas so we can see lots of different horses and people. Sometimes we see Dogs. Dogs are kind of like Kitties but they're usually bigger. And they usually have lead ropes like horses do. We also see Coyotes. They're a kind of Dog I think but they don't walk with people or have lead ropes. I think they live in the pasture. Sparky says he sees them there a lot.
Deer live in the pasture too. Deer are shaped kind of like horses but they're smaller and people don't ride them. They like to eat grass and hay like horses do though. I like Deer and Coyotes okay. But I like Bunnies best. Bunnies are little and brown and they hop when they walk. Sometimes we see them in the arena and I always want to sniff them but they always hop away before I can. I wish I could have a Bunny of my own.
We rode up the hill and saw a lot of horses but no Dogs or Coyotes or Deer or Bunnies. When we got to the top, Mom took me into the Gremlin Arena and Sparky followed. Then I helped Mom close the gate. I always do that in the Gremlin Arena - Mom says it's my Job. I go really close to the gate so she can reach it and close it properly. She always pets me and tells me I'm a Good Girl when I do it.
Then we started riding around the arena. I don't mind riding in arenas now. When I first came to the farm, I didn't like it at all. It seemed stupid and boring, just going around and around. Now it's okay. I sometimes get bored but Mom asks me to do different things all the time so I usually don't. Today she was making me stay on the rail while we walked around. I know I'm supposed to stay on the rail but sometimes I just don't want to. I didn't want to today. I wanted to play biteface with Sparky and run and stuff and she was making me walk on the dumb rail. I got mad! I started swishing my tail and walking sideways just to show her how mad I was.
She didn't like that though and she started pushing me really hard and making me do it. Sometimes I don't even understand how she does it. She just sits a certain way and pushes her legs on me and I can't help but go the way she wants me to. It's kind of weird - Sparky doesn't get it either. The good thing was that after I behaved myself, she let me trot and we had some fun trotting around. At first, I was really excited and tried to go extra fast but after a little bit I calmed down and we trotted nicely. Then we did a bunch of figure 8's. I like figure 8's. That's when you trot in a circle one way on one end of the arena and then when you're in the middle you change and trot the other way on the other end. And you keep doing that up and down the arena. It's fun and exciting because you never know if you're going to keep going one way or if you're going to change and go another. It's kind of like a game. I like games.
Mom said I did really well and I thought so too. It felt good to be able to stretch my legs and get some good exercise with Mom on my back. Sparky was trotting too and it was fun to be passing each other and riding with our moms. We finally finished and then I had to go to the gate and get close to it again so Mom could open it for us to leave. She said I was a Good Girl again when I did that.
When we rode down the hill, we went past my old barn. I tried to go over to it so I could see my friends but Mom wouldn't let me. I was kind of mad at that but then we got to the bottom of the hill and I thought maybe we were going home and I could have my hay so I didn't mind anymore. Sure enough my hay was in my stall when we got home and I had to wait for it again while Mom took off my saddle and stuff but I tried really, really hard to be good about it and Mom didn't get mad at me.
It's hard to be good sometimes but I am 5 so that means I have to be.
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