Poop loop

That's what my mom calls the ride around the farm. I don't know why. There's usually some horse poop on the road (I like to stop and sniff it but she won't let me) and we do ride past the big manure pile but other than that, I can't really think of a good reason for that name.

Anyway, that's what we did today. We rode poop loops. Four of them. It ended up being pretty nice but it was awfully stressful at first. That's because I was trying to figure out what she wanted.

I guess I'm out of practice at being a riding horse. I did have a lot of time off from riding while my back feet were sore. And I was just really learning about the ins and outs of it all when that happened. So now when Mom gets on me, I'm just excited to be doing something and I guess I'm not really paying as much attention to her as she wants me to. It's hard. There's just so much going on all the time and I'm the sort of horse that likes to watch stuff. Maybe it's because I'm a blogger. I'm always looking for interesting stories.

Mom got right after me today though as soon as she got on. She was all business. Sometimes when she gets on, we start riding and I just kind of drift along going wherever my feet take me. You know how it is. You look over at the horses in the paddock next to you and you sort of walk that direction even if you don't really mean to. Or she tells me to turn but I'd rather go straight so I kind of corkscrew around so my head is pointed one way and my butt another and I'm all crooked and walking sideways.

Not today. She got on and I started drifting sideways toward one of the other paddocks and she kicked my side and pointed me in the right direction and when I didn't go right off she whacked me twice on the butt with her stick. Hard. That caught my attention. I stepped out and got onto the road and began walking. But as soon as I slowed down and tried to pick up my lazy walk, she got right after me again. Nudge, nudge, nudge until I was walking right along again.

That first circuit around the farm was nothing but misery for me. Every time I started to meander, every time I slowed down, every time I didn't turn very well, she gave me one cue and if I didn't respond to it, I got whacked. Not enough to really hurt but a sharp little crack all the same. Enough to tell me she wasn't fooling around with me. I tried to grab a leaf off a passing branch once. Crack on my shoulder. Tried to turn and look at a horse in a paddock. Another crack.

Well, it hardly seemed fair. All I wanted to do was enjoy the ride and for me, enjoying a ride means going where I want and looking at what I want and stopping when I want. I guess she has other ideas about that. But a funny thing happened about the time we reached the hill going down toward our barn. I got sick of being poked and cracked with that stick and I started going straight and walking right ahead instead of slowing down or stopping. And as soon as I did that, her legs were still and that stick was just as quiet as anything. And I realized that it was kind of nice to be walking right along like that with her loose on my back and my reins just light in my mouth.

You see, she wasn't being mean to me or beating on me or anything like that. And she wasn't yelling at me or acting mad. She was just making it very clear in a way I could understand that she wanted me to behave myself. And when I started looking at the other horses being ridden around the loop, I realized they were doing all the things my mom was asking me to do - walking nicely, not stopping, not drifting, not visiting. It made me think of something Kia told me one day when she said I needed to grow up and stop acting like a baby. I thought she was talking about the way I am in my stall but then she said that a riding horse has to be all business as soon as her saddle goes on.

At the time, I didn't think much about what she meant. The hay truck was coming and I was kind of distracted. But today I thought of that again and realized she meant that being a riding horse is our job. Well, I know what a job is. My mom's job is to take care of me and feed me my bucket dinner. Pedro's job is to bring me my hay. My dad's job is to fix things in my stall. I never thought about what my job was. I never knew I had one. But I guess it makes sense. If everyone else has a job, I guess a horse has to have one too. And my job is being a Good Girl for my mom when she rides me.

So I decided I'd start today. Mom rode me right past our barn and continued along the road and I knew we were going to do another circuit. I did start drifting some toward my barn - I couldn't help it. I thought at first we might be done (you never know) but she poked me in the side and told me to keep going so I did. Then I thought we might go to the Flat Arena so I sort of drifted that way but she straightened me out again. But after that, I think I did pretty good. I went mostly straight down the road and she didn't have to poke me so much. I did try to stop once or twice but as soon as she told me to go on, I did.

By the third time around, I was moving out pretty well. I was starting to have fun. Believe it or not, it can be fun to be a Good Girl. For one thing, your mom doesn't poke at you and smack you with her stick. But for another, it feels pretty good to just swing along at a nice walk with the reins loose on your neck. I even went up the steep hill by my old barn without stopping - I just put my head down and up I went. Mom left the reins loose and she stood up off my back and it was easy. By the time we went around the fourth time, I could feel how happy she was with me. She was relaxed and enjoying the ride and every once in a while she'd pat me or tell me I was being a Good Girl.

It's a good workout to do four poop loops. There are a lot of hills and we didn't stop at all, except for once when I added my own poop to the road. I had worked up a good sweat but I felt fine. Mom washed me off and then she gave me a cookie. She's been doing that lately. Every time we ride, I get a cookie. I like that. It's something nice to look forward to. I know that when she ducks around the corner from the wash rack, she's getting my cookie.

So I feel pretty satisfied tonight. I think I did something right.