What a day!

I had such an exciting day today! I'm still kind of bouncy because of it all.

I guess I should start with yesterday. Mom came out all ready to ride me but when she started brushing me, she found another big bite! This one was on my side right where the saddle goes. She tried putting two saddle pads on me but as soon as the girth went on, it hurt so I put my ears back and swished my tail and she took it all off again. She understood what I was telling her.

We were both disappointed and it's all Mickey's fault! He keeps biting me. He's so stupid. It's because he's always cribbing. That's all he does all day long. He stands by our paddock fence and bites the wood that separates us. Then he makes this annoying grunting sound. Over and over again, he does it and it's gotten to the point that I can't stand it! So I charge him with my ears back and my teeth bared, and he rears and strikes, and I kick the fence and then he bites me. But at least it makes him stop cribbing for a little while.

Yesterday Mom decided to lunge me instead so she brought me to the Round Pen. While we were there, my daddy came again! He's been coming a lot lately. I was very good lungeing on the line but I did keep peeking over the fence to see what he was doing. I knew he must have a carrot for me - he always does - and I didn't want him to think I wasn't around because he might leave without saying hello to me and giving me my carrot. But he saw me and he walked right across the field special to come see me. He petted me and gave me my carrot and blew in my nose which I like. I love my dad.

So today my bite was still pretty swollen and painful. Mom got me out for my hay snack and brought Sparky over to have one too. Then when my stall was all clean and we were finished with our hay, she put me back in my stall and took Sparky away with my saddle on him! I was a little jealous because I knew she was going to ride him instead of me but she gave me a little more hay to eat in my stall so that kept my mind off it. I did watch them ride away though. It's always strange to see my mom on another horse, even Spark.

They were gone for quite a while and I was standing in the door of my stall looking out at my paddock when I heard my mom's voice call my name! I whinnied and looked around and there she was on Spark in the Flat Arena. They must have ridden in without my seeing them. She rode just a little longer out there then I saw her get off and a little while later, I saw her hosing Spark down. Pretty soon she walked by my stall on the way to put him out in the pasture and then she got me.

I was pretty anxious to get out by then. I'm used to doing something right after my stall is cleaned and I like to be on a schedule. When it changes, I get excited. Mom put my chain lead over my nose because I think she thought I might be a bouncy and she was right. I just couldn't help it. We started off down the road for a walk and I was pretty good but I did kind of bounce every now and then.

We got down to the hay barn and Mom turned toward the place where all the cars park. I got even more excited because that's the way we go to the Pony Arena and I like to get turned out there. Plus that's where the water trough is. I started twirling around and rearing a little bit - I was just so excited, I couldn't contain myself. Mom got pretty stern with me and I tried to behave but it was hard.

There were lots of Camp Kids and Farm Horses by the Pony Arena but none of them were inside it so Mom brought me in. She closed the gate and took off my lead and as soon as I was loose, I took off running across the arena! I galloped to the other gate and when I got to it, I saw that it was open so I galloped right out!

All of a sudden, people were yelling, "Loose horse!" and some of the Camp Kids were calling out in high pitched voices and it got very loud and confusing. I was so excited to be loose but I didn't know what to do or where to go so I just galloped across the dirt and over to a small barn near an area piled with bags of shavings. There weren't any horses in that barn so I turned and ran back a little ways but I didn't want to go near all those Camp Kids. I turned again and ran toward the shavings and around the corner of the barn and almost ran right into a girl who reached up and grabbed my halter and talked quietly to me.

As soon as I stopped, I could hear my mom calling, "It's okay, Belly, I'm coming," and sure enough, there she was with my lead. I was happy to see her. It was much too confusing to be running around loose and I was kind of scared by it all. It's funny - it seems like such a good idea to run through an open gate but once you do, it gets scary when no one is there to tell you what to do. Mom led me back to the Pony Arena and made sure the gate was closed, then she let me loose again.

I was really bouncy by then. All that being loose business had gotten me so wound up I barely knew what to do with myself. I ran around and around and kicked up my heels and stopped at the gate and snorted at the other horses and kicked out with my hind leg just because it felt good, then I ran around some more. There were lots of people watching me, the Camp Kids and their moms and dads, and all the horses were pretending not to notice me but I know they were all secretly watching and wishing they could run around like me. Mom just let me do whatever I wanted and once in a while I'd stop and walk up to her and nuzzle her face just to make sure she was still there. She'd pet me and kiss my nose and then I'd go off and play some more.

I got pretty hot and sweaty and finally got most of it out of my system so Mom put my lead back on and took me out to get a drink at the trough. That was nice! I took a good long drink and then dunked my head in and played for a little bit. When I was ready to go, I kind of tossed my head and did a little rear and Mom told me to settle down and quit being so silly so I tried to walk nicely. She took me right to the Little Rolling Arena then and I just threw myself down and had a good roll. Oh, it felt nice! I love rolling in there and after all the excitement, it was just what I needed. As soon as I was done, I got up and just kind of launched myself into the air. I went into a big buck and kick, with a rear and a shake and a strike and sort of a twist all rolled into it. Mom was ready for it because I do like to come out of a roll like that sometimes so she just stood back and let me bounce for a minute then told me to calm down and we walked back to the barn.

I was pretty well cooled out by the time we got there and Mom hosed me off really good, letting the water run on my bite for quite a while. She'd hosed it before we went on our walk too so hopefully it will be a lot better tomorrow. She did put some of that yucky medicine in my food again but I'm kind of getting used to it. And besides, it was such a fun day that I don't even care. I can't think of the last time I've gotten to play so much.

Now if only Mickey will leave me alone and quit making that stupid noise of his, everything should be all right.