Day at the farm

Today was a lazy day. I spent it hanging around in my stall just watching stuff that was going on. It was nice so I'm going to tell you all about it.

The nights have been getting cooler lately which I like. The flies aren't so bad when it's cool and it's so refreshing to stand outside in my paddock with the stars shining in the sky and the air smelling so fresh and pretty. Sometimes I sleep for a while out there, just standing up as horses do. It's pretty comfortable really and a lot of horses sleep like that pretty much all the time. But sooner or later I go into my stall and lie down. I like to sleep lying down in my shavings. It's so cozy.

In the morning, the guys bring my breakfast. I have grass hay in the morning. I don't like grass hay as much as alfalfa but it's okay. I like to eat my hay off my floor so even if they put it in my feeder, I pull it out so I can put my head down and eat like horses are meant to eat. That means I can't see outside very well while I'm eating but I pop my head up if someone goes by. Usually there's not much going on at breakfast time anyway. Some people come early but most of them don't start coming until after we've finished.

I ate up all my breakfast this morning and then went over to the bars to see how my new neighbor was doing. Coco lives in Kia's stall now - I guess it isn't Kia's stall anymore, is it? It's Coco's stall. I just can't help but think of it as Kia's. Anyway, she's nice. She kind of sassy like me and we both get excited when we have our food or when the hay truck is coming. Then we lay our ears back and charge at each other through the bars. It's fun and we don't mean anything by it - we're just eager for our food. We're good friends really. We visit over our paddock fence sometimes although she doesn't go out in her paddock as much as me. And when my mom leads me by her stall, she lets me stop to sniff noses.

Coco was still eating and that made me a little mad! Mickey was still eating too and I could hear Spencer over there crunching away too. I do eat kind of fast but I think everyone else gets more than me. It's not fair. I'm a big girl now and need my nourishment. I was a little cranky about it all so I went out in my paddock for a while.

Pretty soon though I started to hear horses going by on the road so I came back in to see who might be out. First I saw a couple of the little ponies going by. There are a bunch of them, little shaggy ponies that are so small they could walk right underneath me. They all have bushy manes and tails and little round hoofs and they wear small saddles and bridles - it's really pretty cute. Sparky was afraid of them when he first got here. He'd never seen such a small pony before and he said they made him feel funny when they walked by. Like they were pretend horses or something. He's used to them now but he still keeps well away from them.

The ponies are always being led by a person and they give rides to small people who don't know how to ride on their own yet. The small people seem to really like it though it seems awfully boring to me to get led around like that. But I suppose if you're new to riding horses it would be fun. And the ponies are cute so that probably makes it special. Usually a big person or two are following along and they've almost always got one of those little boxes pointing at the small person and the pony. Those ponies give rides all day but they're very good-natured about it. I talked to one of them one day when my mom tied me up outside the place where the horses get ready for the Camp Kids and the Trail Ride people. He said it's an easy job and they get lots of pets and scratches and they take turns so they can go out and relax in their paddock in between rides. Sometimes it's busier than other times but mostly it's not a bad thing to have to do. He said the farm people take good care of them.

After the ponies were gone, a group of kids came by riding their horses. There are lots of kids riding here and they're mostly good riders too. A lot of them belong to a group they call Pony Club and I guess they do a lot of fun stuff and learn about horses and riding. Their horses have to work hard because those kids will sometimes ride all day. They never seem to get tired. I'm glad I'm not a Pony Club horse. I don't mind riding but I like the way my mom and I do it.

A lot of times I see kids riding bareback. I see grown-up people ride bareback too but mostly it's kids. My mom rides me bareback once in a while but it feels really funny to me. I never know if I'm supposed to be going or not. I guess I'm just too used to wearing a saddle.

By this time, I was getting sleepy. I generally take a nap around mid-morning so I curled up in my shavings and went to sleep for a while.

When I woke up, there were some people riding in the Flat Arena so I went outside to poop and ended up watching them. There was a person standing in the middle of the arena and she kept shouting at the people and telling them what to do. I see that a lot too. I'm not sure what it's all about. Spencer and his mom often have a lady come yell at them and they go around and around and that lady just keeps on yelling. Sometimes I understand what those people are saying - they might tell the person to make the horse trot or canter or stop. Other times, I don't have any idea what it's all about. I'll hear them say things like, "Tighten up on your outside rein and give him some more leg. There! Do you feel the difference?" I guess they're telling the other person how to ride their horse but it seems strange because I've seen a lot of those people riding and they're doing just fine. People do some odd things, don't they?

Around about that time, Mom came and I whinnied a greeting and she got me out for my hay snack. We didn't really do much of anything today. She took me for a little walk on my lead and let me roll in the Flat Arena but by then the hay truck was coming so she took me back to my stall and let me have my alfalfa. That was fine. It was kind of hot by that time and I wasn't feeling particularly frisky so I was happy to just eat. I would like to try out that new bit again though. I'm wearing it in today's picture. Mom says I look cute in it.