My day off

My mom didn't ride me today. She does that sometimes and she calls it my day off. I don't really know what that means but I like days off because we usually do something fun or nice. And it's nice not to ride sometimes because it's a lot of work. People don't realize how much work it is to carry them around.

Not that I mind. I don't. In fact, yesterday we had a really nice time riding. Mom cleaned my stall and she was just saddling me up when Favre's mom asked her if we were going to do a poop loop. Mom said we were so Favre and his mom came with us. She wasn't riding him - she just led him but it was still nice to have company. I was a little nervous at first because the last time I had anything to do with Favre, he just wanted to sniff my butt and it was obnoxious but he was fine today. He just walked along with his mom and pretty much ignored me which was fine.

We walked down by the Little Rolling Arena and then up the hill by where I used to live and at the top of the hill we saw Indian and his mom. Indian was standing with his foot in a big bucket and he didn't look happy at all. His leg was all swollen and my mom asked what happened. Turns out he got bitten by either a spider or a snake and it made him really sick. He has to have his leg soaked and he's on all kinds of medicines and he had a bad fever. I felt so bad for him! Indian is one of my very best friends. I've known him even longer than I've known Sparky. My mom told his mom that she hopes he'll be all right and I do too. Poor Indian.

There was nothing we could do though so we kept going. Favre went back in his stall when we got to the barn but Mom and I went out in the Flat Arena and did some work. I was a little lazy at first because I hoped she'd let me go back to my stall but she didn't so I finally perked up because she made me. We did some good trotting work with lots of changes from walk to trot and back again. That's good exercise. It was starting to get pretty hot though so after about a half hour, we called it quits. We were both pretty sweaty. Still, it felt good. Mom was happy with me and I always like those rides.

But today she came and told me we weren't going to ride. She cleaned my stall and gave me a quick grooming and then she grabbed my lead and said, "Come on, Bella, let's go for a walk." I love it when my mom takes me for a walk. We don't hurry or anything and we can look around and see what's going on, and stop and sniff things and just kind of take it easy. Today was kind of special because she took me out in my plain nylon halter instead of my rope halter.

For a while, I was pretty pushy when Mom led me. I'd pull really hard and I'd try to graze or go where I wanted to and sometimes, I'd push into her or step on her. She didn't like it at all. The problem was no one had ever taught me Manners. So Mom taught me. She started walking me with a special lead that has a chain on it. The chain goes over your nose. My mom was never mean with the chain, she didn't yank on it or hurt me with it but she did use it to remind me that I had to listen to her. The first time I tried to pull with it, she just gave it a sharp little tug and made the Bad Girl noise. I figured out pretty quick what that meant!

Once I'd learned how to listen and to stop when asked and that sort of thing, she started using my rope halter. It has knots in it that kind of poke into my face if I pull. It's not as noticeable as the chain but it's still a good reminder and since my Manners were a lot better, I only needed a little reminding. I've gotten so that I'm very good with my rope halter and now when Mom is just leading me around the barn area, she just uses the nylon one. If she takes me further, she usually uses the rope.

But today, she didn't and I was really, really good. I didn't pull at all and I minded my Manners and didn't get in her space or make her work hard or anything. She led me on a loose lead and we just moseyed along, having a nice time. We stopped a couple of times so I could sniff poop and we looked at some stuff around the Little Rolling Arena. We walked up the hill by my old barn and saw a person with her horse sitting outside and stopped to talk. I remembered the horse - her name is Grace and she lives near Misty. I used to poke my head in her stall and say hello sometimes and she'd put her ears back and make faces at me.

Grace's mom asked how I was doing and my mom told her I was doing really well which made me feel good. Then Grace's mom said I looked good and my mom thanked her. There have been a few people lately who've said that. Another person who has a big handsome Friesian said I looked like I was getting some nice muscle and a couple of others have said similar things. I know it makes my mom happy to hear those things. She always thinks I'm pretty but it's nice when other people think so too. She took some pictures of me today. That's one of them at the top of this post. I was eating my bucket dinner. Do you think I look good? You can see my dapples in it.

Anyway, we continued walking. We went by Indian's stall but he wasn't outside. I could just see him standing in his stall. I hope he's doing okay. We went down the hill past my friend Cozzie's stall and when we got down to the part of the hill where the trailers are kept, I stopped. I just wanted to look around a little bit so my mom stopped too and we just stood there for a while.

It was really nice. I wasn't looking at anything in particular, I just like that spot. You can see a long way from there, all the way down to the Flat Arena and my barn and across the pasture. You can see mountains in the distance and houses and roads. It's pretty. And there was a nice breeze blowing so I could smell lots of things. I just really enjoyed standing there looking and Mom enjoyed it too. She just stood quietly petting me.

Finally, I kind of realized that we'd been standing there quite a while so I bumped her arm with my nose and we walked on. We went down the hill by the pasture and then Mom took me out into the Flat Arena so I could roll. That was nice. She could just tell that I wanted to I guess. I found a really good spot and had a nice, long roll. It felt wonderful. Then we walked along in the arena for a while just whuffling around, then Mom brought me to where Sparky eats and got me a couple of cookies. That was nice. And then she brought me home. I had a new bed and she brought me my bucket dinner and it was a really nice day.