Learning new tricks

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging so much lately but there hasn't been a lot to write about because of being on Stall Rest. But I have been learning some new tricks and I thought I'd tell you about it.

My mom has been bringing me out for walks every few days which has been nice. It gets tiresome being in a stall all the time and she says my leg is a lot better so it's okay for me to do a little light walking. I have to be very good though and not get silly and rambunctious because that might bother my leg again. Well, I don't want that to happen. It's been a long process of getting this silly leg better, after all.

At first, my mom was putting Nice Cubes on it every day for a long time. Then she'd dry it off carefully, then put some special medicine on it, and then wrap it really well. Then she'd wrap my other back leg too. She said that she had to do that because I'd use that leg more since the other one was hurt so we had to protect it too. That made sense but it was no fun having wraps on all the time. Especially when it rained. When it rained, she'd have to close me into my stall and not let me go out in the paddock because my wraps would get wet. That was awful. I hate being cooped up inside even if I can look out the window.

About a week or so ago, she decided my leg was doing well enough so that we could change things a little bit. Now she puts the Nice Cubes on every other day. Then she puts the medicine on and after that she wraps just the swollen part with some stuff called VetWrap. It's a kind of bandage that stretches. Mom lets me play with it sometimes. She'll start unrolling it and she'll hold it up and I put my nose on it. Then she pretends to wrap it around my nose, or my eyes, or my ears. It's fun. I like that game. She played it once with Sparky but he got scared. He doesn't like to play silly games like I do.

The VetWrap bandage is nicer than the other wraps. It's not so bulky. At first she was putting those wraps on my front legs so I wouldn't overuse them but now my leg is so much better that she's just putting the bandage on the bad one and leaving it at that. The swelling is mostly gone she says, and if I'd just quit kicking the walls of my stall it will get all better. I don't mean to kick. I just get excited sometimes.

Yesterday when she came out, she put my halter on and took me right out for a walk. That was nice. We saw Sparky and his mom near the tack boxes. I was happy to see them both and thought maybe they'd come walk with us but Sparky's mom was grooming him so they didn't. It was too bad. I miss going out with Spark. He is my best friend after all.

Anyway, we went into the Flat Arena and started walking around it. I really wanted to run and buck but I tried to be good because I know my mom wants me to. She talked quietly to me as we went and that does help calm me down. Pretty soon I started putting my nose down to find a good place to roll. I'm pretty picky about my rolling places - most horses are. We all have to search around for just the right spot. Every horse has different things they look for. I like a spot that has lots of loose dirt so that I can sink right into it and make it rub every spot. If it's really deep, I can sometimes roll all the way over. That's really fun. Sparky can roll over most of the time because he's round but I have high withers and it's harder for me. I can only do it sometimes.

When I look for a good rolling place, I drag my nose along right through the dirt. That helps me to see how deep it is. Mom thinks it's funny and says I leave little Bella Nose-trails all over the arena. I guess I do but that's just the way I do it. I finally found the right spot and flung myself down.

Mom is really nice the way she lets me roll when I'm on a lead. She makes sure it's very loose so I can fling my head around and rub it into the dirt. And she encourages me to roll a lot and try to get all the way over. Sometimes it's almost like she's rolling with me and it makes it that much more fun. I had a good roll this time. I'd push right into the dirt and almost get over then I'd come up onto my chest for a second and then go right back to rolling. I did that three times. The last time I just rested on my chest for a couple of minutes looking at Mom and she reached out and petted my face and told me I was a Good Girl. I liked that. It was comfy being on the ground getting petted.

But then I climbed to my feet and I felt so good I couldn't help jumping up and kicking out and doing a little bit of a bolt. I didn't pull on the lead or anything and I stopped pretty fast. Mom wasn't mad at me at all. She petted me and told me she understood but that I had to be careful and I knew she was right. I walked nicely after that and then Mom began our little games that we do. She asked me to step over with my back legs and then my front legs, and to back up and she gave me my cookies when I did it good. Then she asked me to do something and when I did, she made a funny clicking noise with this little square thing she held in her hand. It sounded almost like a cricket.

I perked right up when I heard that. It was an interesting noise and I almost forgot to take my cookie because I was so busy sniffing that little clicking thing. Mom petted me a lot and told me how good I am and that was nice but what I really wanted was for her to make that sound again. It was a really nice sound. But then the hay truck came and I got distracted and our walk was over anyway so Mom took me back to my stall and I got to eat my dinner.

Today though, she had the clicker thing again and she told me we were going to learn some tricks with it. I like to learn tricks. It's fun. It's like playing games. I could tell that Mom had a bunch of cookies in her pocket so I was hoping I'd get some. I paid close attention to what she was doing.

She started by putting her hand up and saying, "touch." Well, I didn't know what she wanted, or even if she really wanted anything. But her hand was right there in front of me so eventually in my sniffing around, I just touched it with my nose. As soon as I did, she made that clicking sound. Then she gave me a cookie.

I was happy to get the cookie, and the sound was interesting, but I didn't really understand that there was any connection between any of it. Then she put her hand up again, and said, "touch" again. I was poking around at her pocket hoping for more cookies but she moved back a little bit and moved her hand nearer to my head and kept saying, "touch." Pretty soon, I swung my head that way, my nose touched her hand, and once again she clicked and gave me a cookie.

I started thinking that there was a pattern going on here. It took me a couple more cookies to realize that every time I touched her hand with my nose, she made a clicking noise. And every time she made a clicking noise, I got a cookie. After that, I poked my nose right out and bonked it on her hand as soon as she held it up and said, "touch."

She was very happy with how quickly I caught on and so she started changing things just a little bit. First she used her other hand. That was easy. I just touched that hand and bingo! I got a click and a cookie. Then she walked out into my paddock and held up her hand and said, "touch" and I clomped out after her and poked my nose onto it. Another click and cookie. She reached her hand way out to one side, and put it down low, and every time I reached right for it. It was a fun game. I liked it. Finally, she just put her hand up without saying anything. I waited for a second but her hand was right there and I thought I may as well poke it so I did and she clicked and gave me another cookie. Then she hugged me and told me how smart I am.

By now my alfalfa had come. I had hardly noticed because we were having so much fun but Mom told me to go eat so she could clean my stall. So I did. I hope we do some more games with that clicking thing though. Maybe she'll come up with something really hard and I can show her just how smart I am. I'm pretty smart, you know. Just ask my mom.