Fun, fun, fun, FUN day!

I got to run today! Oh, it's been so long since I was able to really run! It felt so good and my mom was happy with me and I feel lots better now. And my leg that I hurt before was fine.

I also have a beautiful new halter which you can see in the picture. My mom got it special for me because she knew it would look so nice on me. It's red like my other halter but it has all these pretty glittery things on it that shine and make me look so fancy. I love it. It's soft and pretty and it matches all my other red stuff. Mom put it on me today when she came to the barn and then she gave me my hay snack and cleaned my stall.

After that, she groomed me. I made kind of a fuss about it. Mom hasn't been thoroughly grooming me much lately - just a quick brush and she always picks out my feet - but lately she's been doing a good job of it and I hate it! I have to stand still and I have tickly parts and I don't like to be touched much. Mom is gentle and she only uses soft brushes but I've gotten used to not doing it so I'm afraid I'm a little bad. She got mad at me today because I got fussy about moving over and swished my tail at her so she made me move over both ways a bunch of times. I was sorry I fussed after that.

But it was okay because I did look nice when she was done. And she did brush my face with my little soft red face brush. When she does that, she talks quietly to me so only I can hear, and she tells me how pretty I am and how much she loves me and sometimes she kisses the tip of my ear. It's nice. It's like our special little quiet time.

After all that, she put my wraps on. First she put soft puffy wraps around each leg and then put a polo wrap around it. I felt like I had big round legs but I suppose it protects them from getting hurt. She also put my bell boots on. Then she grabbed a lunge whip and brought me to the Round Pen. She let me loose and asked me to walk and I did and then she asked me to trot and I did. I trotted around a little bit and then I just took off and RAN! And she let me!

I ran around that Round Pen about a million times. I was running so fast I was almost sideways because I was going in a circle. I wasn't kicking up my heels or bucking or anything like that because I was running so fast - about as fast as any racehorse, I bet. Oh, it felt good! My mom just stood in the middle watching me and letting me go. Every once in a while she'd say, "Carefully, Bella" or "Easy, girl" but mostly she just let me do what I needed to do and that was run my heart out.

Finally I started to slow down and she started saying, "Trrrrot, Bella.... trrrrrot..." I didn't trot for the longest time; I just wasn't ready yet but finally it seemed like a good idea and I dropped down into one. She praised me for it and then gradually asked me to walk and then stop. I walked up to her then and put my head in her hands to say thank you because I was so happy she let me run.

She put her whip down then and walked around with me just loose with her. It was nice. Then I found a good place to roll and had a really good one. After that, she picked up her whip again and asked me to trot some more. She had me walk and trot and canter both ways and when I was a little fussy about changing direction she got really firm and reminded me that when she's holding that whip and telling me what to do, I have to be a Good Girl and do it. So I did.

I got all hot and sweaty and it felt really nice. Then she put a cooler on me and walked me around in the Flat Arena to cool down. When she brought me back to my stall, she washed me all over with warm water with Vetrolin in it. Vetrolin is this good smelling stuff that makes your muscles feel good after they've been working hard. She let me roll in my new shavings and then put my warm blanket on so I could dry off and not catch a chill and then she gave me a carrot and let me rest for a while.

I felt so nice. I was all relaxed and I had a clean stall and my mom was happy with me. She let me cool off all the way before she took off my blanket and gave me my bucket dinner. I was hungry by then and it tasted wonderful! And she said my leg looked fine with no swelling and no heat so I was glad of that. Looks like I'm getting better and better!