What an interesting day!

I haven't been blogging much because I really haven't been doing much. We've just been working on stupid Manners and it's been pretty boring frankly. We take a lot of walks, and I like walks, but my mom insists that I walk nicely, and that I don't bounce, or twirl, or rear, or strike, or anything that's fun. I have to be Polite and walk next to her, and stop when she says to, and remember not to crowd her or step on her feet.

It's not easy. When I'm walking, I like to look around at all the interesting things going on and sometimes I just can't help drifting into her, or getting distracted. It's just my nature. But I'm really trying and she says I am getting better. One thing I do like about my walks is all the friends I get to see. Now that I know where Cozzie lives, I always ask if I can stop to sniff noses with him and my mom almost always lets me because she knows he's my special friend. And Sparky has a stall now near where I used to live so we stop to see him too. Then we go down the hill on the other side and Indian lives over there. Also my friend Misty who we sometimes visit as well. So it is good to get to see my friends. They're always happy to see me. And when I get back to my barn, my mom lets me say hello to Chip.

The last couple of days we haven't gone for walks, though. We've worked in the Round Pen instead and my mom has been using a new thing that is really strange and kind of frightening. The first time she did it, she took me totally by surprise. First she came in with me and petted me for a little bit and told me I'm a Good Girl and pretty and stuff. I always like that. Then she quietly went to the gate and picked up her lunge whip. I thought we were going to have some nice free lungeing but then I saw that she had the lash part tied down and on the very end was the white, rustly thing! I snorted and backed up. I couldn't help it. It was strange and scary and then my mom pointed it at me and just shook it a little bit!

I ran. It made an awful rattling sound and moved in a very strange way. It almost seemed like those bag things that she carries carrots in sometimes but those aren't scary - she just carries them. This was different. It was trying to get me and I didn't like it at all. I ran around that Round Pen trying to get away from it but Mom just stood quietly in the middle and let the whip hang from her hand.

I finally realized that the bag thing wasn't rattling anymore and I calmed down a little bit. I was still running but I wasn't panicked. Mom let me do that for a couple of turns around and then she casually reached out her hand with that stick and bag in it and put it right in front of me!

I screeched to a halt and turned the other direction as fast as I could and she let it hang still again. She let me run around the other way a little bit and then put it in front of me again and again I changed direction with the same result. That got me thinking. I started thinking maybe she was asking me to change direction and not just trying to scare me. I thought maybe it was like some of the games we play where I have to do what she tells me to. I decided to test it to see if I was right and the next time she put it in front of me, I dodged it and ran right past!

Immediately, she moved to another spot in the Round Pen and got right in front of me as I came around again. She held out that bag thing and she shook it hard right at me! Oh, it was scary! I stopped dead and whirled around and went the other way and again, she just held it quiet.

I was starting to get the idea of this game now. It was a game with strict rules. I thought I'd test another thing so as I ran past her one time, I kicked out my heels in her direction.

Wow! I wish I hadn't done that! She shook that bag thing hard at my heels and made the Bad Girl noise really loudly! I scooted right out to the rail and began running nicely again and she immediately dropped it again to hang quiet at her side. So I knew kicking out was against the rules.

After a while, I dropped to a trot and she began making me change direction quicker and quicker. Soon I got so I was going only a few paces in one direction and then a few in the other before she had me change. It was hard work. I had to really concentrate to know when I was going to have to turn. I behaved really, really well though because I didn't want that bag thing shook at me again!

When we were all done, she put it on the ground and let me come in to her. I was glad to do it. I was hot and tired and a little bit stressed but she was really nice to me and told me what a Good Girl I'd been. I felt nice then and was pretty good when she led me out of there and took me to get hosed off.

So that's what we've been doing. Today we did it a lot and I got so hot! I was steaming. It was a warm day and I have a winter coat so I sweat a lot when I'm working. My mom washed me off really well and then she put Sparky's red and blue blanket on me. She sometimes does that when I'm wet. She calls it a cooler.

I didn't mind. I figured she'd get my food and I'd have a hay snack and I'd be nice and comfy. But then she and Sparky's mom went off and left me there. No hay snack. No food. Nothing but that stupid blanket on my back. I don't know if I've told you but I don't much like blankets. I think they're dumb. You can't roll properly in them and they make me itch and stuff. Plus they just sort of hang there stupidly.

I waited patiently for my dinner but she didn't come back and I finally got bored. And I was kind of mad, I'll admit it. I started thinking that she was probably off riding Sparky or Dooley or something. Dooley is a bay horse that used to be in the pasture and I've seen my mom riding him lately. I think she's taking care of him. But it's not fair that he gets all the attention when I'm left starving in my stall after a hard workout!

I got so mad and so impatient and so itchy that I reached around and grabbled that blanket in my teeth! I wasn't going to do anything bad - I just wanted to scratch myself - but when I pulled on it, it came partially off my shoulder. So I pulled on it some more. That's when I felt sort of a rip. I started thinking that maybe I could just take the darn thing off so I pulled even harder and to my surprise, a big chunk of it ripped right off into my mouth!

Well, that got me going. I grabbed it and tore at it, I ripped it and worked at it and pulled on it and twisted around and around tearing at it until I had it all pulled off. Pieces of it were trampled all over my stall and paddock, there were even pieces outside my window where the guys throw the hay in. All that was left on me was the strap that goes around my belly. I couldn't get that off.

I felt pretty satisfied about the whole thing and was just hanging around in my stall when one of the neighbor horse's people saw me there. She called over some other people and soon there were a whole bunch of them staring through the bars of the stall at me. I was happy to see them and I was just wishing one of them would give me a carrot or some dinner when I saw my mom riding down the hill on Dooley with Sparky and his mom.

"I just left a message on your cell phone!" one of the ladies by my stall called out. and my mom said, "Oh, god, what has she done now?" She rode over to my stall and I greeted her happily but she looked kind of surprised. That's when I realized that maybe taking off my blanket wasn't such a good thing to do. I looked around then and realized that I hadn't just taken it off. I had kind of torn it up and that was a little different. And then I remembered that it wasn't really my blanket anyway - it was Sparky's. I started to feel bad then.

My mom and Sparky's mom and the boys rode off then but Mom and Sparky's mom came back after a while. By then, I'd gotten my hay and was eating it. My mom came in with that little box thing and pointed it at all the bits and the band around my belly. She took that off me and said, "Oh, Belly!" and hugged me. I know she was kind of disappointed in me but she also seemed to think it was all kind of funny too. Even Sparky's mom was laughing as she picked up the mess.

So I guess I'm kind of a Bad Horse and I feel sorry that I ruined Spark's blanket. But I didn't really mean to.

Nice walk and an old friend

I had such a nice day today! It was sort of rainy and stupid all day - it's been like that a lot lately. I'm sick of the rain. My paddock is all muddy and I don't like it much. I don't mind a little bit of mud but when it's all deep and nasty I don't like it at all. But even though it wasn't sunny and nice out, my mom and I still had a good time.

She came just about the same time as the hay truck and she got my hay and put it outside my stall so I could eat it like a hay snack while she cleaned. That was nice. I do like to eat outside my stall. I don't know why. It just seems special. Anyway, I ate a good bunch of hay and then she asked me if I wanted to go for a walk.

We've been doing a lot of walking lately and she's been very strict about my Manners. But I still like going for walks. There's always lots to see and it's good to get out and do something. We started out down the road toward the Little Rolling Arena and I think Mom was pretty happy with me. She only made me back up a couple of times when I got sort of pushy or tried to circle around her. By the time we got to the hill by the regular Rolling Arena, I was walking pretty well and she had me on a fairly loose lead.

We got to the top of that hill and stopped to rest and then we started down the other side. We were partway down when she turned me toward a stall that sits all by itself and brought me right over to it. There was a little wisp of alfalfa hanging on the window and I lipped that up and then the horse inside raised his head and poked his nose at me and it was Cozzie! Cozzie was my best friend when I was in my old stall. He lived next door to me and he was young like me. We used to visit over our paddock fences all the time and scratch each other's necks and stuff. I just loved him - he was such a nice friend!

We were both excited to see each other. We pricked our ears right up and began sniffing noses and nibbling each other's faces and necks. Cozzie forgot all about his dinner and I forgot all about the little bit of alfalfa in my mouth. We were too busy catching up with each other. Cozzie has grown up a lot - he's bigger than he was and filled out more. He looks very good but he's still my nice friend. Neither one of us wanted our visit to end but it had to eventually. My mom let me stay there for quite a long time but she finally pulled me away. She petted me though and told me we'd visit again. I hope so. I was so excited to see him!

The picture above is me and Cozzie back when we were babies and lived next to each other. You can see how little we were. Our faces are really babyish. We still both have kind of young looking faces but not as much as we used to. I really like that picture. It makes me think of nice times.

We finished our walk and I was pretty good for the rest of it. I got a little pushy on the hill by the pasture because I was in a hurry to get back to my hay but Mom made me back up and behave and then she led me past my stall and made me stop and be patient. It was hard but I did it. She seemed pretty pleased when she finally put me away and when she brought my bucket dinner, she asked me to back up and when I did, she gave me a cookie.

So it was a good day. I enjoyed my walk and I especially enjoyed seeing my friend. I hope I see him again soon.

Lots of changes

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately. There's been a lot going on and I haven't really had the energy to write about it. To be honest, I've been trying to kind of process it all. Horses like routine, you know, and my routine has changed quite a bit. It's got me a little off balance. I don't mean like I'm falling over or anything but it makes it hard for me to put things into words.

I wrote last time about how Mom seemed to be up to something. Well, she sure was. For one thing, I'm not getting any alfalfa anymore! None. Not even a little bite. I get grass hay in the morning like always but I get grass hay at night too. And when my mom does give me a hay snack, that's grass hay too!

I didn't much like it at all at first. I love alfalfa. I got really mad and acted out about it. I made a big fuss. Every time Mom got me out to do anything at all, I was really bad, pinning my ears and rearing and fussing. But finally I got used to it and now I don't really mind much. It's pretty good hay after all and I do get more of it than I used to. There's a sign on my stall that tells the guys to only give me grass hay but it also says to give me a double feed. That means twice as much as the other horses. So two times a day when they give us hay, they give me more than everyone else. I do like that, I have to admit.

I'm also getting a different sort of bucket dinner. My mom calls it Beet Pulp and it's a pretty weird food. It's all mushy and sort of watery and it doesn't really taste like much of anything. My mom puts carrots in it which is good, and there is a lot of it. I wasn't too sure about that stuff at first either but now I've gotten used to it and I like it well enough. I don't eat it as fast as I used to eat my regular bucket dinner - sometimes I even leave it while I eat my hay - but I eat it all and it's not bad. It does fill me up better and I don't feel so anxious and bouncy.

As for my being bouncy, Mom has been on a real campaign to improve my Manners. I have to admit that I haven't been too cooperative. I kind of got lazy and used to being in my stall this last Stall Rest. Then I hurt my mom. I didn't mean to, and I felt bad when it happened, but later on I started thinking that if I could just scare her a little bit, she wouldn't make me do things and I could go back to my stall to eat. I got kind of bad really, acting up whenever she took me out, and rearing and striking a lot. I even got sassy in the Round Pen when she was free lunging me. Once I got sick of working, I'd turn toward her and rear and paw the air like I was going to come after her. I did that to Sparky's Mom one day too. I think I mentioned it in an earlier blog.

I wasn't going to actually hurt either one of them but I wanted to make them stop bugging me. It didn't work very well. Both of them just made me work harder. In fact, my mom got really, really strict about a lot of things. She started carrying her riding stick with her when she walked me and whenever I was bad, she'd smack me in the chest with it and make me back up a lot. It gets boring having to back up. At first, I wouldn't do it. I'd just rear up again and try to make her stop but she just kept tapping me and eventually I'd take a step back by mistake and she'd make me keep going. It made me mad but it also made me think that maybe I'd better behave a little better because she was getting mad too.

It's funny. When you learn to have Manners, they become a Habit but when you lose them, that becomes a Habit too. It's hard for me to remember to walk nicely on a lead, and to not pull or get sassy. It's hard for me not to rear and strike when I get impatient even though I know I'm not supposed to do it. But now instead of just saying "no" to me, or waiting for me to stop fussing, my mom immediately smacks me and makes me back up again. It's a pain but it is a good reminder and I know that's what she's trying to do - remind me to be good.

I think she knows it's hard too because she also makes sure to reward me when I am good. Like today. We took a walk around the Flat Arena for a while. I was trying to behave because I'm starting to remember better. Mom asked me to do some of my tricks and when I did them well, she gave me a cookie. But then when I got kind of pushy about wanting a cookie and I nipped at her coat, she made me back up fast and told me "no." So even if I do get a nice reward for being good, I still get disciplined when I'm bad. It's hard but I know in my heart that I do have to behave myself. It's just sometimes tough to remember.

But I am rearing a lot less. I did once today and she got after me and made me back up a lot, telling me angrily that she won't put up with it. I think she means it and I am trying to stop. It's sort of a Habit. And I am walking better. By the time we were done today, she was holding the lead pretty loosely and I was pretty relaxed. It was nice. That's another thing. Sometimes I remember how nice it can be to just walk with my mom but then my Bad Habits creep in and ruin it.

Mom says she's going to get the Carrot Doctor out to make sure I'm not messed up from my fall when I reared and went over backwards. Then she's going to have a Trainer work with us so that we can get back to riding. I guess that will be good. It does seem like we had fun sometimes riding together.

Today when she came to my stall, she said "Happy New Year, Bella." I don't know what a New Year is - it seems a lot like yesterday to me - but maybe that's what all these changes are about. Maybe we're starting a New Year. So Happy New Year everybody!