Fun new game

My mom and I have been playing a new game. I really like it because it's fun and it involves treats. Plus I like learning new games.

We started a few days ago. As usual, Mom came and put on my halter and brought me to the Round Pen. Then she brought in something new. It's kind of hard to describe. It has a flat base that it stands on and then on top of that is a round upright thing. The round part is fatter on the bottom than it is on the top. It's made out of some sort of funny material that is stiff but flexible when you nibble on it. It smells a little bit like the tires on my mom's car. She called it a Cone.

She put the Cone down in a spot that was about as far away from the Round Pen fence as I am long. I went over and sniffed it. It didn't seem like anything special or scary so I didn't mind having it there. My mom is always doing odd things when we play. She usually has a reason for it.

Then she started free lunging me. I was ready to run a bit because I hadn't been out the day before. She let me canter around for a while then turned me and I cantered the other way. It was like any other day that we've had recently with her in the middle with her stick with the Bag Thing on it and me running around the Round Pen. The only difference was that Cone. It wasn't in the way though - I just ran between it and the fence and there was plenty of room.

After a while, my mom started asking me to change direction. That's normal too - we do that all the time. It's gotten kind of fun. I try to keep an eye on her so I can tell when she's going to ask me to do it. I can tell just by the way she moves and even how she looks at me. When her eyes flick from my hindquarters to my head, I know she's getting ready to ask me to reverse. Sometimes I do it too soon though - I have to wait until she actually asks me or she makes the Bad Girl noise and quickly turns me back again. She says I'm not supposed to Anticipate.

We had a good workout. I dropped down to a trot and we worked that way for a while and finally she asked me to walk. I figured we were all done but instead of asking me to come to her and petting me, she got my halter and began leading me around the edge of the Round Pen. It was kind of odd but sometimes she walks me to cool off though she usually does it without my halter on. I just follow her. But she's the boss so I walked along with her. We walked around the whole thing and then she asked me to whoa.

I did of course, and she petted me and called me a Good Girl, then she asked me to walk on again. We did that a few times, walking around and then stopping and eventually I realized that we were stopping at the same place every time which was right where that Cone was. I didn't really think anything of it but then she turned me around and we walked and stopped the other way. Sure enough, every time she asked me to stop, we were right next to that Cone. And every time, she told me I was a Good Girl.

After a while, she took my halter off and asked me to walk around the circle loose like I was free lunging. I did it. Then she began asking me to whoa like that. I wasn't sure what she wanted at first. I know how to whoa but it usually takes me a little while to do it. I kind of walk along for a little bit and then finally stop. Now though, she wanted me to stop as soon as she told me to. She stood closer me as I walked and when she told me to whoa, she pointed her stick at me with the bag very quiet. At first, I thought she wanted me to reverse but it wasn't the same movement and posture so then I just stopped and she got very happy with me, petting me a lot and telling me how good I was. So I knew she wanted me to stop.

She still kept sending me around though and then she'd ask me to stop. Finally one time, I stopped and she came right over to me and petted me and petted me and called me Good Girl and gave me a cookie! That was nice. So the next time she told me to whoa, I did it and looked at her hoping to get another one and I did. That's when I noticed I was right next to the Cone again.

I started thinking that maybe that Cone had something to do with all this so the next time I stopped, I stopped right next to it and put my nose down to sniff it. Well, you would have thought I'd done something amazing. Mom hugged me and praised me and gave me a cookie again and petted me all over. She also reached down and touched the cone, then petted me so I knew right then that I was right. She wanted me to stop next to that Cone.

Well, we've been doing that game for a couple of days now and I'm getting better and better at it. It takes me a couple of tries to remember that I have to stop at the cone but once I do it, I remember and I do it every time. Mom says I'm the smartest horse she ever knew.

I also got new shoes the other day. It was a good thing too because just the night before, I had one fall off in my stall. I'd noticed it was loose - my mom did too - and I knew I'd probably lose it. And wouldn't you know it, the very next day, the Shoe Man showed up! I don't know how he does it but he always seems to know when it's time for me to get new shoes. It's pretty amazing.

I was proud to show off my good manners to him and my mom was too. She told him all about how we'd been working and he said that I was just perfect when he worked on my front feet. I didn't fidget or swish my tail or try to bite or pull my feet away or anything. I was a little fidgety with my back feet - I was getting tired of standing there and I knew my dinner hay was waiting. But he still said that I was much better than I had been and he gave me a piece of apple. That was really nice. I love my Shoe Man.

Today after our work, my mom let me graze on the hill for a long time. She's been doing that a lot lately and I've gotten to be really good about it. I used to pull really hard to go that way, and I'd rush to trot up onto the grass and dive my head in. I don't know why. I was so eager to get to it that I couldn't seem to behave. But now I'm a Good Girl. I stop when my mom tells me to and if she leads me toward the grass, I just walk nicely. I don't try to pull away or run onto it either. I just walk up the hill and put my head down to eat when she says it's okay. And I leave when she tells me to, also. That's not easy but she always lets me have lots of grass and she takes me out there pretty often so I know I'm going to get more another time.

It's funny. Since we've been doing all this work, I've gotten so that I trust my mom a lot more. I always did trust her but I also sometimes felt that she didn't know what she was doing, or that I knew better than her. Now I don't. I feel like she's in charge and that's okay because she doesn't make me do anything scary or awful or anything. She takes care of me. So that's nice.

The picture is me while the Shoe Man was playing with my feet. It used to be that my mom had to hold me the whole time but now she just ties me and stands near my head. I guess that means I'm getting to be a Big Girl now.