Still raining

I'm kind of sick of rain. It's pretty dumb. My paddock is a rotten mess and so I spend more time in my stall and that gets all messy too. Plus it's cold. I don't usually get cold. I have a nice fuzzy coat that almost always keeps me nice and warm but lately it's been windy and it blows right into my stall and chills me. I don't really like that at all so my mom has been putting my rain blanket on. I don't much like my blanket either but it's better than being cold.

Today a new person came to see Cocoa. It wasn't her mom; it was a younger girl. She put a halter on Cocoa and took her out of her stall. Cocoa was nervous because she doesn't go out much and I got upset because I'm used to her being next to me. I don't like it when she goes out because then who am I going to visit with? Mickey's boring and besides he gets all crabby. So I got mad and started whinnying and kicking and I kicked the door to my duds closet so hard I made a big dent in it. Mom was kind of mad at me for that.

Cocoa heard me fussing and that got her all excited so she started fussing too and she was whinnying and dancing and pulling on her halter and being bad so the girl had to bring her back. She and I were both happy about that but the girl kept trying to make her do things, even in her stall. I felt bad for Cocoa because she didn't know what that girl wanted. Cocoa's nice but she doesn't know anything about how horses are supposed to behave. She's just been a mom horse.

Meanwhile, my mom had taken me out and brushed me and put my wraps on so I knew we were going to go to work. That got Cocoa going again but I ignored her. I'm a Good Girl when my mom takes me out and I don't fuss about leaving Cocoa. She sure does fuss about leaving me though. It's just because she hasn't Learned.

I had a good turnout. It wasn't raining at that point and the Round Pen wasn't quite as mushy as it was yesterday so I was able to run better. Yesterday my mom kept me at a trot because I was sinking so deep in the mud but today she let me run a lot and it was fun. I kept kicking up my heels and racing really fast but I was still a Good Girl and went on the outside of my Cones and turned when my mom asked me to. It's important to do what your mom tells you to do. I tried to explain that to Cocoa later but she pointed out that the girl who was fussing with her wasn't her mom and since she was right about that, I didn't know what to say. Kia always knew how to answer those tough questions but I guess I just don't have the Experience yet. And Cocoa does have a good point because I don't usually listen to Sparky's mom like I do my own mom so it's kind of the same thing.

Anyway, I got all hot and sweaty running around and having fun then I got tired and my mom asked me to walk and we played the Cone Game for a while. She's been putting the Cones in different places lately but that doesn't fool me; I know just how to play that game and I stop and poke the Cone with my nose just to show her how smart I am. She's always really proud of me and calls me a Good Girl and stuff. Then when we're all done playing, she calls me over to her and she pets my face and rubs the star on my forehead. I like that. It feels good and it means she loves me.

After that, we pick up my Cones. I like to help when we do that. We walk around the Round Pen and I poke each Cone with my nose and sometimes I bite it and try to pick it up and Mom pretends to pull it away from me and we have a little game with it. It's fun. Then we go get the next one and she piles it on top of the first one. It fits just right so it looks like just one Cone but it's really two. Then we get the last one and now she has a whole stack of Cones and they're all mine. I love my Cones.

She puts the Cones away in the box thing where she keeps them so nobody else runs off with them and then she takes me for my walk. Today we walked for a little bit in the Flat Arena. Cocoa was still bellowing for me in her stall while that girl was cleaning it but I ignored her and we walked around. Mom asked me to do some of my tricks like backing up and moving sideways and I did them and got a cookie for it. I love it when she gives me cookies for doing my tricks. It's fun for me to do them anyway but it makes it more fun when I think I might get a cookie.

When we were all done, she tied me outside my stall with my dinner hay while she cleaned. I get lots of hay now. I used to only get a little bit but now the guys give me a whole bunch and it makes a big fluffy pile when I scatter it all around. I do that so I can pick out the best parts first. I eat all of it but I like to eat certain parts first so I poke my nose into it and make it go in all directions. Soon I'm standing in a nice pile and it's fun. Today Mom came out for a minute while I was eating and she just dropped down on her knees in my hay and kissed my nose. It was nice. I think my mom likes being in my hay pile too.

Sometimes in my stall, I even roll in my hay. It feels good and it's scratchy on my back. I just love my hay and my bucket dinner. I used to be hungry all the time but now that I get lots of hay, I don't feel so eager to eat like I used to. I'm still hungry at dinner time and breakfast time but I get enough food so I'm not impatient about it. It makes me feel lots better. Horses like to have something to eat most of the time. We're made to graze after all, so if we have to wait a long time or don't get enough food it makes us mad and it can make us sick.

Once I was back in my clean stall, my mom brought my Beet Pulp. It's been tasting better lately and I've been eating it instead of just dumping it out. The first day it tasted better, my mom brought it and I began poking all the carrots out and I realized it smelled different. It smelled like the stuff they call Molasses and which is sometimes in certain grains and foods. Molasses is yummy - it's sort of sweet and brown and sticky and horses love it. When I tasted it, I could just taste a hint of Molasses in it so I think Mom must have added some to make it nicer for me. She's so nice. She always notices when I don't like something or if I need something. She's a good mom.

I'm pretty comfortable even if it is raining. I have a clean stall and my blanket on and I still have some hay to munch on so I can't complain. But I do hope it stops being cold and rainy soon. I'm sick of all this mud.