Busy days

My mom and I have been doing a lot of fun stuff lately. The weather has been nice for one thing, and that makes it easier to work. It's not fun at all to work in the rain or cold, after all.

A couple of days ago, she gave me a bath. I mostly like baths. My mom heats up water to scrub me with so it's not so chilly and she lets me nose around the wash rack and explore things while she's washing me. She scrubs me all over, even my mane and tail and even my face. She works especially hard to get my white socks clean - they get awfully dirty in the mud. This time she washed what she calls my "lady parts," the parts between my legs and under my tail. I used to get pretty tickly when she got near them and sort of threatened to kick but she's been patiently working on touching me there and now I'm pretty good. I've actually discovered that it can feel pretty good when she scritches my under parts - they get a little dirty and itchy sometimes.

After my bath, she let me graze for a long time while I dried off in the sun. She washed all my brushes too so everything was nice and clean and when she groomed me, I wouldn't get dirty all over again from having dusty brushes. It felt really nice to be so clean and now my fur is all soft and shiny. It's pretty and I like it when I feel and look especially pretty. Mom used special stuff on my mane and tail to get all the tangles out and she combed through it all so now they're all silky. And every day since, she's made sure she's groomed me thoroughly so I don't get all tangled up again. It feels good.

Today we had a good workout in the Round Pen and then she took me for a walk. I like our walks. This one was special because she took me without a Bag Stick. I guess she decided I didn't really need one anymore. That was nice. I really am trying my best to be a Good Girl and not pull or act up and I guess she's noticed. She walks along with the lead nice and loose and the game is that I have to follow her and not get pushy, or rush ahead, or walk on the wrong side of her, or dive into the grass. It used to be really hard but it's getting to be a Habit now. Sometimes I forget and try to grab some grass but she's always paying attention and usually just gives the lead a twitch to remind me not to and I don't. Every now and then I can't resist and I dive into the grass but she pulls me away and tells me "No" and that reminds me. Mostly I don't do any of that bad stuff.

We took a good walk around the farm and then the second time around, when we were by the Gremlin Arena, we went through the gate and up the hill for a little ways. That way is the Trail. I've been up on the Trail before but not for a long time. It's pretty exciting up there. My mom has ridden me out that way and sometimes I've been really good and other times I've been so excited that I acted up pretty badly. I barely remembered what it was like it was so long ago so when we started up that way, I was pretty interested.

My mom let me drop my head and sniff lots of poop that was littering the way and that helped settle me down. Knowing that other horses have been there, and smelling that they weren't scared when they pooped really makes a horse feel safer. We walked to the top of a little hill and there was a field of grass. My mom let me put my head down and start grazing and that was nice. As I moved around I started noticing other things - there was a big water thing there with birds in it. Mom called it a Pond - it was like a really big water trough. The birds were big too, not like the pigeons that land in my stall and drink out of my bucket. I was a little nervous about them but Mom told me they were just Ducks and Geese and that they were birds so I was okay and went back to grazing.

It was all pretty exciting though and when we turned around to go back down the hill, I got a little silly and tried to rush down, and I kept twirling around so I could see behind us. I was sort of afraid that something was behind me - maybe those Geese. They were awfully big. But nothing followed us and my mom was pretty patient with me though she did yell at me once when I pulled too hard. I settled down a bit then and remembered my Manners and we finished our walk around the farm. We did it all with no Bag Stick so that was good and I think Mom was pretty happy with me.

When we got back to my stall, she put my new shavings in. She'd cleaned out all the old shavings and cleaned up my paddock which is all dry so my stall was really nice. She'd also put up this thing that hangs way up high in my stall and sprays out nice smelling stuff that she says keeps the flies away. It does seem to do the trick and I'm glad of it because I hate flies. Just one fly landing on me makes me so mad! They're horrible, and they tickle me and bite and stuff. I don't know why we even have flies, they're just a bother and a nuisance. When my mom groomed me today, she put Fly Spray on me for the first time this year and I was glad. I like it when she Fly Sprays me. She sprays me all over and then she brushes me with a really soft brush to spread it around. I love that brush! It's so soft, like my polo wraps almost. I like to put my nose on it.

She also puts Fly Spray on my face but she doesn't spray it on. She sprays it on a towel instead and then rubs the towel gently on my face. She makes sure she wipes my ears and my cheeks and my nose and around my eyes and while she does it she talks to me and tells me how pretty I am. I know it's kind of vain but I really like it when she tells me that. It makes me feel special.

When we were all done with our day, she put me in my stall and fed me my Beet Pulp. I like my Beet Pulp now. I think it's a different kind because it tastes lots better and doesn't have so many branchy pieces in it. I still dump it on the floor though because I like to eat it off the floor. I don't know why. I guess it's just a Habit.

I had a little nap after my Beet Pulp but I just did it standing up. Horses can do that, you know. We don't have to lie down to nap. I like to lie down myself but I don't always do it and today I was just standing there dozing when I saw my mom ride by on Sparky. Now that it's nice weather she rides him sometimes. I don't mind. I get to do a lot of fun things with her and I think it's nice that Spark gets to also. So we both had a fun day and that was nice.