New stuff

My mom brought me a new halter and lead today. I love getting new stuff, especially when it's pretty like this is. The halter is red and black and the lead is black and they're nice and soft. I like soft thing. I have some really cute polo wraps which are red with black hearts on them and they're so soft! Whenever my mom puts them on me, she rolls them up first because she's too lazy to roll them up when she takes them off and while she's rolling them, I like to nuzzle them because they feel nice on my nose. Sometimes she drapes them over my ears so I can hold them while she rolls and I like that too.

Anyway, I was pretty interested when she came to my stall with this new halter. I have lots of halters now. I have my green nylon halter, and my red nylon one, and the red one with the pretty shiny stones on it, and I have my green rope halter and now I have a red and black rope halter. I think my mom must really love me to get me all those things. She let me sniff it all over and she rubbed it on my face so I could feel how soft it was. Then she said, "Face," which means I have to hold my face still while she puts my halter or bridle on. Sometimes when she says, "Face," she cradles my face in her hands and scratches under my chin and talks quietly in my ear. I love that. This time though she put on the halter.

It felt nice. I like my green rope halter too but it always felt like it was kind of bouncing around on my face. Mom said it was a little bit big because I have a delicate, feminine head. I liked it when she said that. It made my head sound pretty. This halter didn't feel like that though. I think it fits me a little better and my mom thought so too.

She brought me out of my stall and walked me along the road. She had my lead held loosely in her hand the way she does and I was walking behind her a little ways. Then I started walking faster and got up next to her and then I started getting a little bit ahead of her and she twirled the lead rope right in front of her and I ran right into it! It sort of slapped me in the face and took me by surprise so I backed off and she said, "Good girl, Bella," so I knew that's what she wanted me to do. Well, I know she wants me to walk a little behind her but sometimes I forget.

We walked around in the Flat Arena for a while and she let me roll in there which was nice. The guys come by in the morning with a big tractor thing and they drive it around in the arena to make everything smooth and nice. When it's like that, it's the best time to roll in it because the dirt is all loose and crumbly. It felt good to roll and I thought maybe Mom let me because I was being a Good Girl.

After a while, we went back out onto the road. I got a little pushy as we got near the grass. I just can't help it. It's so green and lush and tasty right now and it's right there next to the road. I always want to just buffalo into it and bury my head and eat. But as soon as I got a little pushy, Mom tugged my lead sharply and made the Bad Girl noise and she began twirling her lead again. When she tugged, it hurt my nose - this new halter pinches where the knot thingies are more than my other one. I guess it's because it fits me right but it took me by surprise. And then that twirling lead rope kept me from getting in front of her. That's how I've been getting away with being Bad lately - I push in front of her and then I can yank the lead out of her hands before she can stop me or turn me. But today she was ahead of me on that and I had to behave.

I didn't like it much. I was fussy and cranky walking up the hill by the pasture and I kept trying to trot ahead, tossing my head and laying my ears back. Mom just kept giving me tugs and twirling that lead and if I got too close to her, she'd bark at me to "get back and quit crowding me NOW" and I had to do it.

By the time we got up by Sparky's stall, I had figured out that she meant business and that I couldn't mess around with that new halter. And actually it wasn't so bad. We stopped to say hi to Spark who whinnied nicely to us, and we stopped to visit Indian who is always glad to see me. I started pulling a little bit again when we were going past the Little Rolling Arena but then I saw a horse with his person there and he was staring at me like he'd never seen another horse before. I thought he might be thinking I'm pretty so I started walking nicely again. Also my mom was twirling that darn lead rope and I didn't want to run into it.

Down by the Round Pen, I saw my friend Pedro on the little hill above the road. There's a pasture up there and he was making a new fence around it. It was very interesting and I watched carefully as we went by. Pedro smiled and said, "Hola" to my mom and then he said, "Hola, Bella" to me. He's so nice. He always talks to me. Pedro and Rafael bring me my hay every day and they do lots of other things around the farm. We walked on a little further and there was Rafael working too and he stopped and said "Hola" too.

I was lots better walking by the grass this time around. I knew my mom was expecting me to be good so there was no sense in fussing. By now she was only twirling her lead now and then and as soon as she did, I knew I was walking too close and I backed off. As soon as I did, she stopped. So it was nice. I was Learning something and she was happy with me. We went around the farm three times and then she stopped next to the grass and petted me and told me I was a Very Good Girl. Then she let me drop my head and eat some.

I was ready for it after all that walking and I had a nice little graze. Then my mom asked me to leave the grass and I remembered to be good about it. She tied me outside my stall so she could clean but she gave me a nice hay snack to eat while she did it. I haven't had a hay snack in a while so that was nice too. Usually I just eat the scraps that are hanging around and then I have to stand nicely.

When she was done with my stall, she took me for one more walk around the farm. She said she wanted to make sure I remembered what I Learned. I was really good and she let me have more grass when we got back. And when she put me in my stall, she gave me a special cookie. These cookies are really good. Glamour's mom gave them to my mom for me. I like Glamour's mom. Glamour lives in the pasture and his mom always gives treats to all of us horses. Usually it's a carrot but she got these cookies and they are so good! They're crunchy, and they taste like oats and molasses and other stuff. They're the best cookies I ever ate. I think I must have been a pretty Good Girl to get a special cookie.

So it was a nice day and Mom said we're going to do lots more walking so I can always remember my Manners.