New saddle

Yesterday when my mom came to the barn, she was carrying a saddle. I had my head poked out my hay hole as I always do when she's coming and she held it up so I could smell it all over. I could see right off that it wasn't my usual saddle and sure enough, it smelled totally different. I was really interested and checked it out carefully. My mom said it was for me and that it was a Dressage Saddle.

Well, I know what that is because Kia used one of them all the time. She did Dressage; that was when she did all that pretty stuff in the Flat Arena when it looked like she was dancing or something. I was kind of excited that my mom would get me a saddle like Kia's. She must think I'm a really nice horse if she thinks I can do that stuff.

She got me out of my stall and put the saddle on my back. I turned my head right around so I could watch and smell it while It was up there. It felt fine. I know my mom gets concerned about how well my saddle fits. Every time she puts my other saddle on, she checks it carefully, running her hands under it and making sure there's enough space for my shoulders and withers. She did that with this saddle too, then she put a girth on it and checked it again. She spent so much time on it that I got bored and started looking for hay scraps on the floor.

After she took it off, she turned me out and cleaned my stall and all that stuff, then she put me in it and took the saddle away. But after a long time, she came back with it and brought it into my stall. It smelled different now, kind of like how I do after I've had a bath, only it still smelled like leather and barns and metal and stuff too and I don't really smell like that. But it smelled kind of bubbly, if you know what I mean, so I knew she must have been cleaning it.

I smelled it all over again and she let me. My mom always lets me check things out. It's one of the things I like about her. She knows I'm very curious and she seems to like that. Finally she told me she had to put it away so we went over to my Duds Closet and she opened the door.

I love it when she opens my Duds Closet. There are so many things in there and they're all mine. She lets me poke my nose in and smell all of them, and nose them, and it's so much fun. I eagerly stood next to her and smelled my other saddle, and my brush box, and all my halters, and saddle pads. I tried to pull one of my saddle pads off the shelf it was on to look at it more closely but she told me no and put it back. She didn't make me go away though, so I sniffed my bridle and my wraps, and all the straps and girths and lead ropes and other stuff that hangs in there or sits on shelves. It's just so interesting in there. Mom put the saddle on the rack with my other saddle and I sniffed it there and agreed that was a good spot and then she had to close the door and go get my food. It was a fun day.

The day before that, after my Scary Day, I had a really Good Day. I wasn't sure if it was going to be one because it was kind of odd at first.

My mom came to the barn with Sparky's mom. I was happy to see my mom, of course, but Sparky's mom started right in being mean to me. For instance, when I just swung my butt around innocently in her direction, she yelled at me and hit me! Even my mom told me to move over. I got mad and started making faces at Sparky's mom, laying my ears back and sort of poking my nose at her. When I did that, my mouth was sort of open and I guess you could sort of see my teeth so she yelled at me again for "trying to bite" her. It was really dumb.

After a while, my mom brushed me and put my wraps on so I figured we were going to go do some work in the Round Pen. Imagine how surprised I was when Sparky's mom took my lead and began walking me away from my stall! I walked along nicely of course, because I know my Manners, but it was all pretty strange and instead of going straight to the Round Pen, we stopped at the box things and Sparky's mom got my whip. That isn't how my mom does it and I got kind of fussy then because I don't like it when my routine is changed. I started pulling some and Sparky's mom pulled back and I began twirling and finally when we were pretty close to the Round Pen gate, she let go of my lead.

I thought about going into the Round Pen but instead I went to see if there was any grass left on the hill next to it. Sparky's mom followed me and picked up my lead again - I never really run away when people let go of me; I just find something to eat - and made me walk down a big scary hill and than into the Round Pen. It was shaping up to be an Awful Day.

But then she let me loose and asked me nicely to go around her in a circle. I was still a little mad and fussy but found myself doing it anyway. The thing is, I do it all the time with my mom so even so it was Sparky's mom asking me to do it, I thought to myself, "I know how to do this" so I did it.

It ended up being a nice workout. Sparky's mom praised me as soon as I did what she asked me to and that was nice, and then she asked me to trot so I did and she praised me again. I like it when people tell me I'm a Good Girl - it makes me want to be a Good Girl some more. So the more we did together, the better it was, and I found myself really trying to do well, just like I do with my mom.

Sparky's mom didn't work me for too long but she asked me to change direction a few times, and she asked me to walk, and trot, and canter, just like my mom does, and when she put down the whip, I walked into the middle of the Round Pen to see her just like I do with my mom. She was nice to me, and talked nicely, and I poked at her with my nose like I do and she petted me and praised me some more. I followed her to the gate and by then my mom was outside the Round Pen and she told me I was a Good Girl too. She'd brought my Cones so she came in and we played the Cone Game together for a little bit. So I had a nice time with my mom too.

It was really kind of neat. I guess Sparky's mom isn't so bad after all. She doesn't know how to do everything but she was fun to work with and was nice to me, so that was neat. After I was back in my stall, she came to say hello to me and I tried to be nicer to her. She seemed to be trying to be nicer to me too so maybe we can be friends.