Scary day

It's been raining again lately and I don't really like it at all. My mom came out yesterday and it was raining and windy and yucky and dumb. She groomed me and stuff, and cleaned my stall, but then the rain started coming down so hard that she decided not to work me. I didn't mind. I wanted to go into my nice clean stall and roll because she pulled out all the old shavings and put nice new ones down for me. I love to roll in new shavings - it feels extra good.

The wind was blowing right into my stall from my paddock so my mom put my rain sheet on me. Sometimes I don't mind wearing a blanket and when the wind is blowing like that is one of those times. I don't really have a fluffy winter coat anymore and it gets sort of cold and yucky when I have to stand in the wind. My mom knows I don't like that, and that I don't like to have my paddock door closed, so she puts my rain sheet on. That way I can stay warm but I can still go in and out the way I like. My mom really does take good care of me.

Today it was still raining off and on and pretty stupid out when my mom got there. She took me out of my stall and took my blanket off. Then she brushed me and put my wraps on so I knew we were going to do something today. But instead of going toward the Round Pen, we started walking up the hill past the pasture.

I was being really good. I've gotten a lot better about walking and my mom has been pretty happy with me. Even though it was kind of windy, which can be exciting, I was walking nicely on a loose lead. But then, up by the manure pile, we saw Sparky's mom coming down the hill and I could tell that she was upset. That got me a little worked up and she told my mom that Sparky had gotten hurt. That got my mom concerned and I could just feel the tension. Plus, as soon as my mom's attention was drawn away from me, I got a little anxious. I can't help it - I like to feel like she's focused on me. It makes me feel more secure.

We all walked up the hill together toward Sparky's stall and his mom explained what happened. Apparently, Spark was tied outside his stall when he got his leg over his lead rope which scared him. He pulled back which of course made the lead get tighter on his leg, and he panicked and fell down. His mom said that he had a lot of scuffs and that he was holding one leg up like it hurt.

I was kind of pulling and dancing a little bit at this point. Everything seemed uncertain and it made me feel really funny. When we got to Sparky's stall, my mom made me stand still outside it and Sparky's mom got him out. I thought we'd go out together and play but my mom led me to his stall and before I knew what had happened, she put me in it!

I was scared. I didn't know what I was doing in Sparky's stall, and there were lots of strange horses on all sides of it. Spark's paddock isn't like mine with just one horse on either side. He has a horse on either side, and then one straight across from him, and two more kind of kitty-corner across from him. All those horses were looking at me and it was scary and weird and I kept running into and out of the stall and into the paddock, and one time I slipped on the floor of the stall. It was pretty awful and soon my mom came back in and started talking to me to calm me down.

At first I didn't even realize she was in there with me. I just kept rushing back and forth. Finally I stopped in the paddock for a minute and she came up to me holding out a cookie. I took the cookie and realized it was my mom and she put my halter on which made me feel a lot better. Then she took me out of that stupid stall and brought me to the Gremlin Arena.

Spark was in there already and I just wanted to go in and run around. My mom brought me in and let me loose but Spark didn't want to play because he was hurt. I didn't want him to get hurt more but I just didn't know what I wanted to do by then. I was very nervous and it was windy and I kept hearing gates slamming in places where I couldn't see them, I could only hear them, and I could hear a horse running somewhere, and it was just all really exciting and scary. My mom tried to get me to run a little but Spark tried to run with me and that wasn't good so she put my halter on again and made me stand while Sparky's mom took him back out and brought him to his stall.

Once I was alone in there with my mom, I realized I didn't really want to run, I just wanted to stand near her. So I went to her and she petted me and told me I was a Good Girl and that everything was okay and that made me feel a lot better. I didn't used to go to my mom when I was scared or nervous. In fact, I sometimes almost ran right over her when I was. Now though, I know that she makes me feel a lot better and she looks out for me. Even if I'm not behaving very well, she helps me to calm down and remember how to be good. It helps me a lot and I can tell it makes her feel good to know that I look to her for comfort.

After I'd calmed down a bit, she asked me gently to go around her in a circle like we do in the Round Pen. She had a lunge whip with her but it didn't have a bag on it. That was okay; I knew what she wanted. I was a little reluctant to move away from her but she kept asking me gently so I decided it was okay. I trotted around her a bunch of times, and even cantered a little bit, but pretty soon I went back near her and pressed my face against her so she put the whip away and cuddled me. I liked that.

She asked me if I wanted to go home and I sure did. She seemed to understand that so she put my halter back on and asked me to walk nicely around the arena a few times. I know she was just trying to remind me how to walk nicely on the lead so I'd be good when we left but I kept getting nervous every time we walked away from the gate so I'd start trying to twirl and pull a bit. She was patient but firm with me, and the one time I got too fussy, she kind of yelled at me and told me to behave. I did then and once I was walking fairly well, she took me out.

I was in a hurry to get to my stall so I started out kind of buffalo-y, pulling and trying to drag her along, but she wouldn't let me. I settled down pretty quickly, once I realized she wasn't going to let me do it and that I was headed toward home. She talked nicely to me but didn't let me pull any silly stuff and that actually calmed me down a lot. By the time we reached the manure pile, I was walking pretty well and once we got down the hill, I relaxed a lot and felt a lot better. My mom knew it and she praised me for being good and let me know I was okay. She gave me another cookie and put me in my stall and that was a big relief. I don't know why I got so upset about being up near Sparky's - I guess it was the weather and the way everyone was concerned about him.

I hope he's okay. He said he was. His knee hurts a little bit and he's got some scuffs but he said he was more scared than anything else. I know his mom and my mom will take good care of him. I love Sparky. He's my brother and my best friend and I wouldn't ever want anything bad to happen to him.