Windy today!

Today was one of those funny days where it's nice and warm and sunny for most of the day but then it gets windy and exciting in the afternoon. By the time my mom got to the barn, the wind was blowing a lot and it was making me feel pretty frisky. Horses are like that. Part of it is because the wind brings so many exciting scents on it, but part of it is just because it's cool and kind of wild and makes you want to run. I love to run.

My mom brought me a hay snack today which was really nice. I munched on that while she cleaned my stall. I've been a really Good Girl about my stall now that I'm six. Back when I was little, I made an awful mess in my stall. I'd poop all over it and then walk through it all and it was pretty gross. And I'd pee in it, too. My mom used to complain that she had to spend hours just trying to clean it up and that my paddock was always nice and clean.

I finally realized that I could do all that stuff out in my paddock and it made my stall a lot nicer to be in. I guess that's another way I've grown up. I used to not mind getting dirty. In fact, sometimes I really liked it. But now I kind of like staying clean and pretty. It feels nicer. So now my mom is happy because there's hardly anything to clean out of my shavings and the paddock is easy to clean because it's just dirt out there, and I'm happy because I can lie down in clean shavings.

After she was done, she brought me to the Round Pen. She didn't put my wraps on, or bring the Cones, or anything. She just brought me in and let me loose and asked me to go. I was happy to do it. At first I just trotted around, warming up, but pretty soon she asked me to canter and I popped right into a nice one. I used to just gallop. I didn't really know how to canter properly. Now I've Learned though and my mom says I have a really pretty canter. I was doing that when, after a few laps around, she shook her Bag Stick at me and told me to giddyup.

Well, that means go fast. I was kind of surprised but also happy. I dug right in and started galloping and had a really nice run. Then she brought me down to a trot again and had me turn and go the other way. I trotted and cantered that way for a little bit, then she asked me to run again.

It was so much fun! The wind and cool air made me want to just fly, and I felt like I was! I even kicked up my heels a little bit, I was so happy. My mom gave me a good workout like that but not so hard that I was all sweaty and worn out. We just worked the kinks out.

I had gone back down to a trot and was cooling down when I suddenly noticed a gelding in the pasture on the hillside next to the Round Pen. I'd seen this guy before but I'd never really taken any notice of him. It's funny but over the last couple of days, I've really been noticing the geldings. For some reason, I want to get close to them and sniff them and stuff. It makes me feel sort of funny. My mom says it's because I'm in heat but I don't know what that means.

Anyway, I sort of screeched to a stop and stared at him. My mom let me look for a minute or two, then asked me to go on. I did, but every time I got to that part of the fence, I slowed down and stared. Mom finally laughed and put her whip down and let me stop working. Instead of going to her like I always do, I just gazed at that horse. He was a red roan, nothing really to look at, but he just fascinated me. He seemed to feel the same way too, because he just stood near the fence and looked right back at me. My mom finally went to her car and got that box thing that she points at me all the time, and kept pointing and clicking on it at me but I didn't pay any attention to her. I just wanted to go sniff noses and play with that gelding.

Finally mom told me it was time to go. The hay truck was coming and the gelding heard it and walked away toward his hay place. I reluctantly went to my mom then and she petted me, and gave me a cookie, and told me I'm silly. That's just her way of saying she loves me.

It was a fun day though, and yesterday was fun too. Yesterday, my mom put my new saddle on me, and my bridle with no reins, and lunged me on a line in the Round Pen. I haven't lunged on a line for a while but I remembered how to do it just fine and my mom was happy with me. It felt kind of funny to be wearing a saddle because I haven't for a while, and I almost felt like I was back at the racetrack. I don't know why. It's just that when she led me from my stall, it felt so much like being led toward the track for a workout. I was kind of excited about that, so I did have a pretty good gallop once we started lunging. My mom let me - she told me I needed it - and it felt good. Once I got it out of my system, we had a good time doing the usual stuff only with my duds on.

One thing that was kind of funny though - my mom had a hard time getting my girth to go around me. She says I've grown since last summer - "filled out" was the way she said it. She says I'm not fat, I'm just a big girl now and she's going to have to buy me a new girth. I like being a big girl - it makes me feel so grown up. And I love getting new things so everything is pretty good in this horse's life!