Exciting News!!!

Lately Spencer hasn't been in his stall. That's not really unusual. Sometimes horses go places like to Shows and things. I don't really know what a Show is but I know Mickey goes to them and Kia used to. They sometimes go for days and then they come back and everything is the same as it always was. I used to get upset when Kia left and then she left for good one time so that was pretty upsetting but then Coco moved in and it was all right again. I still miss Kia sometimes but Coco is nice so that's okay.

Anyway, the other day Sparky's mom came to the barn with my mom which wasn't unusual, but she went into Spencer's stall and was fooling around in there and that was unusual. My mom and I hung out together and she cleaned my stall and then she put my new dressage saddle on me and she rode me in the Flat Arena. I felt pretty grown up out there with my mom in my new duds. We stopped by the glass thing out there that my mom calls a mirror and I could see what we looked like. I used to think it was another horse that I was seeing but one time I stepped right up to it and poked at the horse with my nose and it was just a hard, flat thing that didn't smell like horse at all. Eventually I figured out that somehow it was showing what me and my mom looked like. I don't know how but I could tell it was my mom and so it must be me. So now I know what I look like which was kind of strange at first because you don't really think about what you look like except when someone says you're pretty. But I really am pretty and in my dressage saddle with my mom on my back, I look like a big girl.

Sparky's mom took a break from whatever the heck she was doing in Spencer's stall and she sat in a chair in the Flat Arena and watched me and my mom work. It was kind of fun. We just did some work walking and practicing going where my mom tells me to and stuff like that. It was nice and I liked it. My mom said I was a Good Girl and when she brought me back to my stall, she petted me lots and gave me some good cookies.

Then she and Sparky's mom got into my mom's car and they left. I wasn't too worried. She hadn't fed me my beet pulp yet but I figured they were just going to go clean Spark and they'd be back. They were but it was only my mom in the car and she parked near Spencer's stall and started pulling all kinds of stuff out of the car. She had brush boxes and saddles and bridles and all kinds of horse stuff. And then here came Sparky's mom walking down the hill leading Spark!

I was glad to see him and nickered politely. His mom tied him up outside Spencer's stall and gave him a little hay snack and my mom gave me one too. Then they fussed around with all that stuff and by and by put Spark in the stall! Spark didn't mind. There was some hay in there and he just does whatever his mom tells him to without getting upset. I would have been upset. I don't like going in strange stalls with different horses next to me. When I moved into this stall, I was pretty wound up and I kept whinnying for my friends. But Spark settled right in nicely and when the hay truck came, the guys gave him some hay just like they do the rest of us. And he stayed there all night!

The next day, my mom came out and the first thing she did was take me out of my stall and lead me over to say hi to Spark. That was nice. My mom understands that horses need to talk things over. I poked my head in the stall and we sniffed noses and I asked Spark if he was living there now. He said he guessed he must be because his mom had put him there and she'd put all his things behind the door in his stall.

That's your duds closet, I told him. He doesn't know about duds closets because he's never had one. All his duds went in a tack box before but a tack box is different from a duds closet. He seemed happy to know what it was and we nuzzled each other a lot and were happy because we're brother and sister and we love each other and now we can see each other all the time and visit even though he's not right next to me. Coco is in between us but that's okay because I can see him and even smell him from my stall, through the windows when I'm inside and across the paddocks when I'm outside. In fact, the picture I used today is of Sparky in his paddock and it was taken from my paddock so you can see how close we are. I like the way he looks in it - he's looking over the fence because his mom had just arrived.

Coco was mad the whole time we were visiting. She kept charging at the bars of the stall and baring her teeth at Spark and telling me I wasn't allowed to talk to him. I tried to tell her that it's okay because he's my brother but she's awfully bossy sometimes and thinks I'm her foal. And Raz is kind of upset about Spark being there because he sometimes thinks he's a stallion (Raz not Spark) and he gets upset and squeals a lot. I think they'll be friends after a while though because Spark is so nice to everyone. Raz is friends with Chip so I think he'll make friends with Spark - he just needs to get to know him. And Coco will get used to him. He loves mares and he's very respectful of them.

When we had finished visiting, my mom brought me back to my stall and began cleaning. Spark's mom came pretty soon and she had a Dog with her. It was a pretty cute dog and I got to sniff noses with it which was fun. I've always wanted to meet a Dog but I've never been able to get close enough to one.

One funny thing I forgot to mention about the first day Spark moved in - his mom went out to the pasture and got Dooley and brought him over to Spark's stall to have some dinner. Our moms often take care of Dooley - he's really like a member of our family and we all love him. After everyone had finished eating, Sparky's mom grabbed Dooley's lead and opened the stall door to take Sparky out so they could have a turnout together. But Dooley just walked right into the stall and Spark didn't want to leave while Dooley was in there so she finally just let them both loose in the stall and closed the door! It was so funny! There was hay in there and everything but Spark didn't mind Dooley being in his stall because Dooley is his best friend in the world. They just walked around and Spark showed him the paddock, and the water bucket, and his duds closet. I don't think I'd like to have anyone else in my stall with me. There wouldn't be room for one thing, but both Spark and Dooley are small and compact so they fit better than us Thoroughbreds. Me and Chip would probably take up a lot of room in a stall together.

So now my brother is my neighbor for the first time ever and I really like it a lot! He was kind of my neighbor when he was in the pasture but not really because I couldn't see him all the time. Now all I have to do is look up and there he is. I like that.