More yucky rain

It sure has been raining a lot. It doesn't seem like it usually rains at this time of year. I kind of remember it as being nice and hot and stuff, though with flies. I am glad the flies aren't really out yet. That's the one good thing. But I'm kind of sick of rain. I like to stand around in my paddock and doze in the sun and there hasn't really been much sun for dozing. And it's not that fun to stand and doze in the rain.

My mom and I have been riding more, though. It's been pretty fun, I guess. She rides me in the Round Pen. It's funny - my mom used to ride me quite a lot but I've sort of forgotten how to do things. It's been a long time since we rode together after all, and I wasn't ever that good at it. Now though I have a better idea of what she means when she asks me to do stuff because we've done a lot of it with me loose and her just on the ground with me. Like backing up. I love to back up. I don't know why, I just do. It's easy, for one thing, and my mom always tells me I'm a Good Girl and often gives me a cookie when I do it.

When she got on me that first day, one of the things she asked me to do was back up. I knew just what she wanted because she said the words the same way she says them when she's on the ground. She says, "Back up," and you can't really mistake that for anything else. She also held my reins so that I was kind of whoa'd - not pulling back on them but not letting them loose like she does when she wants me to go forward. At the same time, she leaned a little bit forward and squeezed with her legs. All those signals told me she wanted me to go, but not to go forward. And I knew she wanted me to go backward because she said so.

I backed right up without any hesitation at all. She was so happy with me! I guess a lot of horses aren't real happy about backing up. I don't know why. Sparky says it's because he doesn't know if there's anything dangerous behind him but I know my mom would never ask me to back up toward something dangerous! That would just be silly. I don't think Spark doesn't trust his mom - in fact, I know he does. He just tends to think like a Pasture Horse - always on the lookout. He kind of thinks of his mom as someone he has to take care of, like he used to take care of the other Pasture Horses. But I don't think that way. I look at my mom as someone who takes care of me.

One thing I still don't like to do though is trot. I don't mind trotting when I'm lunging but as soon as my mom is on my back, I just don't like it. I'm not even sure why. She asked me to trot the second time we rode in the Round Pen. I knew what she wanted. We'd been walking and I'd gotten more and more comfortable with it, swinging along at a nice walk around and around. She was moving to the rhythm of my walk which felt nice and we were just enjoying it together. Then I felt her put a little more energy into her seat. I don't know how else to describe it. I could tell by the way she sat that she wanted me to go faster and I could feel myself responding to it with a more animated walk. Then she put some leg pressure on and I knew she wanted a trot.

Immediately, I got all tensed up. I started drifting into the center of the Round Pen and I slowed right down and began swishing my tail. She patiently steered me with her seat back to the rail and continued to apply pressure but I was so unhappy about it. I didn't want to trot. Finally I did but it was bouncy and off balance because I was so tensed up. She tried to post quietly to it and keep her hands still but my head was bobbing all over the place and I finally stumbled and lurched and went back to a walk. It was sort of a disaster.

It's not that it hurts. It doesn't. I think maybe I'm remembering how it did hurt one time. Back when my mom first brought me home, she was using a saddle on me that fit at first but soon didn't. She didn't realize it though and kept riding me and I got more and more uncomfortable. I started trying to tell her by resisting and being bad but she didn't get it at first. When she finally did, she got me a new saddle and had a Saddle Fitter man come out and make sure it fit me right and it does. And she had the Carrot Doctor come make my back feel better too. I still remembered how the other saddle had hurt though and I didn't like to trot. Then I hurt my leg and I had to be on Stall Rest and then I hurt my mom and she had to be on Stall Rest, or whatever people call it, and then I wasn't ridden for a long time and now I don't want to trot. I guess it's kind of silly.

We didn't ride today though. She did, but I didn't. I was in my stall when I heard Sparky's footsteps outside so I looked out my window and there was my mom riding by on Spark! She does sometimes ride him, you know. I whinnied at them and they both said hello to me. I didn't mind. I know my mom loves Spark too and he likes to go riding.

Sure enough, a while later she came to play with me. I was happy to get out because I hadn't yesterday. Sometimes my mom can't come out to see me. It's because of her Job. I figured out how the days work so I wasn't too concerned. You see, on certain days, the guys leave shavings outside my stall. They leave a bag of shavings on one day and on that day, my mom usually doesn't come out. Then the next day, there's no shavings and she comes. The day after that, they leave more shavings and she usually comes out kind of early. She calls that a Day Off. The next day, no shavings and she comes around hay time. The day after that is another Day Off when she comes early and I don't get shavings. Then the next day, they bring another bag of shavings and I get fed early in the afternoon, sometimes before my mom even gets there. That's because different guys do the feeding on that day. Mom calls them the Weekend Guys.

On the day the Weekend Guys feed, there are usually lots of people at the barn. It's like that the next day too. On that day, I don't get shavings and she comes out at the usual dinner time. Then the next day is back to the beginning, with me getting shavings and my mom not coming to see me.

I like that I can keep track of things like that. I do like a routine and I get anxious when I don't have one. Yesterday actually wasn't the usual day she doesn't come - it would have been the day before when I got shavings. But on that day, she did come out so I wasn't surprised when she didn't the following day. There's almost always one day she misses. I don't mind too much. My stall doesn't get that dirty now that I know how to poop outside and I don't have to go out every day. I do miss getting my beet pulp that day though. But I survive.

Anyway, today I was happy to see her and ready to get out. Because we've been riding more, I haven't had a chance to run lately so I was happy when she just led me to the Round Pen and slipped off my halter. As soon as she came in with the whip, I was ready to go and I took off running! I ran and ran, sometimes digging in my heels and going really fast! It was exciting and fun and by the time I was done, I was snorting and bouncing. I sort of danced up to my mom and put my face in her chest to say thanks. She always seems to know when I need to go fast.

Then we played for a while. She dragged the whip around in the dirt while she walked ahead of me and I tried to pick it up with my teeth. One time, I managed to but when I shook my head, the bag on the end hit me right in the face and it scared me half to death! I dropped that thing and shied halfway across the Round Pen and I'm afraid I stepped on my mom's foot when I did it. I didn't mean to - I was just startled. Luckily, I didn't step on it hard and she laughed about it.

We also played some games where she asked me to move a certain way and I had to figure out how. First she asked me to back up and that was easy. Then she asked me to move my front end away from her. I've done that before so I figured it out quick enough. Then we did the same with my back end. All of that is easy. I'd learned it before when she taught me by holding up her hand against the part she wanted me to move. Now she does it with her body - she moves toward the part she wants me to move and I have to move away from her. It's a little harder but I'm getting it.

Then she did a really hard one. She walked alone with me at her shoulder the way I always walk with her. Then instead of walking straight, she began walking forward but also sideways toward me. I wasn't sure what to do at first. It didn't seem like she wanted me to turn. Finally, I started stepping forward and sideways myself and she was so happy with me! I guess I did the right thing because she gave me a cookie and everything.

She was also happy with the way I'm stopping with her now. I'm supposed to stop right at her shoulder, in the same place I stay when we're walking. When we first started doing that, I'd sometimes take a couple of extra steps before I stopped and she'd ask me gently to back up until I was in the right place. Now, I almost always stop right with her but if I accidentally take an extra step or two, i back up without her telling me until I'm where I should be. She really likes that, I can tell. I like it too. I like being smart and getting the rules right. It's fun.

After my turnout, we went back to my stall and she gave me a nice hay snack while she cleaned. I was just finishing the hay snack when the hay truck came so then I had a whole big pile of hay! Then when my mom was done, I had a clean stall and a new bed and my paddock was all clean too. It was a good day all around.