I had a really fun, busy day yesterday with my mom. She came out to see me with Sparky's mom. She got me out of my stall and found some grass hay for a nice snack for me and Spark and then she saddled me up. I'm getting used to working again so I don't get anxious or excited or fussy when she puts my duds on. It's just part of what we do.
She got my wraps all on my legs and got her duds on and then she led me to the Mounting Block and rode me out into the Flat Arena. There was no one else out there which was kind of nice. It's fun sometimes to work with other horses but I do get kind of distracted by them. When it's just the two of us I can really pay attention to what my mom wants and I don't have to be so careful about where I'm going and stuff.
We started out slow like we always do. My mom calls it Warming Up. That means she has me walk around for a while. She says it gets my muscles all loose and relaxed so when we start working hard, I don't hurt myself. She's always careful about me hurting myself because I do seem to hurt myself kind of a lot. She says I'm an Accident Waiting To Happen. I don't know about that but I have had more than my share of scuffs and Stall Rest and I don't want to have any more.
After our Warm Up, she asked me to trot and I bounced right into a trot and then a canter. She didn't mind. She let me canter across the arena, then gently pulled me back down into a trot and had me continue like that. That was okay. I just get kind of excited when we first start working and I need to get some energy out. She seems to understand that so she lets me do some good, fast trotting and a little bit of cantering and that makes me feel really good.
Once I was a little more settled down, she started asking me to do figure 8's at a trot. Figure 8's are fun. That's when you trot around the turn in the arena and then you trot all the way across the middle from one end to the other. When you get to the other end, you go the other way and you do the same thing there. You can do figure 8's for a long time and it's fun because you have to think about the direction you're going and it keeps changing. I like them because it gets boring when you go the same way for too long.
Every now and then, my mom would ask me to go straight instead of turning through the middle for the figure 8 and she'd let me have a canter then. She actually asked me to canter a couple of times instead of me just doing it, and I was so happy about that! I love to canter and now that I'm six, I've learned how to do it better. I don't rush so fast anymore. It seems easier to do so I can just go along at a nice, comfortable pace and I can even canter around the turn without it being hard like it used to. That's because I wasn't very well balanced when I was littler but now I am.
I did get a little over-excited one time when she asked me to canter. I broke into it and then ducked my head down and gave a couple of bucks. It was just because I was happy but it's really not Manners and I felt my mom lose one of her stirrups when I did it. She never falls off me though - she just pulled my head up and stuck her foot back in the stirrup and when I tried to slow down to a walk, she pushed me with her legs and let me know I was supposed to keep cantering, just without the bucking part. I was good then and relieved that I was still allowed to canter. Sometimes I forget my Manners still, even though I'm six.
It was a good ride though. I was a little hot and sweaty when we finished so after she got my duds off, she hosed me off really good and that felt nice. My dinner hay was waiting for me so I ate that while my mom cleaned my stall and filled up my paddock water bucket for me. Then she moved my hay mountain into my stall and put me back in there with it and gave me my beet pulp. But she sat outside my door in her chair for a while so I was able to poke my head out for pets while I ate. I like that.
That was the busy day. Today was the lazy day. The guys had already fed me my hay when my mom got here today so I was busily eating when she came to my stall. She let me keep eating and just opened my door so there was nothing but my stall chain across it. Then she sat in her chair and read a book while I ate. That was nice. I used to be pretty bad if she was sitting like that. I'd get really pushy and even try to bite her and stuff. But now I'm Good and I just softly put my nose near her so she can pet it. It's lots nicer.
After a long time, she got Sparky out and took him to the Round Pen. I whinnied after them because I was kind of jealous and felt left out but I didn't have to worry about it. She let him have a nice roll and a turnout and she cleaned his stall but when she brought him back, she got me out and we went for a walk.
It was so nice. It wasn't a work walk, where I have to walk right along and not put my nose down or anything. It was just a lazy walk and she let me sniff poop and stop and look around a lot. When we got down to the pasture where the Camp horses live, she let me stop for a long time to eat some of the hay that had fallen onto the road there. Then we went on and walked past the Little Rolling Arena, and the Rolling Arena, and then up the hill by Indian's stall. We stopped to say hello to him and he was glad to see me as always. We sniffed noses and nuzzled a lot, then we walked on, up the hill and down the other side, stopping on the way to visit Cozzie.
I was so good on that walk. My mom even told me how nice it was for her to go for a walk with me when I'm all sweet and walk nicely and she doesn't have to work to make me behave and stuff. I liked it too. It was so relaxed and comfy to just be walking along with my mom. I don't even remember why I thought it was fun to be Bad. It's lots nicer to be Good and have nice times.
We just went for that one loop around and then my mom put me back in my stall with my hay. She'd cleaned earlier while I was eating so she got me my beet pulp and got Spark his grain and then she sat and read her book some more. It was a really perfect couple of days, if you ask me.
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