Goodbye Coco

Both my mom and I have been so busy lately that it's hard to get our schedules together enough to blog. Today though she had a Day Off and she spent almost all of it with me! It was a fun day and a good day but also a Bad Day because Coco went away. And I don't think she's going to come back.

It makes me pretty sad. Horses have it rough that way. We don't have any control over our lives and we make friends only to have them go somewhere and never see them again. For people it's different. They have cars they can go in so they can visit with their friends, and they have those little box things they talk to - I think they use them to talk to each other. Horses don't have anything like that. Not most of them anyway. I'm lucky - I have my Facebook page and my blog but most of my friends don't so I can't even keep up with them that way. They just go away.

I kind of knew it was going to happen. You hear people say things. I knew Coco was For Sale. That means that her people were going to let someone else have her. I was For Sale one time and my mom came and took me home. That was scary but it turned out nice and I hope it turns out nice for Coco too. Some people came today with a trailer and put her in it. She whinnied once as it drove away and I whinnied back. And then she was gone.

I banged around in my stall for a little bit and then stood by my ball toy with my head against it thinking. I thought about how Kia used to live in Coco's stall and how much I missed her when she went away. And then Coco moved in and we became friends and I almost forgot about Kia but not really because she was so smart and pretty and knew so much about being a Riding Horse. But having a new friend made me feel better about losing my old one.

I didn't have time to get too sad though because I heard my mom's car coming just a little while later. She seemed to know I was sad because she gave me a nice hay snack and pet me lots. It helped. There's not much that a good hay snack doesn't fix.

After she got my hay snack though, she went into Coco's stall and started fussing in the duds closet. Then she came into my stall and started fussing in MY duds closet. Next thing I know she's pulling stuff out of mine and putting it in Coco's. I tried to just eat my hay and not pay attention but I was so curious! She even took down my stall snack holder, and my play keys, and my ball toy and she took my new water bucket out of my paddock! She put that right in front of me though so I could play with it. That took my mind off things.

Sparky's mom came along about then and after she said hello to Spark, she brought me out to the Round Pen. I was kind of frisky because I hadn't gone out yesterday. Besides, I always like it when Sparky's mom takes me out because she usually plays with me and lets me run really fast. Sure enough, after she left me out for a while to sniff poop and walk around, she came back with a Bag Stick and we had so much fun! We ran and ran and she even ran with me! We were racing and I got going really, really fast and I beat her lots of times! It was exciting and when we finished, I went in to the middle of the Round Pen and let her pet me and tell me how Good I was. I was panting and hot but I felt so nice! Sometimes horses just need to run.

She left me in there to cool off and went back to the barn and I walked around a little bit and relaxed. After a little bit my mom came and got me and she brought me to the Flat Arena to see if I wanted to roll. I kind of did but there was a funny little fence thing in there that I wanted to look at. My mom let me walk over to it. It was one of those Pole things that has the wood pieces on the end of it that make it stay up off the ground. My mom called it a Cavaletti or something like that and she tipped it over so it wasn't so high and then she tipped it over again so it was almost lying on the ground. Then she asked me if I wanted to step over it.

Well, I've stepped over Poles before so I did and she told me I was a Good Girl and that was fun. So we stepped over it a few more times and then went to hose me off because I was pretty hot and sweaty. I never did roll though.

After I got hosed, she led me back to my stall but instead of putting me in MY stall, she led me into Coco's! I was kind of excited. It's always exciting to go in a new stall, you know. I quickly went out in the paddock to explore and I found my big water bucket and Coco's old ball toy that hangs on the fence. And then I looked into the next paddock and there was Sparky! He let out a big nicker and I went over to see him and we sniffed each other over the fence and squealed a little bit. It was fun! I'm so glad Sparky is my real neighbor now!

Then I went inside the stall and there was my ball toy just where it always is, and my keys, and my salt lick, and my fly spray machine thing. It was just like my stall has always been so I settled down quickly and soon discovered that I even have a big bush just outside my paddock to eat! So that's nice. I know I'll miss Coco but it helps a lot to have Sparky close enough to sniff noses with and it is nice to have all my things around me.

And I'm in Kia's stall! All that time, I thought Kia was so special and so wonderful and now I get to live in her stall! Maybe that means I'm really growing up and I'm going to be the special and wonderful one! Spark thinks I'm kind of silly when I say that but my mom is always saying that I'm going to be a great horse someday so why not starting now?

By this time, our moms were leaving but it was still early so I knew they'd be back to feed us. Spark and I had a nice visit outside and I napped in my paddock for a bit. Sure enough, they came back a while later with some shavings for Spark. His mom cleaned up the poop he'd left in his paddock and visited with us for a little bit and then she left but my mom stayed. She took off Spark's bandage on his hurt foot and put a new one on and then she gave him his dinner and came and got me out. I got excited because I thought maybe we were going to ride and sure enough, she groomed me and started putting my duds on.

It was a nice day for a ride, warm but not hot, and breezy. I was feeling really good and when we got out to the Mounting Block, I saw that there were already a couple of horses in the arena. I like it when I can ride with other horses. It's more fun that way. These horses live on the hill across from my barn. I can see them from my stall but they're too far away to smell or make friends with. One of them is big and black and the other one is spotted black and white. They seem nice and my mom is friends with their people.

We started out just doing a lot of walking around, with my mom reminding about how I have to go straight and turn nicely when I get to a corner and stuff. We walked across that Pole a couple of times too which was fun. I was stopping a lot at first because I kind of get stuck but after a while I remembered that I can keep going so I did. Then one time when I came around the corner by the Mounting Block, I saw April and her mom coming in.

I like April. We've never really ridden together but we see each other a lot because she lives kind of near me in one of the little fields and she gets tied where I can see her when my mom rides me or leads me around. She just seems nice, and her mom is nice too. So when they came into the arena, I followed them and got a little more interested in the whole thing.

April's mom started talking to my mom so we were walking together. That was nice. Then she started trotting. She trotted around a couple of times and my mom asked me if I wanted to trot. So I did. At first it was sort of awkward. I'd start trotting and I'd get to a turn and I'd just stop because I couldn't remember how to turn a corner at a trot with a rider or something. But pretty soon, I settled down and we had some good trotting with me going around and around the arena a few times. One time, my mom asked me to trot and I broke into a canter and she let me canter across the arena. That was fun and she petted me and told me it was very nice. I cantered once or twice more for a little way but then I got pretty excited about it all so she told me to relax and brought me back to a good trot. She wasn't asking for a canter anyway and I knew that. I just wanted to go fast.

It was a really fun ride. My mom was happy with me and April's mom said I was pretty and cute and stuff. I hope we can ride with them again some time. I liked it lots.

We got back to my new stall just in time for the hay truck. My mom took my saddle off in my stall and than the guys gave me my dinner hay. So it was a really nice day except for Coco going away. I'm going to miss her, there's no doubt about that. She was a really nice friend and neighbor. I hope she has a good home and a nice life wherever she is now. And for a tribute, I've posted a picture of her. So long, Coco. Don't forget about me.