Working hard

I haven't been blogging much lately and that's bad of me. It's mainly because my mom's little box thing isn't working right so I don't have any new pictures to post. I suppose that's pretty silly of me but I just feel funny putting up old pictures.

But I've been having a lot of fun lately and being a really Good Girl so I wanted to blog about it. My mom says I'm really growing up and I guess I am. I feel kind of grown up.

Well, most of the time. A few days ago, I didn't. I don't really know what was going on then. My mom said I was in heat and Sparky said it was my Mare Time and I don't know what any of that means but I was just out of sorts. It was strange. My mom came and got me out of my stall and I suddenly felt really anxious and I nickered to Spark just so I could hear him answer. My mom and Sparky's mom thought that was cute and sweet but they didn't realize how nervous and odd I felt.

My mom saddled me up and took me out to the Flat Arena and we began riding. I was trying to be Good but I just didn't want to do anything but go back to my stall and see my brother. I kept stopping and my mom would push me with her legs and tell me to walk on and eventually I'd go but I wasn't very happy. Finally, when I was way at the other end of the arena, it got to be too much for me and I stopped and whinnied as loud as I could! It wasn't very loud because when I'm scared and lonely, I have kind of a baby type whinny. It's real high pitched and desperate sounding, and my mom thinks it's really cute. So she laughed and petted me to make me feel better, and Sparky answered me which made me feel better too.

I still didn't want to go riding though, and I kept stopping and even tried to turn around and rush home. My mom wouldn't let me do that though. She turned me around and made me go on and even though I wasn't very happy about it, I did it reluctantly. I didn't even buck, or fuss too much and my mom was proud of me for that.

She made me keep working even though I kept whinnying and even though Sparky's mom took him out and put him in the Round Pen and he was running and playing and that made me even more anxious. I thought it was kind of mean of her, and I was a little bit mad, but she did ask me nicely so I did what she wanted me to. I was awfully happy when she said I could stop though and I rushed back to my stall as fast as she'd let me.

Spark was back by then and I had to shove my nose right into his stall and nuzzle him just so I could feel better. He wasn't really sure what my problem was and neither was I but it felt good to be near him again and even when I was back in my own stall, with my things, and my Ball Toy and stuff, I had to keep poking my nose toward him against the bars of the stall. I was kind of In A State. I settled down when I got my food, though.

The next day, my mom didn't come to see me. I thought she might be mad at me because I was so needy before and that made me even more nervous and needy. Sparky's mom came out, and she took Sparky away (he told me later they went for a nice walk around the farm) and I was so upset! I stomped and whinnied and pressed my head against my Ball Toy but they just left me there all alone! It was awful!

When they got back, Sparky's mom felt sorry for me. She even said so. Sometimes Sparky's mom just thinks I'm kind of foolish but she was really concerned about me this time because I was so worked up. She came in my stall and visited me, and petted me, and told me it was all right and that did make me feel a lot better. She even got me a hay snack and cleaned my stall. But I still missed my mom a lot.

My mom did come out the next day though, and she and I took a walk. It was so nice! We walked all around the farm. She let me stop and eat some hay off the ground one time, and we saw lots of horses and stuff. I was really good for her and she walked me on a nice long loose lead almost all the way. Then when we came down the hill by the pasture, I forgot to be good and rushed at some hay on the ground and she got mad and made me back up a lot and yelled at me. I guess I kind of deserved it.

We went around again after that and this time, we went a different way. We went past the Rolling Arena to where the String Horses go out on the Trail and we walked along a little trail through the woods that led to Misty's barn. That was exciting but I was really good about it. Then we went past Cozzie's and down the hill past the manure pile and the pasture and I remembered how to be good so my mom was happy with me.

Today, I felt all better and we rode. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work. My mom got me all ready and then we went out to start working while Sparky's mom was still working on him. There were some Poles out in the Flat Arena and as soon as my mom got on, we started warming up and I wanted to go over the Poles. Well, of course my mom let me because she likes to go over Poles too. It was fun! We walked right over those Poles like they weren't even there! I only tripped over them a couple of times. Then we went to the other end of the arena and my mom worked me on going around corners nicely. We'd started doing these things called Serpentines when Spark and his mom arrived. I got a little Distracted then but my mom pushed me on and told me to pay attention so I did.

Serpentines are kind of fun. What you do is, you go one direction across the arena and when you reach the other side, you make a turn and go the other direction across. You keep doing that over and over again until you get to the end of the arena and then you do them down the other side. It's hard because you have to bend your body just right and then when you do them at a trot, you have to be careful not to get your legs all tangled up.

Spark meanwhile was trotting with his mom and going over Poles and stuff but it was hard to see what he was doing because we were working so hard. We began trotting and it was very exciting and at first I was bouncy and wanted to canter and stuff but my mom made me be good and just trot. That was hard but I did it and I finally kind of settled down and my mom said I was really good about it and trotted nicely.

It was a lot of hard work and I was sweating pretty good by the time we were done. I felt good though because my mom said I'd been good and she let me get close to Spark. He said he and his mom had worked hard too and then our moms rode us out of the arena and toward the road.

Spark got all excited then because he knew we were going to ride a Poop Loop and he suddenly trotted off across the car place and onto the road. Well, that got me excited to and I sort of kind of bucked and tried to bolt and my mom got mad at me and made me go in little circles until I calmed down. I did kind of calm down and then she let me go with Spark and we ended up having a nice ride around the Poop Loop.

Spark does something that I have to tell you about because it's funny and cute. Whenever we do a Loop, when we get to the part by the big manure pile, he gets excited and heads straight for it. He makes his mom ride him along the back side of it or even down the middle part between the two big piles. The first time he did it, it alarmed me because I thought he was gone and stuff but then he appeared on the other side. I didn't know what he was doing but then he told me later that he goes that way because he needs to poop and he figures it makes sense to poop in the manure pile instead of on the road. Well, I'd never think of that but Spark would. He's very tidy.

He did that today too but I knew what he was up to so I wasn't as excited about it. Sure enough, when I got to the other end, here he came walking along perkily as he does. I love my brother. He's lots of fun to do stuff with.

We got a nice dinner tonight and lots of treats. Both our moms were really happy with us and Sparky's mom told him that she's going to ride him in a Show! He's pretty happy about that and I'm excited for him even though I don't really know what it means. But I want to watch and see how it's done. I bet he'll be the best pony in that Show!