Learning new things

I'm learning something new just about every time my mom and I ride. It's really exciting and fun for me. As you know, I love to play new games. Learning all the rules and then getting it right on the first try every time is so satisfying. And it doesn't hurt when I'm rewarded for it, whether it's with a treat or just praise and petting (well, to be honest I do like the treats best).

Yesterday my mom came out pretty late. I'd already finished my dinner hay and was just snoozing in my paddock when I heard her car. As always, that made me happy and I let out a big whinny of greeting. She got me out of my stall and tied me in the aisle the way she does and brought the wheeled bucket thing so she could clean.It was nice and quiet at the barn. Not many people come out once it starts getting dark and it was about twilight when she began on my stall. I love that time of day. The sky is all soft and dusky and the stars are just starting to come out. The air is cooling down and it smells so good. Lots of times the coyotes that live up in the hills and out in the pasture start to sing. That's a nice sound. First one will yip a few times and then they'll all join in and pretty soon it's a whole chorus of happy voices howling. Sometimes they have babies and the babies sound cute - they kind of bark rather than howl and it's high-pitched so you can tell they're just small. I like that. Coyotes are just friends to us horses. They eat little animals like bunnies and squirrels - which is sad for the bunnies and squirrels but the coyotes have to eat too. One time when my mom and I were riding in the Flat Arena a coyote was in there with us just sniffing around and not really paying a lot of attention to what we were doing. I like to share my home with other animals.

Anyway, when my mom finished cleaning she took me for a walk. We didn't go far but it was really pleasant. By then, it was almost completely dark but the sky was clear and the light of the stars and moon were enough to see very well. My mom took me toward the Little Rolling Arena but before we got there, we turned down a little side track that leads to one of the barns. It's not like the other barns like the one where I live. It's set apart from the others and only has two stalls. Also it has a room on the side of it which our barn doesn't. I always kind of wondered about that barn but last night I found out it's where the Vaulting Horses live sometimes. Not always; most of the time they live in a big field like a pasture but once in a while they go in those stalls. That's kind of funny because all us other horses have either a pasture or a stall, not both. I guess Vaulting Horses are special.

I suppose I should explain just what a Vaulting Horse is. Remember how I've mentioned the big horses that go around and around in circles in the Little Rolling Arena while kids jump on and off them and do tricks on their backs? Those are the Vaulting Horses. They have to be big I suppose, so they can carry all those kids - sometimes there are three or four kids on their backs at one time! I don't think I'd like that. It's hard enough just carrying my mom around. I can't imagine having lots of people on me, even kids.Last night, the Vaulting Horses were all in their field and they were mostly standing in their little shelter thing where their dinner hay goes. My mom brought me down near that barn and over to the door to the room. I was kind of jumpy and nervous at first because I didn't know why I was there. I was kind of afraid my mom might put me in one of those stalls and I didn't like that idea at all. There weren't any neighbors for me to talk to, and no duds closet, or food, or ball toy. There wasn't even a paddock. But my mom didn't even look at the stalls; she just brought me over to that door and told me I could put my head down. And when I did, I realized the ground was covered with grass hay!

Well, that was a treat! There had to be at least half a flake of good hay scattered around outside that door. I guess the people who get it out of the room (because that's what's in there, I found out later) are pretty careless and don't have horses that clean up after them like me and Spark do. I was glad to clean it up though and my mom let me. We stayed there for a long time and my mom just stood there quietly with me, with her hand on my back. It was very nice. By the time we went back home, I was nice and full and ready for a good night's sleep.

Today we worked. My mom came out at the usual time and began grooming me right away. The hay truck came while she was doing it and she let me have a little bit of my dinner for a snack but she put most of it aside for me to eat later. That used to make me really anxious and upset but now it doesn't bother me hardly at all. I know she'll give it to me and I know she won't let anyone else take it or eat it. I didn't even try to get it when she took my halter off so she could put my bridle on. I just stood there and opened my mouth up politely for my bit. I'm a Good Girl now that I'm six.

My mom led me out to the Flat Arena like she always does and took me over to the Mounting Block. There was a lady sitting in a chair nearby yelling at some kid on a horse in the arena and a car parked right next to the Mounting Block. There was just a narrow space for me to stand but my mom led me right over to it anyway and got on. The other lady asked if she needed to move her car but my mom said she didn't and then asked me to back up. Well, I know how to back up really well so I did. I took a whole bunch of steps back until I was clear of the car and then turned and went around it when my mom asked. The lady was impressed - I could tell. She told my mom that I'd backed up really nicely. My mom was happy about that and proud of me. That was nice.

I thought we'd work in the Flat Arena like we usually do but instead my mom took me out on the road so I figured we were doing a Poop Loop. That was okay. I like Poop Loops and we hadn't done one in a while. I stepped right out and headed down the road, occasionally trying to reach a stray bit of grass or brush that was sticking out of the hillside. My mom didn't let me get any but it never hurts to try.

When we got to the Rolling Arena, I could see that there were a lot of horses in it. The Rolling Arena always kind of fascinates me. It's sort of scary - it's big, and it has a roof, and there's usually lots of stuff going on there. The birds like to fly around and land on the roof and that makes noise, and there's a building just below it that they call the Winery and sometimes the guys are working there making lots of strange clanging noises. That's weird, especially because there are bushes and things growing along the side so you can't see clearly - you just get glimpses of stuff so one minute you just see a bush and the next, there's a horse walking along down there, or a big truck, or some guys pushing a barrel. You never know what you'll see and that makes it pretty exciting.

I always look into the Rolling Arena when we go by, half wanting to go in and see what it's like. Well, today we did go in. It took me by surprise. I was all ready to walk by the gate even though I was looking in, when my mom nudged me with her seat and directed me inside! I was immediately a little tense. There were a bunch of little trees in big boxes all along the short end where I'd entered and they hadn't been there the last time I was in the arena so that made me feel funny right off the bat. There were a bunch of horses ridden by little kids at the far end, and Mickey's mom was standing in the middle of the circle they were making telling them what to do. I knew what that meant - they were having a Lesson. Lots of horses have Lessons at our barn. Even Sparky goes to Lessons now, with Coco's old mom. He says it's fun but hard.

At our end, there were two other horses working. One was a big gray gelding I've seen around quite a bit. He's handsome and nice, and his mom often rides him in the Flat Arena so we kind of know each other. The other was a gray mare I'm not familiar with. The gelding was doing some trot work and he was really focused on it. His mom had him doing circles and figure 8's at the trot and he was very collected and looked great. The mare was cantering.It was pretty exciting to be in the middle of all that. I almost forgot my Manners for a minute and let out the beginning of a bounce but my mom caught it before it became anything more than that. She quietly made the Bad Girl noise and I remembered I had to behave. After that, I just walked nicely but I was looking at everything. We only went around a few times and then my mom petted me and told me I was very Good and we left. She let me sniff those trees really thoroughly first though.

Then we continued our Poop Loop. By the time we got back to our barn, the Flat Arena was empty again so my mom took me out there. I was a little mad at first because I thought we should be done but then she asked me to start trotting and I forgot to be mad. I'm getting so I really like trotting. For one thing, I love my saddle. It's so comfortable that it makes it a lot nicer to move. For another, I'm getting better at it and it's always more fun to do things you're good at. Once I get warmed up, I start feeling nice and relaxed and i just put my head down and reach for my bit and go. I can tell my mom likes it - she tells me so for one thing but I can also feel it in her seat and hands. When my head is fussy and I'm pulling and stuff, she has to really work to keep me at the right pace but once I settle down, her hands get nice and quiet and giving and I can barely feel her on my back because we're just moving together. It's nice.

We did some big circuits of the arena and some figure 8's and then as my mom rode me up the long side, she gave me a new signal. I'm not sure I can describe it but she moved her seat so that I could tell she wanted me to go up and across at the same time. It wasn't like when she wants me to change direction - then I just head straight for the other side but on a diagonal line across. This time she wanted something else and as she nudged me with her leg, I just started moving in the direction she was heading me in with my body kind of bent but my legs crossing over each other as I trotted kind of forward and sideways at the same time. I wasn't sure if that's what she wanted but as soon as I started doing it, I could tell that it was. Her seat was light and she just kept an open leading rein on the side I was moving toward while her other leg gently continued nudging. I just kept going across that arena and the further I got, the happier I could feel her getting.

I knew I was doing something special and I got kind of pleased about it too. It was fun! I felt kind of like Kia as I did it - I used to watch her doing fancy stuff all the time and now I was doing it! It was hard work though. I got most of the way across the arena but toward the end, I could feel myself losing my balance a little bit and getting sloppy. Still, my mom was really proud of me; once we straightened out, she asked me to walk and turned me right down the center of the arena - she calls it Going Down the Center Line. After going practically sideways, going straight was easy so I marched right down as straight as an arrow and then stopped quietly when she asked me to. She slid off my back then and petted me and made a fuss over me. She was really happy with me and that made me feel good.

After she unsaddled me, she led me back out to the arena to roll and I had a really good one! Then she hosed me off with the special hose that feels like rain. I like that hose, especially when she lets it play over my face. I got all nice and wet and cooled off, then I got to eat more hay while she cleaned. So it was a good day and I learned another trick. Now I'm ready to stand out in my paddock and enjoy the night air. It's been a long and busy day.

New box thing!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted! The problem has been that my mom didn't have one of those box things that she uses to point at me and make pictures and I hated to post a blog entry without a recent photo. Maybe that's vain but I do think that half the reason people are interested in my blog is because they like to see me. And it just seems incomplete without it.

But the other day she got a new one and she took some pictures of me so I can get back to work and update you on what's been going on in my life!

For one thing, I've been doing a lot of work and it seems to be paying off. Lots of times, people stop us to tell my mom how good I'm looking and how pretty I am. They often say that I'm "really filling out." That doesn't mean I'm fat - it means that I'm growing up and getting nice muscles so it's a good thing. Sometimes they compliment us on how nicely I'm working out in the Flat Arena. Those compliments make us both feel good. It really seems like my mom and I are becoming riding partners. We understand each other pretty well now and like to work together.

One thing I've learned is how to recognize just what it is that my mom wants me to do. You might think that's easy but it's not at all. After all, I'm a horse and she's a person so it's not like we normally speak the same language. She has to find signals to give me that I can understand and I have to learn to recognize them. Back when I was more of a baby, I wasn't very good at it. I got impatient too fast. If I didn't understand something right off, I just got mad. But now I'm a lot more receptive. My mom thinks that's partly because of all the work we did in the Round Pen and I agree with her. I learned a lot about what she wanted in there and she learned a lot about communicating with me. The Cone Game is a good example - it was really easy for me to figure out that she wanted me to stop at those Cones because of the way she taught me to do it. She was patient and clear and let me know exactly what she wanted before she just went ahead and asked me.

Once we started riding again, she took her time with each new signal and I tried very hard to figure out what she wanted instead of getting mad. It was kind of like a game and it turned out to be fun. So now I know that when she sort of pushes me with her seat and squeezes my sides with both her legs, she wants me to trot. When she just kind of brushes her heel against my outside flank, it means she wants me to keep moving smoothly through a turn. When she changes her bounce at the trot (she calls it a diagonal), it means we're changing direction. And when she lifts her inside rein just a little and gives me a single kick with her outside heel, it means she wants me to canter.

It makes it a lot more fun when you know what the signals mean and it's a lot less stressful. Horses get anxious when their person is telling them something but they don't know what it means. Anyone would. So now that I know all those basic commands, my mom is able to work on helping me keep a nice rhythm in my trot and canter without rushing. We do lots of circles and turns and serpentines because they help keep you focused and you have to concentrate on where your feet are and stay balanced. It's hard work but it is fun. Usually we only walk when we're warming up or cooling down, and sometimes in the middle of our workout so I can stretch my neck and back and relax a bit. Mostly we trot and we almost always canter some now.

We've had a couple of exciting things happen and one pretty Bad thing. One day we went riding with Sparky and his mom and we headed up the hill by the pasture. I love that hill! My mom usually asks me to trot up it but I always want to canter and I usually manage to. On this particular day, we'd done a lot of really intense trotting in the Flat Arena so I wanted to sort of let loose. As soon as my mom asked me to trot, I kicked up my heels in a HUGE buck and began racing up that hill! It was pretty Bad of me and I knew it but I just couldn't seem to help it. Luckily my mom never falls off me - I don't know how she does it because I can buck pretty hard if I put my mind to it. But she didn't even lose a stirrup and she quickly pulled me back down to a trot and scolded me.

I was still feeling pretty spunky though and when we got to the top of the hill, I saw some of the farm workers up on the roof of one of the horse shelters. They were doing some kind of building work and were using noisy machines and stuff and it was pretty exciting to see them up there like that. I wasn't really afraid but it made me dance and bounce a bit. Sparky was spooked by it though, and he tried to get behind me so he could pass them as far away as possible. I wasn't paying any attention to where he was in my excited and silly state so when I felt him brush against my hindquarters, it startled me and before I could think, I gave a big bounce and sort of a bucking kick!

Well, I felt my hooves hit hard and as soon as they did, I heard a scream of pain from Sparky's mom! I'd gotten her right in the leg and she was yelling her head off which actually did spook me some. Sparky had immediately stopped spooking and stood dead still - he always takes care of his mom no matter how scared he is - and my mom quickly slid off my back to see if she was okay. She took the time to smack me and yell at me before she turned her attention away though and I can't say as I blame her. I'm a big girl now and I do know better than to kick out without thinking.

Poor Sparky's mom had blood pouring down her leg and she was obviously in a lot of pain. She hadn't fallen off though and now she carefully dismounted and began leading Spark home. My mom called to the guys on the roof to help and one of them took Sparky's mom in the little open-topped car they use around the farm while the other led Spark down the hill. Spark was so good. Normally he'd be nervous and balky with a stranger leading him but he knew his mom was hurt and he was doing his best to just be a Good Boy and not cause any trouble. I need to be more like him but sometimes I just don't think before I act.

I was still pretty wound up going down the hill but I tried to be good because I knew things were bad and I was in trouble. About halfway down the hill, Fila and Merlot's mom came and grabbed Spark and she brought him to his stall and unsaddled him. Fila and Merlot live in the pasture. They're nice bay Thoroughbred boys and me and Spark like them both. Their mom is nice too and she was concerned about Sparky's mom.

Sparky's mom was sitting in a chair outside the stalls when we got there. Her leg was very bloody and she and my mom were using the word "broken" like they thought it might be and that worried me quite a lot. One time when I was at the racetrack, a horse from another barn got a broken leg. We all heard about it. He was in a race and something bad happened and his leg broke and he had to be "Put Down." That's when a horse doctor gives the horse one of those poking needle things and the horse just dies. I was worried. I didn't want Sparky's mom to be Put Down. I wanted to ask Sparky if that's what would happen but I didn't want to make him more upset than he already was.

My mom just threw me in my stall and quickly took off my duds. Then she put a bandage on Sparky's mom's leg and got her car and she and Sparky's mom left. I felt a little better because of the bandage - if she was going to be Put Down, she probably wouldn't have had a bandage put on. And sure enough, a lot later, past dinnertime, they came back. Sparky's mom couldn't walk very well but me and Spark were both glad to see her. My mom said she got 8 stitches in her leg but it wasn't broken so that was good. I don't know what my mom would have done to me if she'd had to have Sparky's mom Put Down. She really likes Sparky's mom.

Another time, I got to go out for a turnout with Favre in the Pony Arena. I wasn't crazy about the idea at first because one time I went out with him and Sparky and he was really dumb and wanted to sniff my butt a lot and that made me mad. But this time it turned out to be fun. Favre's a Thoroughbred after all, and he likes to run and so do I so we had a good time running and racing and playing. We were kicking up our heels and bouncing together and it was really exciting. The only bad thing was that I somehow lost both my back shoes. I didn't even notice when it happened but once we'd stopped racing around, I realized they were gone. My mom found them - one of them was in the arena and the other one was way out in the grass outside the arena! My Shoe Man came out and put them back on a few days later but I missed being in a Show because I didn't have shoes.

We've been going to the Pony Arena for turnouts quite a lot. That's where the Bad Accident happened when I hit my mom in the face with my hoof and she lied down in the road. For a long time, she and I both got kind of nervous and anxious when we went there but it's been better and better every time and now it's pretty much okay. Me and Spark got to turn out there the other day and we had a lot of fun and I was a really Good Girl leading there and back. I'm glad because it's one of my favorite arenas to turn out in. It's round like the Round Pen but lots bigger so you can go in circles without getting stuck in corners but it's big enough to run really fast.

I've also had a couple of new neighbors but none of them have stayed for long. For a while, Solo was in the stall next to me - the one between me and Mickey. Solo is a big, black gelding who usually lives on the hill in one of the fields. In fact, it was his shelter building the guys were working on the day I kicked Sparky's mom. Anyway, while they were rebuilding his field, he lived in that stall and I liked that a lot. He was a really sweet horse and we became good friends quickly. He still whinnies to me and Spark, and to our moms even though he's back on the hill now. My mom always lets me sniff noses with him when we walk up there.

After he left, Glamour was in that stall for a while. Glamour is one of the pasture horses and he and his brother Teddy are good friends of Sparky's. Their mom is really nice and often gives us cookies or carrots and sometimes our moms help take care of her boys so we all know each other. I love Glamour and he was nice to have next door too. He's a chestnut Thoroughbred and he keeps getting hurt out in the pasture so he has a big bandage on his leg and his mom has him in a stall until he's all better. We spent a lot of time visiting over the fence and he chewed most of my forelock off but I don't mind. I like to chew things too.

One of the pictures my mom took with her new camera is the one I'm posting. It's me eating my Beet Pulp. I love my Beet Pulp and one of the things I love about it is how fun it is to eat. My mom and I have a whole routine that we go through every day and it's so fun! First of all, she mixes it up in a big bucket and when she carries it to my stall, I nicker a lot and kind of bounce on my toes waiting for her to bring it in. She puts my big rubber feed tub in my stall and then comes in with my dinner and makes me stand nicely while she pours it in.

As soon as it's in my dish, I grab the edge with my teeth and pick it up. I fling it away from me and Beet Pulp goes flying across my stall! Sometimes it even splats on my wall but most of it goes on my floor. Then I happily root through it, picking out all the little bites of carrot (because my mom always puts lots of carrot in it) and then eating the rest of it off the floor. You can see how messy it is in the picture. I love being messy. It's fun.

You can also see my keys in that picture. My mom has keys that she keeps on a ring that attaches to a loop on her pants. I love to play with her keys. They make a fun jingling noise and they feel funny in my mouth. She lets me play with them but she also brought me my own set of keys to play with! They're made out of some hard stuff like my stall snack holder and they flop around and bang against each other just like my mom's keys do. Now when she's not around, I can still play with keys. My mom is pretty nice that way.

So that's what I've been up to for the last month. Now that we have a box thing again, I'll make sure my mom takes lots of pictures so I can keep up with this blog!