Walk with my mom

My mom and I had kind of a nice ride today. The weather has cleared up and it's sunny and nice again so the arenas have pretty much dried up. She got to the barn today while I was outside in my paddock having a little nap.

I love to nap. Lots of times I lie down to nap in my stall but I also like to nap outside in the sunshine and when I do that, I do it standing up. Horses can, you know. Sparky told me that it's an evolutionary thing that helps keep us safe from predators. Well, I don't really know what evolutionary means and I'm not sure about predators either but Sparky explained that being able to sleep standing up lets horses run away quickly if a Mountain Lion or something tries to eat it.

I asked him what a Mountain Lion was and he just looked really serious and told me I didn't want to know. So I guess they're pretty scary. They'd have to be if they eat horses. I can't imagine anything being big and scary enough to eat me.

Usually after my breakfast, I take a nice nap in my stall. I lie down in my shavings and curl right up and sleep soundly. When Sparky was next door to me, he did what he called standing guard when I did that. He says that's what the pasture horses do. When one or two of them lie down to take a nap, the rest of them stand guard and keep an eye out for danger. It was nice of Sparky to stand guard for me and I would have been glad to do it for him if I'd know what I was doing. I don't really know what's dangerous and what's not though. Sparky says I'd get eaten in five minutes if I lived in a pasture because I'm not afraid of anything and I just want to sniff things and explore them instead of running away from them. He sometimes laid down to take a nap in his stall but he always asked Raz to stand guard instead of me.

Anyway, today I was outside napping when my mom got here and I woke right up and was waiting at my stall door when she got to it. She pulled me right out and got my brush box so I figured we were going to do something fun. She groomed me really well and then put my Wintec saddle on me and we went out into the Flat Arena to ride.

There were a couple of other people riding horses out there so we just used the upper part of it while they worked at the other end. I was pretty distracted at first. I love watching other horses working and I generally want to go visit them and sniff noses and stuff even though I know I'm not supposed to when I'm working. I just like to make new friends and I didn't know either one of those horses though I'd seen them around. There was a man and a woman riding and the man just sat on his horse in the middle of the arena and told the woman what to do as she rode around him. So I guess he was giving her a Lesson.

It was pretty fun watching because the horse she was riding knew how to do some pretty neat things. She'd make him canter and he'd canter in a nice circle around the man and the other horse and then she'd just sit back a little and he'd stop dead. If she leaned back a little more once he was stopped, he'd back right up. Not like me, either. I know how to back up but I do it kind of slowly, one step at a time. This horse backed up just as fast as any horse does walking forward. It was fun to watch and I kind of wished I knew how to do that.

After a while though, I stopped watching because my mom was asking me to do things that I had to think about. She asked me to do some square corners for one thing, and then she was asking me to bend around the circle a little more than I have been. She was being really light on my mouth but very clear; she'd gently pull her inside rein back toward her middle while still keeping a hold on the outside rein so I didn't just bend my head around. I had to bend my whole body and she was using her legs to help me do it. The leg on the inside sort of helped me figure out where to bend and her outside leg pushed on me further back so my butt didn't pop outwards.

It doesn't seem like much but it's hard work to make good circles. At first, they were pretty crazy but we got so we were making them nice and round and that was kind of nice. Then my mom started asking me to do Shoulder In along the straight sides and we did that for a while too.

Finally, she asked me to trot. I gave kind of a big bounce and broke into a trot for several paces then kind of lurched to a halt. I'm out of practice and I get going too fast and when she tries to steady me, I lose my concentration and walk instead. It's easier when we have the whole arena to use. I need the space to get settled and relaxed. We tried a couple of more times but I was mostly bouncing. Then some more people came into the arena so she took me out and we headed down the road to do a Poop Loop.

I was excited. We haven't done loops for a while and with the cool weather and stuff, I just get bouncy. My mom just sat quietly in the saddle which helped settle me but I still kept getting a little goofy. I'd start jigging and bouncing and she'd sit deep and talk to me, telling me to relax and calm down. So I'd settle down again until the next time.

When we got to the turn by the Rolling Arena, I got pretty tense. I always seem to get excited there. I just want to run up the hill and buck and play even though I know I'm not supposed to. My mom made me walk nicely past the Little Rolling Arena where the Vaulting Horses were cantering around with all the little kids jumping on their backs but then she turned me around and rode me back toward our barn instead of up the hill.

I was a little confused by that but I soon settled down to a good, fast walk. My mom doesn't mind when I walk fast, it's just the bouncing that she doesn't approve of. We walked back past our barn and then started up the hill by the pasture and that's where I got excited again. I just like to run up hills. I can't help it. But as soon as I started getting silly, she turned me around and made me walk nicely down to the tack boxes. Then we turned and approached the hill again.

This time I didn't bounce so much but I was still excited and I couldn't help trying to trot up. My mom sat deep and tried to steady me without tightening up on the reins and I was pretty good until we got about halfway up. I was going sort of sideways and jigging a bit but then I got a little mad and impatient and started trying to trot again so we finished up by trotting/jigging sideways the rest of the way.

My mom got me back into a walk then but I was pretty hot and excited so she got off. I feel bad sometimes but I just can't help myself. And my mom tries to work with me. She tries not to make the reins tight for instance because that just makes me more anxious. Sometimes just being able to go forward and feeling my mom's deep seat will settle me but sometimes I just get so excited that I can't even focus on that. At that point, I don't blame her for getting off because she can get my attention better from the ground.

That's how it was today. At first I was still anxious and bouncy and wanted to rush and trot and stuff but she just stood still and let me move around her while she talked to me and eventually her voice got through to me and I stopped. She had me drop my head and she let me sniff the ground and when I'd relaxed a little bit, she led me on. We walked the rest of the Poop Loop like that and every time I got over-excited, she helped me settle down again before we moved on. It was actually pretty nice. We saw Indian and his mom in the Gremlin Arena and stopped to visit with them. And we passed some other people with their horses. It was a good walk and by the time we got back to the barn, I was a lot more relaxed. My mom says we'll do more of that because it's Good for me.

My dinner hay was waiting for me when we got to my stall so I got to eat that while my mom cleaned my stall. Then she put me to bed and gave me my bucket dinner. It was a nice day.

New trick and a new toy

I am so glad the Holidays are over with! My mom gets so busy with her Job - whatever it is - and she's usually too tired to help me blog. I can't do it by myself. While I can type pretty well, I do need an editor; the keys on any computer are just too small for perfect accuracy no matter how clever a nose you have. Besides, my mom doesn't allow me to use my electronics unsupervised. She says I'm too rough on them. I admit, I did ruin my iPhone pretty quickly but that's only because touch screens aren't made to withstand hooves. I'm lots more careful with my Macbook but she says she's taking no chances. I guess I can't blame her. She IS the one who pays for this stuff.

Anyway, things have settled back to normal now and I decided it was a good time to do some catching up. Winter has really arrived here in California. It's been very cold and last week we finally got some hard rain. The very day it started, my mom showed up at the barn with a bunch of interesting bundles and I nosed curiously at them, anxious to see what they were. It turned out they were blankets, one for me and one for Sparky, and also a soft fleecy cooler.

Now I'm not a big fan of blankets. Actually, I hate wearing them. I can't feel my nice, cozy shavings when I lay down in them if I'm wearing a blanket, and they feel funny all strapped on me. Most of the time my mom doesn't bother trying to put one on me and I'm generally fine without, even if it's raining. Sometimes though, if it's very wet and cold, and the wind is blowing, she insists and I have to put up with it. I'm pretty rough on them though. The blanket I had was ripped and ratty and kind of falling apart. My mom and Sparky's mom had put it on him because he's living out in the pasture again and he gets cold, but it was pretty pathetic and held together mostly with that string they pull off the hay.

So on the day she brought the new blankets, she brought Spark in and tied him near my stall and pulled that nasty old blanket right off him. Then she opened up one of the packages and pulled out a nice new blue blanket. She let him sniff it and then put it on him. It looked so nice! Sparky looks especially good in blue and this blanket fit him like it was made for him. The old one was too big even for me, and so it was really big and baggy on Spark. This one hung perfectly over his body, with a nice flap over his tail, and straps that fit comfortably around his belly and between his hind legs. He was really happy - I could see it right away. It's one of those blankets that doesn't let the rain get through so it keeps you dry, plus it's extra warm. He went back out to the pasture with a bounce in his walk and all his friends had to sniff his new blanket all over and admire it.

Then my mom tried mine on me. I was kind of fussy and mad because of my dislike of blankets but I had to admit it was nice. It fit lots better than my old one, and that made it feel better on me. And it was nice and warm. I was mad when she made me keep it on all night but after she left, the rain started coming down very hard and the wind was blowing right into my stall. My mom knows I hate to have my paddock door shut but in that blanket I was a cozy as I would have been shut up in my stall with a heater on! I decided then and there that blankets weren't really that bad after all and the next day when my mom took it off me to turn me out, I was perfectly happy to have her put it back on! I wore it all week while the rain kept up but yesterday she took it off me because it's gotten nice out again and I'm happy about that too.

I wasn't sure what the cooler was for at first. It seemed like just another blanket and while I liked it because it was soft, I didn't know why we needed it. But then I went out for a turnout and did a lot of running and got all sweaty and hot. My mom brought me back to my stall but instead of just standing around getting cold until I dried off, she put the cooler on me. It stretches up over my neck so even that gets covered and it's so soft and warm! The soft material helps my coat to dry off and the blanket keeps me from getting chilled when the cool air blows against my wet body. It was so nice and it worked really quickly. I was dry in no time and lots more comfy when my mom took off the cooler and put me away.

She turned me out instead of riding me because she realized I was sore. It started just a little while ago. At first it was just annoying but then it got so it really hurt and I started getting fussy when we rode. My mom has gotten so she notices pretty fast when I'm feeling ouchy. First she noticed that I was overreaching on one side. That's when your back foot reaches up so far when you walk that it hits your front foot. She talked to my Shoe Man about it and he checked my feet but couldn't find anything to explain it. Then she noticed that I was cantering funny in the Round Pen. Instead of leading with the same side leg front and back, I was leading with one side in the front and the other side in the back. We call that Cross Cantering. That's when she had Dooley's mom come look at me.

Dooley's mom is a Carrot Doctor - a chiropractor. I like Dooley's mom a lot. She always calls me Sweetie and pets my nose. And she makes me feel lots better. She touched me all over and it hurt in a lot of places. I thought it was important to let her and my mom know so I stamped around a lot and tried to bite them. I was just trying to help. I didn't want them to think it didn't hurt, after all. Then how would they help me?

Dooley's mom went to work and she adjusted my back in a bunch of places. She adjusted my hip on one side which felt really good - I got the idea and leaned right into it when she did that. She also adjusted my withers. I felt a lot better when she was done so the next day my mom and I did some riding.

But something just wasn't right. I wasn't fully happy riding and I let my mom know it. She was a little annoyed with me I think but soon realized it wasn't because I was being Bad. She stayed off me for a few days and then brought Dooley's mom back. This time, she examined me even more thoroughly. She found some other places that needed adjusting - in my shoulders and neck especially - and that really made a difference. I remember when she adjusted one spot, it felt so good that I just bounced up on my hind legs in place. I wasn't really trying to rear, I just needed to bounce. After she was done, I felt like I had to stretch my head out and lick and chew a lot - it made me feel all tingly but in a good way.

Then she and my mom got my saddle and put it on me. They poked at it and felt underneath it and Dooley's mom even put a flexible metal strap across my back and compared it with the shape of my saddle. Both of them decided that the saddle fit me just fine and since I was all adjusted, I should be all right.

Well, I wasn't though.

My mom saddled me up a couple of days later and we rode in the dressage arena. She was teaching me a new trick called Shoulder In. It's a hard one to learn but I got it pretty quickly. You have to walk down the long side of the arena and when your mom asks you, you have to bend your body slightly so that your inside front leg is moving along a line that's outside and parallel to your other legs. Your outside front leg is on the same line as your inside hind and your outside hind is on its own track. Your back legs have to be moving along straight but your front end has that slight bend to it.

It's really hard work. It takes a lot of muscle and concentration to move like that and get it right but as soon as I realized what I was supposed to do, I was determined to get it. As soon as we got to the corner leading to that long side, I'd get all ready and focused. I'd start grinding my teeth and mouthing my bit like I do when I'm working really hard at something and then my mom would ask and I'd carefully maneuver my body the right way. It was pretty easy to the left -that's my good side - but it was lots harder to the right and I never did manage it on that first session. My mom was really happy with me anyway though and I was pretty happy with myself. I love to learn new tricks.

I was so busy concentrating on the work that I really didn't notice how uncomfortable I was. We only worked at a walk and that's pretty easy no matter what. But then a couple of days ago, she rode me again and this time asked me to trot. I broke right into a nice trot but as soon as I did, I felt uncomfortable and my head came up and my back hollowed out and I lurched to a stop. My mom kept asking me to move forward but I didn't even want to walk then and I'm afraid I was pretty bad. I kept refusing to move and laying my ears back and threatening to buck and stuff. I just didn't want to be uncomfortable.

I think at first she thought I was just being a brat. After all, I'd just had my back worked on and my saddle seemed to fit. But there's just something about it that's not quite right. I can't even explain it. It's not horrible, not like it was before it was restuffed, but it's enough to bother me. I'll admit I'm a little bit of a Diva, as my mom calls me. Sparky tells me I should be more stoic and not react to little things but I just can't help it. If something's not quite right, if my mane is tucked under my saddle pad, if there's shavings underneath it or if my girth is a little off from where it usually is, I just can't stand it! It drives me crazy and I can't focus on anything else.

My mom finally realized what was going on. She made me walk a circuit of the arena because I have to obey her after all, but then she got off and brought me to my stall. She wasn't mad at me and she apologized for making me wear a hurty saddle and not understanding quicker. So that was nice. I poked my nose in her chest and apologized for being Bad. I do love my mom.

I thought she might have Dooley's mom come out again or maybe have the Saddle Fitter come see us but instead she rode me with my old saddle today, the one she calls the Wintec. As soon as she got on me, I felt so much better. That saddle fits me really well and I was able to stretch my shoulders right out and walk on. She could tell I was happy too and that made her happy although she was sad about the other saddle. I know she loves it and I usually do too. But maybe my Saddle Fitter can fix it.

We worked on Shoulder In again today and I remembered how to do it really well even though it's been several days. We did it lots of times to the left and then we changed direction and started going to the right. I was immediately a little tense. I just don't bend as well that way and I'm not as comfortable. My mom didn't ask me to try a Shoulder In though. Instead she rode me a few circuits and then began to ride me in a large circle.

At first, it was a pretty terrible circle. I kept kind of bending to the outside instead of to the inside but she kept pushing with her legs and seat and gradually, I got a better at it. Then one time as we came around the circle toward the rail, she gave me the cue to do a Shoulder In just as we got on the rail. I was already kind of bent to do the circle and when she asked me, I realized that I could do it in that direction too! I stepped along carefully, bending a bit and trying to keep my back legs where they belong while my mom kept saying, "Good, good, good," with every step. She only had me do it for about three steps - it is hard work - but she was really happy with me and I was happy too. I knew I'd done it right and I was excited to be able to do it that way. I was all ready to try again when we rounded the turn and headed up the other side. Sure enough, she asked me and I got it right off!

She was so proud of me! She petted me a lot and called me a Good Girl. It was really fun - I love learning new things and getting them right, and I love it when my mom is happy with me. We did a little more work on it and then she let me relax my neck and stretch. Then she asked me to trot.

I popped right into a happy fast trot and felt so good about it that I tried to break into a bouncing, almost-bucking canter! My mom laughed and pulled me back to the trot but I know she was happy because I wasn't hurting. It felt really good. Then Sparky and his mom came back from riding a Poop Loop so we showed them how good I did a Shoulder In and after that we finished up for the day.

That would have made for a great day all by itself but when I got to my stall, I discovered another surprise. Hanging near the middle of it was a new toy! As you know, I love toys and I have several. I have my Ball Toy hanging near Indy's stall and I love to stand with my head against it when I'm sad or mad or feeling upset. But I also like to just brush by it or bonk into it to make it swing. It makes me feel nice to know my Ball Toy is always there. It's kind of like a friend.

I also have a Ball Toy out in my paddock. This one is bigger and sort of soft. I sometimes bonk it and push it through the bars of the paddock fence. Sometimes I poop on it. It's kind of fun to back up to it and see if I can hit it just right. It's a game I play. Sparky thought it was disgusting but Warren thinks it looks like fun.

In my stall, near the door, I have a set of Keys. My mom carries her Keys on a loop of her pants and I've always liked to play with them so she got me my own Keys. They're bigger than hers so they're easier to grab and they're fun and clatter around when I play with them. I also like to play with the thing my stall snacks go in. It's made out of the same kind of stuff as my Keys and I can bash it around and make it swing and make noise. I like to make noise with things.

Not long ago, my mom brought me another toy. She calls it a Milk Jug and she hung it up near Warren's stall. It's fun. I can bite at it, or make it swing, or bash it. It makes a neat noise and it's easy to bite on so I can sort of squash it with my teeth. I love my toys.

This new toy is really neat. It's round like a donut and it looks and smells a lot like the round things on my mom's car or on the wheeled bucket - the things that make it roll. I think they're called Tires. Yes, Indy just said, they're Tires. So it's shaped like a Tire and it smells like one too. It hangs from the ceiling and it has a thick rope with a big knot hanging from it. The rope is easy to grab with my mouth and it feels nice when I chew it. And the Tire is made out of sort of hard but sort of soft stuff that I can bite without just eating it up. It makes it easy to grab it and play with it and it swings really easily because it's hanging away from the walls and stuff. When I first smelled it, it even smelled a little like Chip because my mom let him sniff it and he put it in his mouth and chewed on it a little bit. I don't mind. I love Chip and I'm happy to share toys with him. When we go out together, we like to play with old whips together. That's what the picture of us on my last post shows us doing.

I mentioned Indy a minute ago. I should tell you that I got to go out with her a couple of times too. That was fun. Indy is nice. She wasn't quite ready to play too much but I think she'll get the idea eventually. She's used to going out with Warren and she says he's kind of mean to her so she was afraid I'd be mean to her too. I wouldn't do that though. I just want to play. I love to play with my friends.

I got to go out with Indian not to long ago too. That was so much fun! I hadn't been out with him for so long and I missed him a lot. We went out in the Little Fence Arena and we ran and ran and ran - I love going out with Indian because he likes to run just like me. Chip likes to play the way I play but Indian likes to run the way I run. I got all hot and sweaty and had a wonderful time, and I got to sniff noses with him and just be close together like we like to do. It's not the same being with a horse when you have a fence or a stall door between you. Horses like to be close together so they can sniff each other all over, and groom each other and just be as close as possible. That's why Spark likes living in the pasture.

Well, I guess that brings us up to the present. Now that my mom isn't so busy, I should be able to blog more.