I've been having some ups and downs the past couple of weeks. The most upsetting news is that my baby Pigeon died. It was up there on my duds closet getting big and its mom and dad were feeding it and making nice Pigeon noises and stuff and everything was fine. I was happy except that my mom wasn't coming out to see me. Instead, Sparky's Mom was coming out. My mom was really sick, you see, and so she had to stay home in her stall.
Sparky's Mom took good care of me but as usual, I missed my mom. It made it harder to just relax and enjoy my Pigeons. But finally my mom came back and we had a wonderful day. She took me to the Round Pen and let me run around some, and then she saddled me up and we rode in the new Dressage Arena. That was fun. I'd been watching the guys work on it all along but actually going out into it was lots different. It now has a little, low white fence all the way around it and it's more level. The footing is a little softer but it's pretty nice, and the mirrors are still there which is good because I like them.
I was a little excited riding in there. The new fences made it seem very different and I was sort of bouncy and snorty. My mom just sat comfortably and relaxed and asked me to walk all around it and I eventually settled down. Then she had me do some shoulder ins and stuff and a little trotting and then we left to ride a Poop Loop.
She headed me up the hill near the pasture which was fun because we usually go the other way. I sometimes get excited about that hill because one time my mom let me trot up it and I cantered instead and got pretty excited and then I thought maybe I should canter up it all the time and so I got a little pushy about it and my mom got mad. I do sometimes get carried away about running. But I was good this time. I have been lately. My mom has even ridden me up that hill bareback and I'm really good. She's been riding me bareback more and more. I like it a lot. It's so relaxing not having a girth all tight around your middle. We don't do any real work, we just ride along and enjoy being together and it's kind of relaxed and comfortable. My mom feels really happy when she's on me bareback with her legs kind of swinging and her hands resting on my neck. I'm really good too and never try to bounce or anything.
I'm good in a saddle too though. We rode two nice Poop Loops and then when we were at the top of the hill by the Gremlin Arena, my mom quietly asked me to turn up the hill that goes up on the Trail!
Well, that was a surprise and pretty exciting but I was good about it. I started up and although I was pretty interested and excited, I just walked like she asked me to and didn't jig or trot or anything. A couple of times I stopped so I could gaze around and see if there were other horses around and she let me for a few seconds but then urged me right on again so I went.
We rode all the way to the top of the hill where the Trail opens out and you can go several different ways if you want to. I got a little scared at one point because there was a fence along the Trail and I could hear voices behind it but couldn't see anyone. My mom tried to calm me but I was pretty upset so she got off and led me past it all. Once we got up the hill, she got back on though and she rode me back down past that spot. It wasn't so bad going down. I could see better and I could tell by the voices that it was the guys who feed us so I felt lots more relaxed. I went back down the trail in a nice, fast walk and my mom was really happy with me. She says we'll do that more often to get me used to going out there. I know she'd like me to be a good Trail Horse.
When we got back to the barn, she sponged me off and then put me in the Round Pen to cool off. While I was out there, she checked on my Pigeon and that's when she discovered that he had fallen into Warren's water bucket and died. I was so sad. I'm glad I wasn't right there to see him all dead and stuff. Warren said it was pretty gross. My mom cleaned out his water bucket and scrubbed it really good so he wouldn't get sick. She was sad too but it was my Pigeon so I was saddest of all.
The next day though my mom brought me a stall snack to help keep my mind off it. That was really nice and it did help. And then a couple of days later, Chip's mom went away for a couple of days so my mom took care of Chip and we were able to be together like Sparky and I get to do lots of times. That picture up above was taken when my mom brought Chip over to my stall to share my hay while she cleaned our stalls.
Normally I don't like to share my hay but I didn't even think about that when she brought him over. I was so happy to see him, I just put my ears right forward and reached out to sniff his nose. He delicately put his head down and politely reached for a wisp of hay and I was happy to let him have it. Then Sparky's Mom came over with a big pile of grass hay that she'd found and dumped it right in between us so we had lots to eat. We didn't fight over it at all. We just put our heads right together so we could be as close as possible and ate companionably. Sparky says that's how him and his friends eat in the pasture. He says they like to share and actually prefer to eat together. If I could eat with Chip all the time, I'd prefer it to.
My mom and I haven't ridden in a couple of days because I've been stumbling a bit and she wants to get my feet checked out. That's okay with me. I like going for walks or having turnouts. I'm not really picky about what I do. But it does give me a little less to blog about so I'm sorry about that.
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