Racing with River

You probably noticed that the picture I posted today isn't of me. It's my friend River. Don't worry about the way she has her ears back - she's just sassy, not mean. I decided to use her picture because we had a fun day together.

River moved to our farm earlier this year. My mom turned me out in the Round Pen with her pretty early on and I wasn't sure I liked her. She was kind of mean to me, trying to strike and kick me, and she told me later that she thought I was weird too, because I kept bouncing, which is how I try to get other horses to play with me. But it turned out she was just kind of nervous being in a new place and after she settled in, we discovered that we like each other.

Our moms have turned us out together a few times but it's always been in the Round Pen. That can be fun but today they turned us out in the Jump Arena and that was so much more fun!

I thought it was going to be a kind of dumb day at first. My mom got me out and put me in the stupid old Round Pen. Lots of times I don't mind the Round Pen but sometimes it's boring and that's how it was today. But I wasn't there for very long when she came and got me and told me we were going to go turn out with River in the Pony Arena!

Well, I was excited. I was kind of frisky anyway because I hadn't gotten out yesterday and my mom hasn't been riding me as often as usual. So I was a little bouncy on the walk. I kept kind of prancing along in a really, really slow trot, just because I didn't want to walk. It's kind of silly really, because that trot isn't any faster than a walk but it's fun to do and makes me feel like I'm moving faster. My mom tries to settle me down but I can tell she kind of likes the way I do it - she calls it a "passage" and says that maybe someday I'll learn to do it when she asks me to. Well, I'd be happy to do it like that if I knew that she was asking me for it but she's never given me a signal that seemed like that's what she wanted.

When we got to the Pony Arena, some Camp Kids were about to go into it so our moms took us up the hill to the Jump Arena and we were in luck there. There were some Camp Kids in it but they were just leaving so we waited while they rode out. It was hard to stand still but I tried really hard and only fidgeted a little bit. Finally, they were all out of there and we got to go in. River's mom shut the gate and then our moms let us both loose and we very excitedly began trotting around by the gate.

My mom had brought a whip and she waved it at us a little bit and that's all it took! River just took off down the arena and I raced behind! We were running so fast! That River is quick. She doesn't look like she'd be a fast runner because she's kind of short and doesn't have long legs or a lean body like all the racehorses I've known, but she can just tuck her butt down, lay her ears back and fly! My mom says it's because she's a Quarter Horse and they can run really fast for short distances. That's why they call them Quarter Horses - because they can run a quarter of a mile faster than anything. Well, I don't know how far a quarter of a mile is but I know River is the fastest horse I ever saw run across the Jump Arena! I couldn't catch her, not matter how fast I ran!

We had such a good time! We kept running back and forth, as fast as we could go! It felt so good to be able to really stretch my legs like that. I get to run with other friends sometimes but none of them go flat out like River was doing. My mom said we'd try to turn out with her more often because we had so much fun and I'd like that. I think she would too.

We ran until we were all hot and out of breath and feeling good, and then our moms put our halters on and walked and trotted us over poles and little jumps. That was fun too. Then we went back to our barn and River went away to have some dinner and I went for a ride with my mom.

I was a little annoyed at first because the hay truck was coming and I thought I'd probably worked enough but it ended up being a fun ride. We went around the Poop Loop but halfway around, we went into the Main Arena and rode for a while. Sometimes I'm sort of Bad in the Main Arena but I wasn't this time because I was kind of relaxed from all that running. There were some other horses and riders in there and that sometimes makes me excited but I only bounced a little bit one time when I was trotting and another horse was trotting right next to me. It was kind of like running with River and I wanted to go faster and my mom said I couldn't so I got a little bouncy and sort of kicked out one leg. I knew it was Bad, and sure enough my mom smacked me with her stick and told me to Behave so I did. After that I was fine.

It was a good day but there was one other thing I wanted to do. A couple of days ago, my mom was bringing me to the Round Pen and we were walking past Healy's Trailer. Healy goes away lots of times so him and his brothers Harley and Wings have their own Trailer. Trailers are like cars for horses. I've been in a Trailer lots of times but never since I came to live with my mom. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to it because I knew we were going to the Round Pen but suddenly my mom asked me to turn and she headed me toward the open door in the back of it!

I was interested. I'm always trying to sniff other horses' Trailers. One time I poked my head right into the window of one, just so I could see if there were any horses inside. So I'm not afraid of them but I think my mom wanted to make sure I'd go in one just in case she ever wanted to take me for a ride.

She let me sniff the door and the sides of the Trailer as far as I could reach without stepping in, and then I sniffed the floor. There were some scraps of hay on the floor and I lipped them up. They were alfalfa and that was a treat. Then I put one foot in it but it made a very funny sound so I took my foot out again. That's the only thing about Trailers. You have to get used to the sound they make when you get into them. It's sort of loud and hollow sounding and it can be a bit scary at first.

I wasn't really scared but I didn't like it. My mom let me stand and sniff some more, then she asked me to get in. I hesitated a little bit but then she pointed out the hay bag at the front of the Trailer. It was full of alfalfa! Well, that was enough for me. I clomped right into that Trailer and dove into the hay bag. My mom petted me and told me I was a Good Girl and let me have some nice bites, then she asked me to back out of it and I did.

All the other people who were standing around - Healy's mom, and River's mom and Warren's mom, and Indy's mom were happy with me and told me how Good I was so that was nice, and I got a little chuffed by it all and pranced around and showed off until my mom told me to stop being so foolish and walk nicely. So I did. But after she got me back out of the Round Pen, she let me go in the Trailer one more time and I got another taste of alfalfa.

Today, after our ride, my mom got off me near the tack boxes where Dooley was tied up with his mom. Dooley's Trailer was parked right there, just where Healy's had been, because Dooley had gone for a ride that day. As soon as my mom got off me, I made a beeline for that Trailer, hoping to go inside it and eat some more alfalfa but the door was closed. I sniffed all around it hopefully, thinking maybe if I was cute enough, my mom would open it up and let me go in but she just laughed and called me a Smartypants.

Someday I'd like to have my own Trailer. Then I could go fun places with my mom and have my own alfalfa in a hay bag.

Summertime

Are you enjoying the summer? I am. There's been a lot of interesting stuff going on and the weather has been nice if a little hot now and then. Mostly though it's been good and my mom and I have been doing a lot of riding and other kinds of work together. I'm learning more stuff all the time and having fun doing it. I like summer.

In the summer, the Camp Kids all come out to ride and learn about horses. I like to see them. The farm gets a whole bunch of special horses just for the Camp Kids to ride and learn on and this year's bunch has been especially nice. I get to see them a lot in the arenas and their pasture is right next to the Round Pen so I see them there too. They seem to like their job which is nice. I think I'd like it too. They each get a special kid to take care of them and ride them and groom them and love on them. They get to live in a fun herd and go on rides in a big group. It seems like a nice life and the kids love it.

I like kids. Lots of times kids come by with their moms and dads and my mom always offers to let them pet me. They're usually pretty excited to pet a real horse and sometimes they're a little afraid but I make sure I'm really gentle and good with them. I move slowly and poke my nose out gently toward them so they can pet it. That seems to calm them down and they'll reach out shyly and touch me. Then they feel how soft I am and they get braver and pretty soon, they're petting me all over and sometimes even feeding me treats. I'm always careful to take the treats gently and not get pushy with them.

My mom really likes how good I am with kids but thinks it's kind of funny since I'm usually kind of bouncy and boisterous with grown people. But kids are little and I like little things and understand you have to be more careful with them. Besides, kids are a lot like me. They're just learning about so many things. I can tell just by their smell and the way they act. It makes me like them even more because we have that in common. I want to tell them that I understand their curiosity and their shyness and their fears because I feel those things too.

So I like seeing all the kids around but I also like seeing all the other animals. We see a lot of animals all year round but there are more of them in the summer. For instance, there's lots of bunnies. I just love bunnies. They're small and cute and they look very soft. I just want to put my nose on one gently and feel how soft it is. They have little tiny tails and paws and they move by sort of hopping along. It's cute. One day last week, my mom and I went for a Poop Loop with Dooley and his mom. That was nice. I like Dooley a lot and I like his mom too. And his mom and my mom are good friends so they were having a nice time talking and laughing while Dooley and I walked along companionably. We had walked behind the big poop pile and past the place where lots of trailers are parked and there, playing in the grass, was a whole bunch of bunnies! I had to stop and look because it was so nice. There were at least as many bunnies there as there are horses in my barn and that's a lot because there's me and Chip and Warren and Indy and Raz and Grace and Rio all in that barn.

That was a good ride that day because in addition to seeing those bunnies, my mom let me sniff noses and say hello to Indian when we rode by his stall. She hardly ever lets me do that when we're riding and I was happy because I haven't sniffed noses with him for a while. Then when we were riding our second Poop Loop, we heard a voice behind us and it was Chip and his mom! Oh, I was so excited! I got a little bouncy because I never get to ride with Chip and he's my best friend in the whole world! I kept poking my nose at him so I could sniff him and make sure it was really him and I kept kind of prancing because it was so exciting. But I settled down after a while and then we had a good ride with all three of us together with our moms. So that was nice.

Yesterday, I got to see a different sort of animal. I was in the Round Pen just lazing around when a big Bird came zooming out the sky and plunged to the ground right in front of the place where my mom parks her car. That's just across from the Round Pen so I could see it clearly. It kind of made me jump because it was so sudden, and it scared all the birds that were just sitting around in the trees and on the wire things that connect all the big posts along the road. They flew up in a big swarm, all screeching and screaming and it was easy to see why because the big Bird had pounced down right on top of a Pigeon and killed it dead! It immediately flew up again but couldn't get very high or go very far because that Pigeon was fat so it flew into the field where River lives now and plopped onto the ground. My mom went to look at it and she told me later that it was going to eat the Pigeon.

That made me kind of sad because I like Pigeons but my mom explained that while some animals eat grass and hay and other things that I like, other animals eat meat which comes from... well, from other animals. Like the coyotes. They eat things like the squirrels that run around all over the place here, and the gophers, and even the bunnies. My mom explained to me that it's just how they're made. They have to eat those things or they'll starve. Well, I wouldn't want them to starve. I like the coyotes too. But I'd never eat a bunny.

I had a kind of funny experience today. My mom came out and got me out of my stall and gave me a nice hay snack. She brushed me and put some fly spray on me and cleaned my stall and gave me lots of attention. But then instead of riding me or turning me out, she put me back in my stall and got Sparky out. It was very odd. The hay truck had come by then so I had my dinner hay but I was still kind of concerned. My mom brought Spark to the Round Pen and free lunged him like she sometimes does and that was okay but then she took him away where I couldn't see her and the next thing I knew, I saw them out in the dressage arena and she was riding him!

Well, that upset me. I love Sparky and I know my mom loves him too, but I'm her special horse and if she's going to ride anyone, it should be me. I went right out into my paddock and whinnied loudly to let her know it but she pretty much ignored me and kept on riding. I tried to focus on my hay but I couldn't very well and every few minutes I had to go out in my paddock and whinny again. She did speak to me a couple of times in a nice voice which helped but it was still a funny feeling seeing her riding him. She even took him for a Poop Loop.

Still, it wasn't too long before she walked by my stall with him on his lead and I saw her put him back in the pasture. I watched with my head hanging right out of my stall so she'd be sure to see me there and she came right over once she'd let him loose and got me out. I was happy about that. I didn't want her to forget about me and I was kind of worried that I'd done something Bad and she was mad at me but she told me she just wanted to give Spark some exercise so that was okay.

She got me all cleaned up and put my duds on and then she attached my lunge line to my bit so I knew we were going to do some lunging. Well, that was all right. I like to lunge. We did a little work at the walk and trot both ways, then she stopped me and attached side reins to my bit.

I've lunged in side reins before but not for a long time. My mom used them when she first started riding me a lot to teach me that it's okay to have light contact on my mouth. Racehorses are used to being sort of propped up by their reins. The tighter the reins, the faster they go. It takes a while to get used to riding without that tight hold and at first, I did what my mom called "hanging on" the bit. I just felt like I had to have that bit really strong on my mouth so I'd reach and reach and reach down for it until my head was just about dragging on the ground just so I could feel that pressure. Gradually I got used to riding on a loose rein and then my mom began to teach me to accept contact which is different than that tight hold. The side reins helped me understand that.

Now she's using them to help me learn about accepting a bit more. It's kind of a reminder that I can go forward with that contact. It was fun. I'm a lot more experienced now so I don't fight the contact or try to evade it. Once I get used to the feel of the side reins, I can trot along nicely with my head and neck held nicely and I barely notice they're there. Then when my mom gets on me, she does the same thing with her hands. My mom never pushes me into more contact than I'm comfortable with and I like that. But I accept a lot more now than I did even just last year.

After our lunging, we did some riding in the dressage arena, practicing our contact and doing some laterals at the trot. It was fun, especially because my friend Favre and his mom were in there. Favre's mom is another special friend of my mom and Favre is a good friend of both me and Sparky. He's a Thoroughbred like me so he likes to do a lot of the same things and he was doing some of them today. Like bouncing when his mom asked him to canter. That's fun but I guess his mom doesn't like it any more than mine does because she brought him into the Round Pen to learn to Behave after he did it. Then they came back and rode more with us.

I behaved pretty well. I had one little bouncy incident but my mom settled me and then we did some fun work. Now that I'm in good shape, I find I love to trot. It's a nice, balanced gait and you can do it for a long time. My mom keeps it interesting by asking me to change direction a lot, or to do laterals or fun things like that. So we had a nice time and my mom was really happy with me. I forgot all about being mad that she rode Sparky.

After our ride, I was pretty sweaty and I wanted to roll badly. My mom knew it so she quickly took off my duds and brought me back out into the arena where I flung myself down and had a great roll. I dug my head right into that nice sand and kept rolling and rolling! Then I got up and shook off and kind of pranced a little bit. My mom patted me and then she asked if I wanted to do it again and I decided that sounded nice so I found another good spot and threw myself down again! My, it felt good!

Now I'm nice and cozy in my new bed. I had a good dinner and it's getting dark. The coyotes are singing out in the pasture and I think it's just about time I got some sleep.

Feeling fine and loving life

Do you like the picture I used for this post? I do. My mom took it the other day when I was standing outside my stall. I'm in really good shape now and I like the way you can see the definition in my muscles, especially where my front leg ties into my shoulder. I kind of look like I'm built downhill in this photo but I'm not really. I'm just standing at an angle. I'm actually nicely uphill which means that my Withers, which is that sort of roundish part at the top of my shoulders, are higher than the top of my butt. Being uphill helps a horse to move off its hindquarters rather than being heavy on its front legs. That makes the horse more comfortable to ride and also makes them move more nicely because they're pushing from behind and not thumping along in front.

Of course, I'm not vain. I think I'm a nice-looking horse but no more than a lot of other horses. What I like best is that I feel good. Last week, my mom and Dooley's mom took me out to the Round Pen and adjusted me. Dooley's mom adjusted all the places I'd told my mom about when I talked to her through that lady who was in my head. It felt so good! Normally, I'm kind of Bad for Dooley's mom. I don't mean to but it's very strange to have someone poke you and manipulate you like that. And she has to stand up on a thing to reach my back and that's odd, having her above me like that. I can't see her very well and I want to know what she's doing so I tend to wiggle. Plus we usually do it out on the road and I get distracted. Doing it in the Round Pen was better. I'm used to being in there and it's not so exciting.

But I also knew what she was trying to do. I never really understood that before. I knew she did things that felt pretty good but I also knew she hurt me sometimes. Well, that was just because she was trying to find the hurty places so she could fix them. I didn't put that together until I talked to my mom and she said she'd have Dooley's mom fix me. Then I realized that's what she'd been trying to do. She just didn't know how to find all the places I needed fixed.

So this time I tried to help. Instead of fussing and trying to watch, I moved my body so she could reach the hurty parts better. And I leaned into her hands when she was trying to push things around instead of trying to move away. She was really happy with me and petted me a lot. My mom was proud of me too and they both said they figured it was because me and my mom had been able to talk.

They made kind of a game out of it. My mom had made a list of all the places I'd said were hurty but she didn't tell Dooley's mom where they were. Dooley's mom examined me to find them and she found almost all of them. Then my mom told her what she'd missed and when she checked, sure enough she found that they needed adjusting too. After she was all done, I felt better than I've felt in a long, long time. My mom said so too. She says I'm using my hind end better than I ever have.

In fact, I feel so Good that I've been a little Bad. I was kind of bouncy under saddle but my mom didn't mind that so much. She knew it was just because I felt so good and I didn't really misbehave - I was just excited and happy to go. I didn't buck or rear or do Bad things. But the other day, she took me for a walk and I was Really Bad.

She got to the barn and took me out only to discover that I had some Hives. Hives are little lumps that you get sometimes. They're usually caused by a bug bite or by eating something that your tummy doesn't like. I'd gotten bitten by some nasty bug that bit me right in my belly where the girth of my saddle goes. I had a big lump there and some Hives on my neck and body. They weren't bad, and they didn't itch which Hives sometimes do. But my mom couldn't ride me with that lump there so she decided to give me a Bath. I needed one anyway and she figured it might help the Hives and the bite which was a little warm.

I like Baths. When you get a Bath, your mom gets you all wet with the Hose and then scrubs you and rubs you all over. You get to play in the water and my mom lets me drink out of the Hose which is lots of fun. Our Hose has a special thing on the end of it that my mom calls a Nozzle. We have it because Spark hates the water and is scared of the regular Hose which is attached to a big metal pipe that swings around over your head while your mom uses it. Our Hose doesn't do that and the Nozzle makes the water come out in different ways. It can come out really fast and kind of hard, or it can come out like rain does, all soft and misty. Or it can come out in a wide kind of spray that feels really good. Sparky doesn't mind that so much. He even kind of likes it when it's really hot outside. And I get to use the Nozzle too.

After my Bath, my mom took me for a walk to dry off. I was frisky and wanted to play or get turned out or do something fun. It had been a while since we went for a walk and sometimes when I haven't done something for a while I forget my Manners about it. And that's what happened. I kept trying to push ahead of my mom, or reach grass or hay by the side of the road, and every time I did something like that, she'd correct me. Well, that's what moms do but I started getting Mad about it and that made me behave even worse. Finally, when we were walking towards home and approaching the Round Pen, I got pushy again and my mom made me back up and I lost my temper. I bounced and struck, and then I reared!

Well, I knew right off that I'd gone too far. My mom yelled at me loudly and madly and she smacked me hard on my chest with the end of my lead rope. As soon as my feet hit the ground, she made me back up, really fast and really long, with her smacking me all the way and telling me in a mad voice, "I DON'T LIKE THAT!" Well, I know she doesn't and I should never have done it. As soon as I was done backing up, she put me in the Round Pen and made me run. I don't mind running - in fact, I love it - but I knew I was running because she was mad at me and I felt pretty terrible about it.

She made me run pretty briskly, making me go one direction, then the other, then back the other way, to show me that she was in charge of where my feet go and I better not forget it. Then she put my halter on and took me for another walk, along the exact same route as the first. You can bet I was a Very Good Girl for it.

One thing about my mom that I love, though - she was mad when I reared and she definitely let me know it, but once we were walking again and I was behaving, she treated me like she always treats me when I'm Good. She doesn't stay mad, and she is always fair. She even gave me a cookie when I stopped politely and stood quietly while she fixed her shoe.

It's all because I feel so darn good. I'm even happier doing Poop Loops. I'm still a little awkward walking down hills and I think I might always be. It just feels so weird. But I'm much more comfortable. It hurt in a lot of different places when I walked up and especially down those hills. And it made me wiggle a lot, looking for just the right way to step to make it hurt less. Now I can step right out and feel fine doing it. And once I find my balance, I can go down the hills pretty well. I just need to figure out where to put my feet to balance my long legs and body right.

Hopefully today we'll do some riding. My mom says I've been really Good under saddle and I've been enjoying what we do. We've been doing a lot of Lateral work which means going sideways and I like to go sideways. I do it quite a lot even when my mom doesn't ask me to because it's fun.

Ooh, I think I hear the Feed Truck which means I can have some food before we ride!