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!
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