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.