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.