Lately my mom and I have been doing a lot of different things. I like it. For quite some time, we worked mainly in the Dressage arena, doing a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Things like Transitions - that's when you go from one gait to another, like from a walk to a trot, or a trot to a canter, or the other way, from a trot to a walk for example. Or stuff like Laterals - shoulder-in and leg yielding and circles and stuff. All that stuff was fun and I like doing it and we still do it, but now we're doing other stuff too.
I know why we worked on that stuff so much. It's the Basics. Horses need to know how to do those things correctly. All horses do, not just Dressage horses like me. Lesson horses, and Trail horses, and Jumpers and Show horses all need to know how to do those Basics. So they're very important and we worked on them a lot because when you do that, they kind of become Habit. I realized that today when we were in the Main arena and my mom asked me to trot. I used to get really excited about going fast when I was in the Main arena, and I'd bounce, or go sideways, or try to buck. But today, I just moved right into a trot without thinking about it because I know my Basics.
Working in the Main arena is one of those things we've been doing more of. It's fun and I like it. There's usually some other horses working in there and that's always interesting, and lots of times they're having a lesson. We try to keep out of the way when horses are having lessons but it's pretty easy in that arena because it's so big. So you can move in your own big circle while they move in theirs, but you still get to watch them and pass them sometimes and stuff.
I like it too because I see lots of horses that I don't normally see. It seems like certain people take their horses to certain arenas. So while me and Sparky and Dooley and Misty and some other horses ride in the Dressage arena a lot, a whole other set of horses go in the Main. And that's fun.
Today, Sparky's Mom was there too and she took Sparky so we both rode in the Main arena together. That was great. My mom is really happy with me because I'm nice and relaxed in there now and pay good attention to her. I don't even get bothered when other horses trot or canter right past me. I just keep walking or doing whatever she had me doing. We did some good trot work and watched some kids having a lesson and then we rode home. But yesterday, after we rode in the Main arena, we went on a little bit of a Trail ride.
My mom rode me out the gate on the side by where the string horses live. We don't usually go that way so it was kind of exciting. There's a little trail that branches off and goes along the hill above the Main arena and below the Jump arena. It can be kind of scary because if there's a horse in the Jump arena, you can hear it but can't see it. But I'm lots better about those things now because I trust my mom so I just walked along happily, though I was alert and looking around. She lets me do that because she knows I'm Curious.
That little trail comes out right near Misty's stall, by the gate to the Jump arena. We rode toward the Gremlin arena and then my mom asked me to go through the gate and up toward the Trail! That was terribly exciting. I had to stop a few times and look around a lot but I did it and was good about it too. I didn't try to run or spook or bounce or anything.
Partway up, there's a spot where the ground levels off and there's a big hole full of water. My mom calls it a Pond. Usually when we go on Trail rides, we go past it and up the big long hill, but this time my mom headed me toward the Pond and I saw that there's a little trail that goes along beside it. I remembered that I'd been that way once or twice before but it's been a long time so I was pretty interested.
I could see down the hill right into the Jump arena which was strange, and the Pond was right next to me down a little hill. There were birds sitting right on top of the water and that made me feel funny. I wondered how they did that. My mom called them Ducks and said they were swimming but they looked like they were just sitting there. I didn't really trust them but I do trust my mom so I kept going.
Then we saw a Jump. It was like a tree lying down on the ground and we walked around it but up ahead there was another one and it was smaller. My mom asked me to walk over it and I did and she told me I was a Good Girl. I felt like one. It's pretty exciting to go over Jumps, even if you're only walking.
When we got to the end of the Pond, the trail curved around to follow it but we went straight, across a hill covered with dried grass and weeds and stuff. It led to another Trail that goes up the same way as the big hill Trail but we went down it and ended up right back at the place where the string horses live! I was surprised. I didn't think we were anywhere near there and it was kind of funny. But I was relieved because it's a little stressful to not know where you are.
That's the sort of stuff we've been doing and it's been fun. Another kind of odd thing is that Sparky's Mom has been coming out and cleaning my stall and stuff but instead of that meaning that my mom isn't coming, my mom just comes later and rides me. It's nice of Sparky's mom to do that and I'm a little less frantic when she does now because I know it doesn't necessarily mean I won't see my mom. Sparky's mom even brought me a stall snack one of those days, a peppermint one which is my favorite. That's me eating it in the picture.
The only bad thing is that I have a dumb lump on my elbow. My mom calls it a Capped Elbow and she said it comes from lying down lots and maybe pressing against it with the back of my shoe when I curl up. She's putting more shavings in my bed - and I generally have a nice bed anyway so now it's really soft - and she put bell boots on me to try to keep my hooves from hitting it. I hated wearing them in my stall though, and today she brought me something else. It's a boot for just the one foot on that side, and it slips on over my hoof and tightens up around my ankle. It's not annoying like the bell boots - I hardly notice it's there - and it covers the whole shoe and not just part of it. I hope it helps because I don't like having this ugly lump on me, even if it doesn't hurt.
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