After Sparky left in the Trailer, I rested in my stall. I was so tired! It was hot out that day and I'd gotten all worked up and sweaty. Dooley told me I was silly. He said he likes his Trailer and that every time his mom takes him somewhere in it, they have fun. I just couldn't believe it. The thing is, I liked going in Trailers when my mom just brought me in for a snack but a long time ago, before she was my mom, nobody every really let me think about it. They just rushed me in and took me off and lots of times I'd get out and be in a strange place with no one I knew around. Sometimes it was really bouncy and I was just little so it was scary too. I didn't like being a Racehorse. Only the running fast part.
A long time later, after feeding time, my mom and Dooley's mom came back. They had the Trailer but Sparky wasn't in it! My mom was nice to me but she didn't stay long and she didn't do anything fun with me. She just brought me my bucket dinner and then Dooley's mom got him out and put him in that Trailer and off they went again! It was so awful. My brother and my best friend were gone and who knew where? Grace was no help. I tried to talk to her about it but she just called me a big baby and went back to her hay. That wasn't really fair. I'm a year older than Grace so it's stupid for her to call me a baby.
The next day I waited and waited all day long for my mom to come. I ate my breakfast, and I took my nap, and I stood in the sun in my paddock missing Dooley, and I ate my dinner and still no mom. Finally she got there and I was so happy and relieved! I thought now we could get back to normal. She got me out and we played some games. They were a lot like the games Indy's mom wanted to play with me but there was no Trailer so I didn't mind. My mom would stand near a gate and tell me to go through it and if I didn't, she'd gently tap my butt with her dressage whip and then I'd go and stand quietly. Then she'd ask me to go through the other way.
She asked me to do that in a lot of places. One time, she asked me to go into a funny place near the Winery. A Winery is a place with big metal barrels that reach higher than my stall. Lots of times it smells very strange; kind of a tart, juicy smell, and there's clanging and banging and people working. It wasn't like that this time but there's a sort of overhanging part of the roof and under it there's lots of stuff and it's not really a place you expect to have a horse go. But my mom asked me. I was a little nervous about it but she was patient and I finally went in. After two or three times, I got relaxed about it and even stood quietly inside it. She praised me a lot and gave me a piece of carrot so that was nice. I thought if we could only play games like that, instead of stupid games with Trailers, life would be fine.
We went back to my stall and she put me in the Round Pen while she cleaned my stall. Then, wouldn't you know it, a Trailer rolled up! It wasn't Dooley's trailer though. It was Patch and Orion and Lightning's Trailer. Lightning was on it and I watched him come off like it was no big deal and go back to the pasture. My mom was talking to Lightning's mom and then she came and got me and brought me to that Trailer and asked me to get on it!
I love my mom a lot. I really do. But I did not want to get on that darn Trailer. I wasn't really afraid. It was more like I just wanted to go home and eat my bucket dinner and have everything be normal and nice. But then Lightning's mom took my lead and she asked me to go on.
Lightning's mom is really nice but she expects a horse to do what she asks it to. I stopped at the trailer door and wouldn't go in and she was patient and just stood there, offering me a carrot if I'd step in. I'd step right up to the door but I was determined that my feet would not go inside it. I can be kind of stubborn. And I can be stubborn for an awful long time. But I found out Lightning's mom can be pretty stubborn too.
When I got sick of being asked, I reared up and pulled back and oh boy was that a mistake! Lightning's mom came out of that trailer like a shot and she jerked my lead rope and made me back up pronto, yelling at me that I better not do THAT again! I didn't either. She nearly scared me to death. Then when I stopped pulling and stood, she let me stand there and then came up to me quietly, pet me and then led me right back to where I was.
Well, I tried everything to keep from going in that Trailer. I fought and I pulled and once I got loose and ran all over the hill which was pretty fun. But my mom came and got me and she handed the lead right back to Lightning's mom and back we went to that darn Trailer.
It got dark. I don't much like the dark but there were lights inside the Trailer which actually made it almost look like a nice stall. My bucket was in there, and carrots, and hay and shavings but by now it was Principle. I didn't want to lose. Neither did Lightning's mom though. She never got mad at me, except when I pushed my butt at her, or crowded her, or nipped. But once she let me know that wasn't all right, she was nice and quiet and just kept asking me to go in. She'd stand by my head and give a light tug on my halter and say, "Load up." I was loosely tied to the inside of the trailer with a long rope so I could go right in but I just plain didn't want to. It got chilly and my mom and Lightning's mom put on sweatshirts and just kept right on standing there, waiting for me.
I was tired. And I was hungry. And I knew finally that no one was going to take me back to my stall. I'd either have to stand there for the rest of my life or I'd have to go on that Trailer. Lightning's mom took my halter and quietly said, "Load up," and to my own surprise, I got in.
Not all the way. My back feet were still on the ground. But she just patted my rump and told me I was a Good Girl. I liked the sound of that. I came back out and stood there and she let me. Then she quietly asked me again to load up and I went partly in again. I did that a few times and then I just decided I was sick of it all and I walked in and stood there.
Lightning's mom and my mom told me what a Good Girl I was and they shut the door. I didn't feel like a Good Girl. I felt miserable. I was so scared I couldn't eat my bucket, though I did eat the carrots. I kicked a bit, and I kept moving around restlessly as we began to move but I knew I was trapped in there and there wasn't a thing I could do. I hoped my mom wasn't selling me to Lightning's mom. She's nice but I love my mom.
We rode and rode. I smelled the night air and tried to figure out where I was but I've never been anywhere so it was all strange. Once in a while I'd smell horses and that was encouraging though they weren't any horses I knew. Then finally we went over a short, bumpy way and the Trailer finally came to a stop.
When the door opened, Lightning's mom was there but so was my mom and that was a relief. It was really dark but I could tell I was in a strange place. I clambered off the Trailer and my mom led me around a little bit. Then she took me along a kind of long, dark road that went up a hill. It was scary and I pulled a bit but she was firm and told me to walk so I did. We turned up another short hill and I could see a fence and a shed ahead of me, and then all of a sudden, I saw Sparky and Dooley behind the fence! I let out a big whinny and they called back to me. I was so happy! I couldn't believe it! My mom put me in with them and I quickly trotted around the area - it was a big field like a turnout but not flat all over. There was a hill and two shelters in it, and on the other side of the fence, I could see more horses. But just now I was happy to see my brother and my friend and I didn't care about anyone else except my mom.
The boys showed me where the water was and I got a drink. It was a nice big bucket that I could stick my whole head in, just how I like to. That's it in the picture above, with Spark and Dooley standing there. Then they showed me the shelters and where to poop and stuff, and they said it was our pasture! So I'm a Pasture Horse now. It's pretty nice. I've never been a Pasture Horse before.
That's all of us at the water trough. We do everything together because that's what you do in a Herd. I even have a Job! I'm the Herd Mare. Sparky said so. He's the Poop Leader - he tells us where we should poop. And Dooley is the Nap Leader. He tells us when it's time to nap. I'm not sure what the Herd Mare is supposed to do but the boys said I'm doing fine.
I love my Pasture. I can walk around, or stand in the shelter, or trot up the hill. Or I can visit our Neighbors. We have Neighbors on both sides. They're all really nice. One of them is a mare who's going to have a Foal. She's really fat. She said that's because the Foal is inside her and she can't wait till it comes out because it's ridiculous being that fat! She's nice and I can't wait to see her Foal!
The day after I arrived, my mom came to see me. We'd had a nice breakfast and were standing in the shelter swishing flies. There are lots of flies in a Pasture. You wouldn't believe it. I hate flies. They're dumb. Dooley's mom had come earlier and taken him out and me and Spark whinnied for him and he whinnied back but off they went. We were afraid she'd take him away in that Trailer again. Then my mom came and got me out.
I was kind of nervous too, and Spark was yelling his head off because he was left all alone. But we went down the hill and there was Dooley with his mom. He whinnied to me and I whinnied back and then my mom groomed me really well and led me all around the place. It's nice. There's lots of horses and even Ponies. There are Ducks, and Cats, and Chickens too. I was jumpy at first but I relaxed after a while and my mom said I was really Good. She brought me back up to the Pasture with Dooley and then go Spark out. Later, when he came back, he said she rode him. I guess we live here now.
It will be strange not to see my friends at my old home. Grace, and Indy, and Indian, and Tissimo, and Misty. But I think it's going to be nice here. I hope we never leave because I like it and because I don't ever want to go on another Trailer as long as I live!
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