Back to the Pasture

Life was getting pretty boring in that stall. I'd forgotten how much I hated stall rest. At first it was kind of fun. I got to visit with some different horses and I didn't have to share my hay at all. But I couldn't walk around like I can in the pasture and browse for little bits of grass. I couldn't go out under the trees for my nap. I couldn't take a gallop across the hills. I was just stuck in a dumb old stall and paddock.

My mom came out every day and got me out and that was nice but it wasn't for long enough. I'm used to being out all day and all night. Only getting out for a few hours a day was starting to feel really stupid. She'd groom me, and feed me, and ride me, or walk me around and that was nice. And we'd go play on the tires or the teeter-totter bridge thing and that was fun. We'd go down to the other end of the ranch and she'd let me drink out of the water trough that has the fish in it. I like that one. The fish tickle your nose. I stick my nose deep in the water so it's right up to my eyes and I let the fish swim up to me and nibble on me. It doesn't hurt. They just want to see what you are and it feels funny. I love those fish! I wish we had fish in our water trough.

But I missed my friends and I especially missed my brothers. One day I saw Sparky and his girl walking by and I was so sad! Sparky's girl is nice and later she came in the barn and gave me some carrots and petted me but I was still kind of sad because I wasn't able to sniff Sparky's nose and let him know that I miss him. The paddock has a sort of steep hill at the edge of it so he couldn't come close enough. So I just stood there and looked at him. His girl took a picture. I guess I look pretty pathetic.

I also hated being in that dumb stall because when my mom took me out of it, I had to walk down the aisle with horses on either side all trying to bite my butt! All of them! I'd come out the stall door and I'd get nervous right away because I knew what was coming but my mom would make me stand there while she closed the door and the whole time I'd have my butt clenched up tight, just waiting for someone to bite it. Then she'd ask me to walk and I'd bounce forward so I could get out of there quick and she'd get mad at me! Can you imagine!? Here I was getting my butt bit right to pieces and she expected me to walk nicely down that aisle of rotten, savage, cannibalistic miscreants! It was very annoying. My mom is usually pretty good about understanding what I'm telling her but she's also a stickler for Manners and she said she didn't care if they chewed my butt to ribbons, I better walk nicely and not run her over or I'd be sorry.

To be fair, I never actually did get bit but it was a close thing and it's only because I'm quick on my feet. I'm sure of it. Anyway, it doesn't matter now because my mom came out on Thanksgiving and decided to put me back in the pasture.

It was a windy day but nice. She saddled me up and rode me all over the ranch the way she has been and I was very good, even though I'd been cooped up in a stall and the wind was blowing. I only startled once when a chicken appeared out of nowhere. I'm not afraid of chickens. I like them actually. They make nice sounds and sometimes they came in my stall which I liked because they were company. And sometimes they have baby chickens and they're really cute. There are some babies out there now, just little small fluffy yellow things that make a funny chirp, chirp, chirp noise. So I like chickens. But this chicken just popped out from behind a fence and startled me something awful.

There was a time that I would have bounced sideways and tried to take off running. I don't do that anymore though. For one thing, it's not Manners at all. But for another, I trust my mom. I could tell that she was a little startled too but she wasn't afraid and she was still nice and quiet on my back. So I startled - I couldn't help that - but it was just a quick startle in place. Then I saw it was a chicken and I went right on. I wasn't embarrassed. After all, even my mom was taken by surprise. And I knew I'd behaved well because she pet me and told me I was a Good Girl. So that was all right.

Once we were done, she checked my neck carefully and told me she was going to put me back out with my brothers. She said my neck was healing nicely and she poked it and it didn't even hurt. So she fed me my bucket outside like I usually get it and then brought me to the pasture gate. I was happy to be back in there. I stood by the gate a few minutes just looking up the hill at the herd and then I saw Sparky move away from the others and start toward me. I let out a big whinny and began running toward him and he whinnied in return with his deep, welcoming voice. We sniffed each other all over and squealed a little bit because we were so happy to see each other again. He sniffed my neck carefully and then Dooley came over and joined us and he and I sniffed each other and it was so good to be with them again! Then we all moved off together in our little herd and everything felt right with the world.

So now I'm happy again. Yesterday my mom came out to check on me and I was taking a nap. She walked up to me but I didn't feel like getting up so I just rolled up onto my chest and greeted her with a nicker. She petted me and scratched my withers for a while but she told me I didn't have to get up. She just wanted to check my neck which she did and said it looked fine. She stayed with me for quite a while just petting me and it was really nice. Then she went and said hello to Sparky. Sparky was off in another area of the pasture with Fargo and Fargo's brother and the little Palomino gelding whose name I've forgotten. They're all very nice but they're young and Sparky said he was going to Take Them Under His Wing. I'm not sure why he said that because he doesn't have any wings that I've ever seen but Dooley said that it meant Sparky was going to Show Them the Ropes. Well, I'm not sure what that means either. There aren't any ropes out here. There are a lot of fly masks because people keep putting them on their horses and we all take them off because pasture horses don't need fly masks. That's what Sparky says anyway. He says we should live like wild horses and wild horses don't wear silly masks. One horse has been wearing a blanket the past few days and she looks awfully embarrassed, poor thing. Some of the other horses snicker behind her butt but Sparky said we shouldn't because it's not her fault. It was her person who did it to her.

Anyway, what I think is that Sparky is teaching those young horses how to be good pasture horses like he taught me. He's letting them know where to poop and how to stay warm when it's cold and windy. He's showing them where they can find the best napping and rolling spots and how to stand guard over the herd. Sparky's good at all that stuff and he likes teaching the new horses because he says they need to learn to do things the right way so they don't endanger us by being foolish.

Dooley meanwhile was off being foolish.

So everything is back to normal and I'm glad of it. Hopefully my mom will come out today and we'll have some more nice times.

Light Work

Since I have this cut on my neck, I can't do my usual work which is carrying my mom around in lessons or working hard on the stuff we've learned. My mom says that if I do too much hard work or bending I might tear my stitches and that wouldn't be good. So I'm just doing light work and it's actually pretty fun.

Yesterday my mom came out and said she was happy with the way my neck looked. My doctor had said that there would probably be a lot of swelling but there wasn't any at all and it wasn't hot or tender either. That made us both happy. I don't like it when things hurt. My mom took me for a nice walk, leading me all over the ranch. It was fun. We walked out by the pasture and I got to see all my friends out there. I got to eat some grass where it's growing near the gate and that was wonderful. The grass is just starting to grow in the pasture but of course us horses eat it as soon as it comes up so there's not too much of it. This patch of grass was nice and thick and juicy and my mom let me eat a lot of it. It tasted so good and I was hoping Sparky would come over so I could show off how lucky I was. He was busy though. He's gotten pretty attached to a new mare now that Rose isn't in the pasture and he wouldn't leave her for a minute. The two of them were nibbling on some leftover hay from breakfast and he never even looked my way. I didn't mind. I'm glad he's found a new girlfriend.

Dooley wasn't in the pasture. He was with his mom, riding in the arena. My mom took me over there and we said hello then my mom let me walk across the teeter-totter bridge thing that I like to walk on. She took me over to one of the big tires on the ground next. Those tires are kind of strange. They're lying on their sides and the middle part is filled with dirt so that there's a sort of platform in it. You can see it in the picture on top. My mom and Dooley's mom have been trying to get us to put our front feet on those stupid tires forever but we've been stepping around them because it makes more sense to us. But yesterday, my mom led me over to one and I thought I might as well step on it. I was in a good mood and it didn't seem like a big deal. So I clomped up on it with my front feet and stood there and you would have thought I had discovered the cure for cancer the way she carried on.

People are so strange. They ask horses to do things that don't make any sense and make a big fuss over us when we do them. But other times they ask us to do things that are hard or unpleasant and just get mad if we don't like it. Or they ask us to do something fun and get upset if we like it so much we want to do it all the time. They're hard to figure out but once I knew that my mom was going to be so happy about it, I kept stepping up every time she asked.

After a while, Dooley and his mom came out of the arena and my mom had me show them how I was doing it. Dooley's mom made him watch then asked him to do it. Well, of course he did. He could see how excited they got over it and figured he might as well. Then our moms had to act all surprised and pleased as if they didn't think we actually paid attention to what the other was doing or talked about it amongst ourselves. I wish we could have shows where we could make our people do stuff. We could get them to do all kinds of foolishness.

Once we were done with all that, we went back to our tack shed and I had to stand around while my mom and Dooley's mom talked and talked and talked. I kept pawing because I wanted my bucket but my mom just yelled at me and finally smacked me with a stick when I wouldn't stop. I know I'm not supposed to paw but I was just trying to remind her that I was hungry and besides, Dooley got his food first which was really unfair. She didn't seem very impressed by that though.

Once Dooley went back out to the pasture, his mom Lasered my cut. I'll try to explain what that is though I really don't understand it. The Laser is a think about the size of a carrot and kind of shaped like one. It's attached to a bigger piece by a stiff sort of thin rope. Dooley's mom pushes some buttons on the bigger piece and then moves the carrot-shaped one over whatever part she's trying to heal. It feels kind of warm, especially on a cut, but it doesn't hurt at all and it makes things feel better. Some things feel better right away and that's how it was with my cut. I was pretty good and stood fairly still for it and they both told me I was a Good Girl which was some compensation for not getting fed. Dooley's mom gave me some carrot too which was even better compensation.

Then my mom put me back in my stall and gave me my bucket. I could tell there was some Medicine in it but it tasted okay so I ate it all.

Today when my mom came out, she saddled me up and rode me around the ranch. She said that my neck looked so good that it would be okay as long as we didn't work hard. It was a lot of fun. We walked all over the place and visited lots of horses. We went all the way to the far end where the paddocks are on the hill. There's a lane that runs along between the rows of paddocks and we went up the lane and across the top and down the lane on the other side. The last paddock before the end of the lane is where one of the Foals lives. She's pretty cute and I sniffed her nose. Her name is Belle which is a lot like Bella and her mom died when she was just a baby which is very sad. She had a nice foster mom though and now she's living on her own because she's old enough.

The other Foal is named Luna. She lived with her mom until recently when they got separated. That's what happens with Foals. They get taken away from their moms so they can learn to be grown-up horses. Luna goes out in a field next to the pasture so I get to sniff noses with her a lot. She used to be in there with her mom but now she goes in with Poncho who is a gelding in her family. He's really nice and takes good care of her. Luna lives in the same barn as me now and I can see her from my stall.

We rode up the other lane that goes behind the houses and next to more paddocks where we saw Soldier and some other horses I know. And we went out in the field where Luna goes because no one was out there and there's a road that leads out to the back pasture gate. We rode down to the main pasture gate too but I couldn't eat grass because I had my bit in my mouth and that's not Manners. Then we rode to the obstacle course and I went over the teeter-totter a few times and put my front feet on the tire things and I even backed all the way through the little road thing with the poles that mark the sides. That's not easy because it makes a turn about halfway through so you have to listen to your mom when she tells you to turn.

It was a nice time and I felt good when we were done. My mom cleaned my neck and put some gooey stuff on, then she put me away and fed me my bucket. I'm sorry I got hurt but at least I can spend my time doing fun stuff.

I Got To See My Doctor Today

As you can see, I got a cut on my neck. My mom came out to see me and of course when I heard her calling me, I came hurrying toward the gate. Dooley was already over there and I was afraid he'd get all my treats. Besides, she's my mom. I whinnied and kept coming and as I got closer, I heard my mom say, "Oh, Bella! Now what!?"

Well, I knew she was talking about my neck. I couldn't see it of course but I could tell it was kind of a big cut. I'd felt the blood running down my neck when I did it and it hurt. I'm not even sure how I did it. I was just hanging around with the other horses near the fence and it started hurting. Maybe it happened when I was trying to reach some grass through the wires. Or maybe I scraped it on one of the fence posts. I don't know. Sometimes you don't realize you've hurt yourself just when it happens but a little later, someone says, "Bella, you're bleeding" and you realize you must have.

Sparky had been concerned. He's always concerned when I hurt myself. He tries his best to look out for me but I am a big girl now so he tries not to baby me too much. He's been kind of preoccupied now that Rose isn't out in the pasture anymore. Sparky likes having a mare to be friends with. Not like me. I'm just his sister. He likes having a mare to be sort of his girlfriend. Rose was nice for that. They'd eat together and sometimes they'd groom each other. They always walked together and everyone knew that they were special friends and no gelding would try to get close to Rose, just like none of the other mares tried to be good friends with Sparky. That's how it is when you have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Dooley's mom sometimes calls me Dooley's girlfriend but that's just silly. We're just Best Friends and that's different. He's more like another brother but a kind of special one because we're a lot alike. I love Sparky and he's my Best Brother Ever but Dooley is kind of silly like me and we like to do things together because we do them the same way. So we like to share our bucket dinners and ride with our moms together and that sort of thing because it's more fun when you do things with a friend.

So anyway, Sparky had noticed right off that I hurt myself and Dooley was very interested because he wanted to know what I cut it on so he could go investigate. Like I said though, I wasn't sure. Then my mom came and took me out. We were supposed to have a Lesson but we couldn't because my neck was pretty swollen and it did hurt. My mom won't make me work if I'm hurt. She's really good about stuff like that. So she took me over to the Arena and told my Trainer that we couldn't ride today because I tried to slice my throat. That's what she said, which was silly. I wasn't trying to slice my throat at all. That would be a dumb thing to do. People say very strange things sometimes.

My Trainer is nice. He always pets me and tells me I'm a Good Girl. Plus he has a nice horse named Dakar who is a friend of mine. My Trainer never makes me do anything. He just stands in the Arena and yells at my mom while I carry her around. She makes me work pretty hard when he's yelling like that but I don't mind. I like to work. I'm learning how to do Dressage after all and you have to work hard to get good at that sort of thing.

My mom let me eat a pile of hay while we waited for my Doctor to get there. She hosed my cut to get it clean but then left it alone. Sometimes my mom takes care of my hurts herself but there's some things she can't do as well as my Doctor so she gets him out. I love my Doctor. Some horses don't like seeing the Doctor but I don't mind. My Doctor is really nice and he's very gentle. He never hurts me like some Doctors do and he's quiet and calm and makes me feel like everything is fine. My mom told him that she thinks I miss him sometimes and that's why I get hurt. That's kind of funny and I do like to see him but I don't get hurt on purpose. That would just be silly.

My Doctor gave me a shot that made me feel pretty funny. He sometimes does that when he has to take care of something and needs me to stand still. I'm pretty good about standing still but it's hard when your Doctor is doing something that hurts so the shot helps. It makes me feel sleepy and strange. It's not a bad feeling but it is kind of strange. I just press my nose up against my mom's chest and she pets my ears and tells me what a Good Girl I am. So that's what I did while my Doctor wiped the cut and got it all ready to stitch up.

That's what Doctors have to do with some cuts. They pull the skin back together and then tie it in place with pieces of stuff that's a lot like my tail hairs. They do it with a sharp thing that they poke through the skin. Then the stiff hair stuff goes through after the sharp thing and they tie it together. They call that stitches. I got about fifteen stitches, my mom said. I guess that's kind of a lot. I was a really Good Horse for the whole thing, even though the flies were bothering me a lot. They kept landing on my legs. I hate flies! I don't know why we have to have them. They're very stupid.

That's what it looked like after it was all stitched. It didn't really hurt at all at that point because the Doctor had given me that shot and he had also used some stuff right on the cut to make it not hurt. After it was all stitched up, he put some gooey stuff on it and then my mom put me in a stall. It's the same stall I was in last time I got hurt so I know both the horses on either side. There's a young Mustang gelding named Rocky on one side. He's a pretty nice guy, though I do make faces at him when he gets too nosy. He's kind of a blackish grey color, pretty handsome really. Then on the other side, there's a nice bay mare. I don't know what her name is but she's friendly and we like to stand together. I'm glad I'm near horses I know. I'd rather be out in the pasture with my brothers and my herd but my mom said I have to stay in here while my neck heals and I suppose she's right. So I have to make the best of it.

After all the shots and things wore off, my neck got kind of sore. It's not horrible but it is pretty uncomfortable. I guess I'm just accident prone. That's what my mom says anyway. I don't know why these things always happen to me. They never happen to Sparky and even Dooley doesn't get hurt as much as I do. I think it's just Bad Luck but my mom says I need to be more careful.

Still, it was nice to see my Doctor. I'm sure he was happy to see me too. Now I'm going to get some rest. It's been a long day.