Trail Horse!

Well, my Shoe Man finally showed up and put a nice new set of real shoes on me so I'm back to work. I didn't like those stupid glue-on shoes. They were dumb and ugly. I don't like ugly things. I like to look nice. I have a pretty bridle with a pink, glittery browband and sometimes my mom puts pink sparkly hoof polish on me. I have red boots and red rhythm beads and lots of red saddle pads. So when I got those dumb black ugly glue-on shoes, I wasn't very happy. They looked stupid and felt funny. I was glad to get them off. My mom wasn't real happy but she got over it. And now I have pretty metal shoes with fashionable clips on them. I like the way they make a clop-clop sound when I walk.

Since I got them, my mom and I have been riding the trails more and more. I love it! It's so much fun out there. My mom says I've become a Trail Warrior. That's a good thing judging by the way she says it. She likes the fact that I don't mind going out on the trails alone with her. I guess some horses get fussy when they go alone. That's pretty stupid if you ask me. I like it. I'm not alone anyway; I'm with my mom and I love being with her. Plus there's so much to see and we get to trot and canter and it smells really good out there.

There's a big long hill that leads up to where the trails start and my mom lets me trot or canter up it. I like to go a little faster up the hills because it's easier that way and it feels good. My mom pretty much lets me pick my pace which is very nice of her and I'm good about it. If she doesn't want me to run, I just walk nicely but if she doesn't care, I start going and she leans forward and grabs some mane and off I go. I think she likes it as much as I do.

When you get to the top, there's a sign with a picture of a Mountain Lion on it.

Sparky says that Mountain Lions eat horses and that you have to be very careful about them. He says they hide a lot and that's why horses should be wary of things like plastic bags or ponds because there might be a Mountain Lion hiding in them. I've never seen a Mountain Lion but he saw one once when he was out on the trails with my mom. He said it crossed the trail right in front of them but he wasn't going to stop or turn around because he was headed home and he wanted his dinner so they can't be that bad. Anyway, my mom wouldn't let a Mountain Lion eat me. And even if there was one on the trail, there are lots of people walking or leading Dogs and people and Dogs are lots slower than me so I think they'd get eaten first. Then the Mountain Lion wouldn't have any room for me.

It's really pretty out on the trail. One day, my mom and I rode out to the Hayfields. That's what she called it. It was a place where the trail ran through open fields instead of woods. It was pretty and looked like a nice place for a gallop but there were a lot of people walking so my mom said it would be rude to gallop past them all. We rode around then took a different trail home and that one had some nice hills and flat places where she let me trot and canter. So that was good. Whenever you go up a hill, you usually have to go down one not long after. My mom says hills are good exercise and I think she's probably right. You have to work harder going up them and you have to going down them too. You'd think going down would be easy but sometimes it's hard to keep your balance and footing, especially when you have a person on your back. I'm good at it now and my mom even lets me trot down hills sometimes as long as they're not too steep.

I've never seen a Mountain Lion on the trail but I have seen Deer. I like Deer. I've always wanted to get close enough to one to sniff it but they never stand still long enough. They're so pretty! And they're kind of like horses. They eat grass and hay, and they have four legs like we do. But some of them have sticks poking out of their heads which is very odd. I thought they must have got tangled in a tree but Sparky says they grow them and use them to protect themselves. I don't think I'd like that. I'd probably bash them on everything.

Anyway, we had Deer that would come in our Pasture and I got to see them a lot. Sometimes they'd have babies. The babies are very cute. They're kind of like baby horses because they can't stand up very well at first and have really long legs. They bounce around with their moms and their tails flap back and forth just like baby horses' tails do. I liked to watch them. Some of them had spots which made them look even cuter. But every time I tried to get a closer look, all the Deer would just bound away. You can't get very close to them. Here's a picture of one my mom and I saw on the trail. It was the kind with sticks on its head.

A couple of days ago, we went for a trail ride with Dooley and his mom. That was exciting! I hadn't been able to do anything with Dooley since we moved to this dumb place except for eat a bucket and ride in the dressage arena a little bit. I knew we were going trail riding because my mom was only carrying one stick. When we do dressage, she carries two sticks. That way, she has one on either side of me so if she needs to tap me with one, she doesn't have to switch hands. But when we go out on the trail, she only carries one because she just uses it to flick the flies off my ears and belly.

I was happy and I set off at my usual fast walk with Dooley hustling to keep up. We rode down by the Pony Arena and I thought we were going to go in it and I was a little disappointed but we went right past it and down a little lane that led to a Road. It was a paved Road. I've seen those before. There was one at our old barn, the one before the barn with the big Pasture. Sometimes we'd ride down the little road that led out of the barn area and down to the paved Road. Lots of cars go on paved Roads and you have to be careful because they go pretty fast. I'm not scared of course because I have my mom with me and she wouldn't let me get bonked by a car but they are more dangerous.

This one didn't have any cars on it though except for one which went by just before we reached it. We rode along it a little way and my mom and Dooley's mom kept talking about a trail and then my mom asked me to go through some grass and brush by the side of the Road and it brought us to a little trail so that must have been what they were looking for.

Well, I was ready to go then. I know what a trail means. It means fun! I was still leading the way and I got going in my big walk and off we went. The trail led along a fence on one side and that Road on the other. At one point, it went over a kind of deep ditch and it turned to wood there. It was kind of funny. The wood trail went over the ditch and on either side there was a little fence. I guess that was to keep horses from falling off into the ditch. I just clomped across it and my hoofs sounded funny and hollow but I didn't care because when you're on a trail, you just go where the trail takes you. My mom called to Dooley's mom that it was the first time I went across a Bridge so I guess that's what a wood trail is called but I've been on wood things before. At our old barn, we had a wood thing that I liked to walk across and it moved up and down when you walked across it. My mom called it a teeter-totter. So I don't see why a dumb old Bridge is so special.

It was a very nice trail. It went around some little curves and up hills and along the Pasture fence. I trotted up some of the hills but after a while my mom asked me to walk because we were with Dooley and his mom and it wasn't Manners to just go fast. There were some houses on one side and one of them had a loud machine outside that my mom said was a Generator. I stopped for a minute and looked at it but she asked me to go on so I did. I'm not afraid of noises. It went right through one of the Vineyards too and up to the top of a hill. Vineyards are where people grow grapes which are a kind of fruit that I don't like. They grow on pretty bushes though.

Then a Deer jumped out of the bushes at the side of the trail and ran away. Me and Dooley weren't afraid of that either. We're used to Deer. But it made it more interesting and I like that. By this time, the trail had moved from sort of open, brushy country to nice woods with tall, thick trees. It curved in and out around the trees and you had to be careful not to knock your mom's legs on them because the trail was pretty narrow. I kept walking along in my nice fast trail walk but I never knocked my mom's legs on anything.

All of a sudden, the trail connected with another trail and I knew where we were. We had wound around and come out on one of the trails that starts at the opposite side of the ranch than where we'd started. That was fun. We rode along that trail which is pretty flat and my mom said we'd walk so we could cool off because we'd done quite a lot of trotting. I would have liked to trot because it's a nice wide flat place but she said no so I didn't.

When we came down from the trails, we could see the Pond below us so we knew we were almost home. I like the Pond. Sometimes there are Ducks in it.

So that's what I've been doing. I like being a Dressage Horse and a Trail Horse. Both are fun and I'm getting better and better at them.

My recent shoe saga

I've had a couple of scuffs since I moved into this field. Nothing serious. It's just the usual sort of thing that happens when you're getting to know new horses and as you can see, my mom put a nice Band-Aid on this one. Since I've learned how to be a Pasture Horse I wasn't too surprised but it was a little intimidating moving into a new situation without Sparky and Dooley. I've never lived with other horses without them being around too.

I didn't realize how much they took care of me, to be honest. When we moved into that first little Pasture and it was just the three of us, I kind of bossed them around a little and they let me. Then when our moms opened the gate so we could go into the big Pasture with the other horses, it wasn't really very different because we'd all been sniffing each other over the fence for a couple of months so we weren't strangers. I didn't know much about Herd Rankings at that point and I didn't think about it much because Sparky and Dooley were leaders of our Herd and they made sure I had plenty of hay at feed time and a spot under the shelter when it rained. I didn't realize that the other horses were letting me get those things because of Spark and Dooley. I just thought it was nice that I was cozy and dry and had a full belly.

When we moved to the last place before this one, it was different. We all got moved into a Pasture that had a big Herd in it and we didn't know any of the horses. Me and Dooley wanted to go meet them right off but Spark wouldn't let us. He said it would be better if we kept to ourselves for awhile to get used to the new place and learn our way around. I was kind of mad about that but I did what he said because he's my brother and he knows more than me and Dooley did too because he didn't want to be the only one meeting a new Herd. So for a few weeks, we just stayed in a little Herd of three. There was lots of grass in that Pasture at the time and the guys didn't even give us any hay so there was no reason to join the big Herd so we didn't. Then our friends Rose and Enzo moved in. We'd known them from the other place as you know so now we were a Herd of five.

We did eventually join the big Herd and made a lot of friends. I learned a lot about being a Pasture Horse there and got very comfortable with it. But it was still a little scary moving into this field. I had been living in a stall as I mentioned in my last post, and I liked it well enough. It was a pretty big stall, lots bigger than the one I'd lived in before I became a Pasture Horse. It had a pretty big paddock attached to it and I could go outside in the paddock whenever I wanted to. My paddock shared a fence on each side with another horse, and the back fence of the paddock shared a fence with a horse just across from me. That horse's paddock had two horses on each side of her, so all of us were able to sniff noses with lots of other horses. It was very nice.

I soon made friends with all my neighbors but my best neighbor was the mare across from me. Her name was Haiku and she was a bay Thoroughbred mare like me! We had lots in common and after she got over her habit of charging at me, we became great friends. We spent a lot of time visiting over the fence and grooming each other. Sometimes when my mom took me out to ride, Haiku would call to me. It made me feel bad that she missed me but I was happy to get out and do things with my mom.

One thing my mom did was take me trail riding. We'd only been there a day or two when she first took me out. It was exciting. I hadn't been on a trail with my mom in a long time. She'd ridden me once or twice on the trails in my big Pasture but this was different. This was on trails that weren't on our Ranch at all.

It used to be when we lived here before that I'd behave badly on the trails. My mom said I got them mixed up with the Sixth Race at Belmont. I'm not entirely sure what that means but I did like to gallop on them and I'd get mad when she wouldn't let me. She'd let me gallop up a hill and then when we got to the top, she'd ask me to walk. I'd get mad and I'd start jigging and bouncing and twirling and rearing and bucking and generally being a pill. It was because I wanted to go fast but it wasn't safe to go fast once we were at the top of the hills because then the trail goes downhill. I was just young though, and I didn't know.

Also, I wasn't an experienced Pasture Horse then so I didn't know how to walk downhill efficiently, or pick my path on the trail, so my mom had to spend a lot of time directing me which was a pain for her and annoyed me. So trail riding wasn't much fun for either one of us.

Now though, I'm a really Good Girl out on the trail. I know how to pick a path and pay attention to where I'm going and I have a good, fast walk that my mom loves. When she asks me to trot or canter on a flat part or up a hill, I do it and it's lots of fun but I don't make a fuss when she asks me to slow back down to a walk. And I know how to walk downhill so well that my mom can let me pick my way while she keeps my reins nice and loose. In fact she keeps them loose for the whole ride and just lets me swing along. It's so much fun!

Sometimes we see other riders on the trail. It might be one or two riders or it might be a whole long line of horses with young kids or beginners on them, being led by one of the Ranch Workers on a lead horse. We always pass them politely and keep going on our way. It's interesting to see other horses but I don't try to join them or follow them. I have enough fun with just my mom.

We also see people on Bicycles. Bicycles are strange. They're slim metal things with a wheel in the front and another in the back. A person sits on them between the two wheels and they roll along the trail, sometimes pretty fast. I don't mind them unless they come around a corner unexpectedly but even then I don't spook or anything. It just startles me for a moment. But then I see that it's a Bicycle and let it pass us going whichever direction it's going. They don't hurt anything.

Same with people walking. I used to worry when I saw them. I thought maybe they lost their horses and I worried that the poor horses might be lost out on the trail. But since then, I've learned that some people like to walk instead of ride horses. I don't know why. You'd think they'd get tired and lonely but a lot of them do it. Some of them bring Dogs with them so they at least have that.

Anyway, one day my mom got me out of my stall and brought me down to the area near the Pasture and the field. She didn't put me in the field though. Instead she put me in the Round Pen and went and got Sparky. She put him in with me. That was nice. We had a nice visit and we both rolled. After a while though, I saw our Shoe Man's truck and trailer drive up so I knew it was time to get new shoes.

That was good because I'd lost my back shoes at the other Ranch and hadn't had them replaced. My feet were doing okay. They were a little tender where the ground was hardest but they weren't bad. Still, I was happy I was going to get shoes put on them because I'm a lot more comfortable with them.

However, instead of putting my usual shoes on, my Shoe Man used a very strange kind of shoe. He called them glue-on shoes. They were made of a hard but flexible black stuff, kind of like the tires that my mom had me step up on at the last Ranch. First he trimmed my feet very carefully and then he put a bunch of soft, slimy stuff into the shoes. They had thin sides that reached up over the sides of my hooves and he held onto them for a long time while the soft stuff dried. Then he put my hoof down and added more soft stuff. That was the glue and he said it would keep the shoes on until the next time I needed to be trimmed. This is what they looked like.

My mom was curious because I am pretty good at getting shoes off. So she asked him specifically if they'd stay on and he said, "I've never lot one." I thought that was pretty interesting. I don't actually try to get my shoes off but I do lose a lot of them. I wondered if they'd stay on me like they do other horses.

Once I was done, my mom brought me back to my stall for a while but later that day she brought me back down and put me in the field. I wasn't quite prepared for that. Still, I tried to do what Sparky and Dooley had taught me when meeting new horses. I stood in one place and let the other two horses come over to me. When they did, I sniffed noses politely and didn't get mad or grumpy. They were polite too. None of us squealed or bit or tried to kick. It seemed like a good start.

After that, I explored the field. It's nice and big! Not as big as a Pasture but there's plenty of room to run around. I cantered around the whole thing a couple of times and Kass and Freedom got excited and cantered with me. It was fun. I got kind of hot and worked up running so my mom took me out after a while and hosed me off but she put me back in again afterward. By that time, I was a little anxious because I had gotten the feeling that she was going to leave me there and I was a little afraid about being in a strange field with strange horses without my mom or Sparky and Dooley there too. My mom stayed for quite a long time, just sitting in a chair and letting me know she was there but she finally left. I followed her car along the fence line and I probably looked pretty pathetic but not long after that the guys came and threw hay into our feeders. That made me feel better. It was nice to know I'd still get hay. Both the guys were a little pushy about the food - they'd eat at one feeder for a while and then chase me away from mine so they could eat there. But I just went to the feeder they'd left so it was okay.

My mom came back the next day and checked me all over. I was fine and she gave me a bucket and groomed me. She didn't ride me that day. She said she wanted to let me get used to the field before she took me out for too long. But then she came the day after that and I'd lost two shoes.

I lost the right front shoe and the left rear. I'm not sure how it happened. I never am. One minute I'm walking around minding my own business and the next, I have a loose shoe. And then all of a sudden it falls off. I just can't help it.

My mom was amazed and she called my Shoe Man and he was amazed too. He said I should be in the Olympics for throwing shoes. I don't know what the Olympics are but it sounds like a compliment. Anyway, my mom couldn't ride me then because I was so uneven it felt like I was limping even though I wasn't really. She tried putting some Boots on my bare feet and riding me that way but the dumb Boots got all twisted around and felt weird. I was good about it and didn't fuss but Dooley's mom who was riding him with us noticed that I had some blood where one of them was rubbing. My mom felt bad about that but it wasn't anything serious. Still, she got right off and took those dumb Boots off.

My Shoe Man wasn't able to come right out and fix things so I was uneven for several days. Then I lost the other rear shoe. That was lots better though my mom didn't seem to think it was as nice as I did. She couldn't believe I got another shoe off but she decided that she might as well try to get the last one off too so my feet would be the same all the way around. She got some tools and fussed with it and finally got it. But my front feet are very tender without shoes. She rode me bareback in the dressage arena where it's nice and soft but I can't stand being on the road or the trail. It was nice in the dressage arena though. She let me look at myself in mirror and I got to check the letter B for water. One time when we used to live here, I found water in the top of the letter B so I like to look in case there's more. Besides, B is for Bella.

So now I'm just waiting until my Shoe Man can get out and put some more shoes on me. My mom says we're not going to use those dumb glue-on shoes again. She was just using them so my feet would grow out enough to put regular shoes on and they have now because they're a lot more healthy at this Ranch. I hope it's soon because I want to go back out trail riding and work on our dressage. It's nice sometimes to just hang out with friends but I like to work.

Back at our old barn

I'm really a rotten blogger. I just get so busy! But right now I don't have any shoes on so I'm not doing much. I'll tell you how that came to be but first I'll tell you about our move. That's my nose sticking out of the Trailer up there on Moving Day.

All of us really liked the place where we were with its big pasture. It had lots of nice places to graze or to nap or to stand in the shade. The herd was quite nice too. A couple of the mares were bossy but Sparky says that's how mares are supposed to be. They weren't very bossy to me. In fact, they seemed to like me and I got used to standing with some of them, swishing flies off each other or standing on guard while they napped. Then I'd lay down and take a nap and they'd guard me. That's how it's done in a herd. Everyone has to take part in keeping the herd safe.

Sometimes we'd see Wild Animals. There were Deer, which are very pretty. I used to see deer at our old barn but only from my stall or a turnout. I was never in the same area where I was able to really see them or get close enough to sniff them. They didn't let me sniff them in the pasture either but I could sniff where they'd been. They smell very wild. They're small, smaller than horses, with tiny, thin legs and delicate noses. But they're very strong. You can tell. They have solid muscles in their body and especially their neck and hind parts. When they run, they sort of bounce and they go very fast, even the little ones. I liked seeing the Deer.

There was also a Bobcat. It was a girl Bobcat - you could tell because she had Bobkittens. They were cute but kind of scary. The Bobcat was lots bigger than a regular cat and it would sometimes catch the Chickens and eat them. Sparky said that Bobcats won't hurt horses but if I ever saw one that had a long tail, I should watch out because that's not a Bobcat, it's a Mountain Lion and they do eat horses. Well, I don't want to be eaten. It sounds awful and for awhile after he told me that, I felt kind of bad about grazing because I thought the grass might feel the same way. But Dooley said I was silly and grass can't tell if it's being eaten or not so I felt better. I was glad too because I really like grass.

It was a great pasture. Sometimes our moms would come and call us and we'd see them way down below by the gate. I'd whinny happily but Dooley said that sometimes it's better not to go when they call us because then they'd get to come out to where we were and see how nice the pasture was and how happy we were. So we'd wait for them and they'd get to take a nice walk up the hill and spend some time outdoors. Dooley says it's important to make sure your mom gets good exercise and that makes sense. After all, my mom makes sure I get good exercise so it's only fair that I do the same for her.

Sometimes we'd get new horses in the pasture. Chance was one of them. He's a black Arab and when he moved in, he was kind of dumb. He didn't know how to behave in a pasture. Sparky tried to teach him. This is Sparky telling him to stop being silly.

The only problem there was that I couldn't seem to keep my shoes on. My mom got a new Shoe Man for me and I really like him and she does too. He's very careful with my feet and makes sure my hoofs are nicely trimmed and balanced. He'd put beautiful new shoes on me and I'd feel so good but within a week, I'd lose one. Then my hoof would break and chip and there would be nail holes in it which would make it hard to put another shoe on so the shoe would come off even easier.

My mom was getting frustrated and she said my feet were very dry. Dooley's mom said his were too and that was unusual because Dooley never has problems with his feet. Even my doctor said they were too dry. So our moms started spraying water on our feet and then putting smelly oily stuff on and that helped a little but I still dropped shoes. My mom said it was because of the soil. She said the soil in that particular valley was made up of something called Alum which is very dry and pulled the moisture out of my feet. She and Dooley's mom decided it was time to move again.

We didn't know that we were moving but we did know something was up. You can always tell with people. They can't hide anything. For one thing, they started pulling out that stupid Trailer and asking me to get on it. Well, I don't trust Trailers. As you know, I had a Bad Experience when we moved the first time and I've never felt comfortable in them since. My mom worked and worked with me on several occasions over a couple of weeks leading up to the move. Some days I'd go right on. Other days I didn't want anything to do with the darn thing. But she kept trying. It was very dumb and I didn't like it one bit.

The boys were nervous too. We all stayed together in a little group because we were afraid if we didn't, they'd take one of us away and we'd never see each other again. I've heard of that happening to other horses. And I've had friends leave in a Trailer and never come back. Chance left one day. And a long time ago, my friend Cozzie left. We didn't want that happening to us but when your mom comes and gets only one of you out, you have to go. It's Manners.

Sparky's girl was upset too. That was obvious. She'd sometimes come to the pasture and just hug him and cry. And when she rode him, he said she was extra sweet and loving to him. He was very upset. He didn't like to see her cry and he'd put his head and neck around her body and try to make her feel better but he said that just made it worse. He didn't know what to do. It was a very trying time for all of us.

Then one day, my mom and Dooley's mom pulled out the Trailer again. I figured they were just going to work on loading again so I wasn't too worried. But then they took Spark and Dooley out, put them on the Trailer and drove away! It was horrible. I knew they weren't just going for a trail ride. I could just tell. And here I was, left all alone in the pasture. Well, all alone except for the herd.

They were gone a long time. When they came back, they got me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to go in the stupid Trailer but I wanted to be with my brothers. It was so upsetting. They worked and worked on loading me but I was too wound up. At first, I'd put my two front feet in and they seemed pretty happy with that but then they wanted me to put all my feet in. I'd start to but then I'd back out again. And the more I backed out, the less I wanted to go in. It went on and on and on.

Finally, it got dark out. I put my front feet in and stood there and my mom patted my neck and said that was enough. She was tired, I was tired, Dooley's mom was tired. She put me back in the pasture and they left.

That was a long night. I'd never been in a pasture for a whole night with my brothers. I was lonely and scared and wondered where they were and if they were okay. I knew my mom would try to get me in the Trailer again the next day and I didn't want to do it. But I didn't want to be alone either. I was pretty miserable. I almost lost my appetite! But I managed to eat. It's important to keep your strength up.

The next day, my mom got me out and led me to the Trailer. I immediately knew that something was up. There were two other people there, the woman who gives lessons to Sparky and his girl and another lady I remembered from our last barn. They had lunge lines tied to either side of the Trailer, making a sort of chute that led to that dumb open door. They each held a lunge whip. I wondered if I was in trouble.

My mom led me to the door of the Trailer. As always, I walked right up to it. Then she asked me to step up - that's what she says. "Step up." I put one hoof in then I backed up. Immediately, the lunge lines started slapping my sides. I tried to back up some more but I couldn't because my mom had my head facing that trailer and she wouldn't let me.

Well, I tried everything I could think of to outsmart that bunch. I tried ducking to either side but the lunge lines blocked my way and if I got too far over, they'd poke me with a lunge whip handle. I tried rearing but no one was impressed. I tried bouncing and pulling and twirling but I couldn't because my mom was just calmly in the Trailer encouraging me to come in while everyone outside was making life very unpleasant.

It finally got to be too much. After an hour of this, I stepped onto the trailer and just stood there. My mom petted me and told me I was a Good Girl. There was a hay net in there with Alfalfa in it so that was nice. They closed the door and then Dooley's mom came in and slowly and carefully pushed a bar thing over to make a sort of stall at the front of the trailer. It made me stand sort of slanted with my head near the hay net. I didn't mind. It wasn't scary or anything which kind of surprised me.

Then they all stood around and talked for about forever while I stood in the Trailer wondering if we were ever going to go anywhere. Finally my mom and Dooley's mom got in the truck and we started going. I discovered that I could poke my nose out the open spots and the wind made my nostrils flap and that was fun. So it was okay.

When we stopped and I got off, I discovered that I was back at the first barn I'd lived at when I came to live with my mom! I remembered it very well. They put me in the Pony Arena to trot around and relax then my mom took me to a stall. I didn't stay in the stall too long though. After a couple of weeks, she put me in a small pasture with two other horses. They're okay. They're both geldings. One is a dark bay gelding named Kass and the other is a Paint named Freedom. They were kind of dumb when I first moved in. They chased me a little and were crabby about the hay. But we're friends now. It's pretty nice. And I found Sparky and Dooley. They're back in the pasture they used to live in. I can't live with them because they don't let mares live in it which is stupid but it's the Rules. So I have my own little pasture.

And here's Sparky and Dooley. They said that when they arrived, the first pasture horse to greet them was Chance! His mom had moved him to the same place. So we all had a friend we knew which was nice.

Since then we've seen a few other horses that we remember from before. One of them is Favre who was always a special friend of Spark's. He's kind of sweet on me now. Every time he sees me he gets a goofy look in his eyes and he wants to sniff me all over and nibble on my neck. So we're all settled in and pretty happy. My mom has brought me out Trail Riding a bunch of times and I love it! It's kind of nice being grown up.