I am a Gentleman

Good Morning Nice Ladies of the Blogging World,

Trax here again today to tell you about our practice today.  It was fun and I did so good. My lady said that she was most proud of me.

She said we were going to work on obstacles today but the nice man of our herd is using them all to hold up equipment right now, so I got out of that.  I don't mind obstacles but I'd rather lope in circles all day.  I can't imagine why he would rather have equipment than ponies though.  Well I guess sometimes the equipment is handy so that I do not have to plow my arena myself before getting to use it.

I would not make a good plow horse. Killian however would make a great plow horse. After all he looks just like one!  (I'm gonna pay for that joke later I'm sure)

So today we loped more circles and worked on stopping.  At first I was all like "Shooot, I can stop as good as any horse." and we would lope and stop and lope and stop and my lady was all like, "Awesome! You are so good Trax!"  and I'm thinking, "Well Duh, after all I am a paint pony right?"

Then we worked on spins and leg yields and I did so good, and once again she was so proud of me.

But then we worked on something called "Right Lead Departures".  Have I mentioned that I do not care for right leads?  I'm a lefty ya know.  But I tried really hard, even though my lady sends confusing signals and pretty soon we were all messed up.  But I have to hand it to her. She didn't get mad at herself this time, and even better she didn't get mad at me. We just kept working and then finally I got it right.  But by then I was a little frustrated because she wouldn't just let me lope.  Loping makes me happy.

So then I just wanted to run really fast, because when I get frustrated that is what I want to do, Run really fast.  So when she asked me to stop...I wasn't ready yet and she had to run me into the fence to get me to stop.

I think she understood though, because then she let me run some really big circles for a bit, and I got to go really fast!  Once I felt better about life she asked me to stop and I did my very best and she was proud of me again.

That is one of the things I love about my lady, she is kind of simple minded and it doesn't take much to make her happy.

Oh and my lady is also very kind of me.  I kept telling her that I do not like her spurs.  So she put tape made out of duck feathers on them to make them softer. Obviously the spurs were too sharp because the duck tape went right through. I could have told her that, after all ducks are pretty wimpy.  

So any way she bought some new spurs that she said I would like better.  (Go ahead and show them your spurs, Lady)

Thank you Trax for letting me participate 

As you can see they have round balls on the end and are shorter.  So I can feel them and I understand what she wants but they do not jab me.  I like her new spurs and because of them I knew exactly what to do most of the time.  I do not have to get irritated and try to whack her in the back of the head with my tail anymore.

So anyway, after we were all done loping circles she wanted to practice opening a gate.  (Heavy Sigh)  Oh Lady, I do not understand why you think we need to know how to do these things.  But she found the perfect gate right at the end of the arena that goes into the cow poop pen.

So she asked me to stand next to the gate.  I was cool with that.  Then she reached down and unchained it.  I was also cool with that.  Then she realized that we were facing the wrong way and so we had to start over.  She does not know right from left very well.  I could help her with that but since she has never been a roping pony, she probably wouldn't get it anyways.

So we started again. She asked me to stand next to it.  I did.  She unlatched the gate, and being the gentleman paint pony that I am, I reached down and pushed it open for her with my nose.

Apparently being a gentleman pain pony is not appreciated around here, and we had to start again. This time she held on tight so when I tried to open it for her she almost fell off.

This is me laughing at the thought of her falling off

But she didn't and we pushed the gate open and went through. She never took her hand off the gate which I must say is a little awkward.  So when we got around the gate and into the pen I tried again to help her out by pushing the gate shut with my nose.

Clearly my talents are under valued around here.  I mean seriously?  How many horses do you know that understand how to shut a gate as well as open it?  Not many I am sure!

She told me I cannot shut the gate for her with my nose. She wanted me to move my butt closer.

So here is my question.  Why is it okay to shut the gate with my butt, where it might bump against my legs and hurt me, but not okay to shut it with my nose where I can see it and keep myself out of trouble?

She says I have to trust her to shut the gate.

I don't have any problems trusting her, it is the gate I don't trust. They have minds of their own ya know!

Anyway, we finally got the gate shut and latched and then my-sometimes-not-so-bright-lady realized that we were trapped inside the cow poop pen and the only way to get out was to go back the way we came.

Hey!  Wait-a-minute....I think she might have planned it all along!

This time we did it different.  Instead of opening the gate away from us, we opened it towards and went through. It was not quite as awkward for her (trust me, she is a total clutz) and without too much trouble we did get it closed and latched.

Then she decided that we were done for the day.  Just in time too, because I had only eaten half my breakfast and I was getting hungry again.

Do you know what I love most about my lady???  After we ride she always scratches the sweaty parts on my face.  Oooooh I love a nice face scratching.  Because I am a gentleman I am never pushy about it, but when she asks I will lower my head so she can scratch up by my ears. Then I move to the next spot, and she totally understands what I am asking.  She is a good good lady.

It makes me sad that all the horses of the world do not have a nice human in their lives to love them and scratch their ears.  But that is a different topic all together.

So for now Nice Ladies, I shall bid you all a fond adieu.  Don't forget to hug your horses today!