It's Hard Work Being a Paint Pony

Hello nice ladies of the world!

Trax here to wish you all a Happy New Year and to tell you about how I made a new friend yesterday.

Lately my lady has been taking me out to work in the arena.  She spent a long time on the tractor making it nice and soft for me, and I appreciate that very much.

We have worked in the soft dirt a couple of times.  Mostly just going in circles. Circles don't make very much sense to me, but if that is what she wants to do I guess it is okay with me.

Yesterday we were doing what she calls "warming up" which in my mind is just more circles.  I guess it is a little different because she just lets me go as fast or as slow as I want around the edge of the arena.  You know how I am though, right?  I like fast, so I run.  I run until I feel like I have wings and can fly, and all the tension leaves me and I can relax.

I don't know if you ladies know this but there are lots of things that can make a paint horse like me get tense.  I mean think about it, there are cars whizzing past our arena all the time, there is the fact that I still have hay left in my pen, and then add on to that the dam broke and my pasture was flooded which means I did not get to play for a couple of days either.

Then there are all the things I can't see but know are there.  For example a few days ago I saw a wolf!  No, not the kind that live in the yard. Those are not wolfs, but dogs. I have learned that there is a difference.  Dogs don't like to eat paint horses, the only like to eat our poop. (Ewwwww)  This was a wolf in the desert across the spot where the cars drive by. It was a wild wolf and he was stalking me!  My lady saw it to and said it was not a wolf but a ki-oat-ee.  Looked like a wolf to me, a smaller one yes, but a wolf just the same.

Anyway, so there we were, warming up and I saw a new human walking into the arena.  I have never seen this person before.  It was a lady human, like my lady, only shorter. At first they talked for a minute then my lady says to her, "Would you like to ride him?"    

WHAT????  What did she mean?  No one rides me but my lady! Well, my lady and that Mark guy but that is because he is a teacher and was teaching me stuff.  But seriously no just anyone can get up on me and ride!  That is Killian's job, not mine.

The lady (her name is CNJ I found out later) got on me and she was a little uneasy. I'm a very sensitive horse, as you all know, so I was nervous, and I kept looking at my lady to help me.  I didn't really understand what was going on. I seem to recall that every time I get to sold to a new home this is how it starts.

But then CNJ asked me to go forward, and she talked to me. She has a pretty voice and it helped me calm down.  Once I realized that she just wanted to get to know me, I relaxed, and she relaxed, and we became friends.  She is very good at talking to a paint pony.  She told me what to do and I tried my very best to do it.  She said I was a good boy and petted my neck many times.

I like CNJ.

Then my lady got back on and CNJ stood and told my lady different things to do to "talk" to me better.  Pretty soon I was understanding and my lady said I was a good pony too. (Well duh!)  We trotted and loped, and CNJ said things to her like "Relax your legs, bend your elbow, he dropped his head now release" and my lady would do these things and pretty soon we were working together.

Then we went the other direction and did the same things.  It was harder to the right and taking off in the right lead is hard for me.  I have always been a left lead horse, but my lady is trying to show me that when running in circles to the right it is easier on my shoulders to use a right lead.  But still I am so used to being a left lead roping horse, I forget and my lady has to start me over and show me what she wants. I am starting to understand.

Then they talked about stopping.  I don't know if you ladies know this about me, but I'm not a big fan of stopping.  I'm more of a "lets go" kind of guy. I really hate it when people pull on my mouth to tell me to stop, and usually can run right through it, but my lady is trying something different.   It was kind of funny for me at first but I'm starting to get it.  She does things to "ride" me when she wants me to go and when she wants me to stop she "stops riding me". When she stops, I'm supposed to stop.  So I try my hardest to stop for her.   I must have done good because after we stopped she got off and loosened my saddle belt.

I like my new friend. She is a nice lady who loves ponies. She can come talk to me any time she wants!  

Then my lady and my new friend stood around and talked for...well it seemed like all day to me. At first I was trying to listen, but the warm sun got the best of me, and they talked so fast I couldn't keep up anyways, so I dozed off and took a nap.

Finally they took me over the the barn where the saddles live and got me undressed, they never stopped talking while I got brushed and then put away.  I had a nice dirt bath and then went to my hay...they were still talking.  I guess that CNJ has a horse of her own, and maybe someday she will bring her over and we will all ride together.

All in all it was a good day, and I can only assume that all this arena work means that my lady has decided once again to make me into a show pony. I am not a fan of being a show pony, after all it is a lot of hard work. But I like to make my lady happy so I guess a show pony I will be.  

I just hope this doesn't mean I have to take baths again!  You know I hates a bath.