Dear Tony and Jenny Vaught
I’ve heard that you get to ride me and get me ready for my new Mom to ride. Well, bring it on!
Mom told me today that one of the rules before anyone would ride me is:
“Someone has to bounce a ball off my back”
I’ve just got to tell you, “That was nothing!” I liked the ball. I liked following the ball. When I caught it, I tried to eat it. My mom and I followed the ball for quite a while before I got to push it and try to eat it. My new mom tried to trip me. She put the ball under my belly. Did she think I would ge scared of the ball underneath my belly? Ha! What a concept! I let one of my back legs knock it out from under me. Next mom thought it was fun to pick the ball up and rub my back with it. You should have seen her try to handle that big ball. It made me chuckle inside. I ignored her while she was bouncing the ball off my back. There were more interesting things for me to look at, than to think about a ball bouncing off my back.
The thing that makes me nervous is traveling in the trailer. It was six long miles to the stable. I’m all by myself in the trailer. I don’t like that feeling of not being in charge of the world. I worked up a bit of a sweat. I did screaml to all the pasture horses living along our six mile route, but none of them tried to help me out of that trailer.
No worry, as soon as I got in that arena and walked around for a couple of minutes, I rolled and soaked up that sweat. It felt so good that I rolled again several minutes later.
My mom showed me helium ballons tied to barrels. She got me to step up on a round thing. She told me that elephants have fun with these things in circuses. “huh?”
Then we went thru a gate with all these things hanging down in my way. I smelled them as I went thru them. Mom called them noodles, but they were not anything that I would ever eat!
We went into this big round enclosure. I thought it was pretty cool because there were horses there in stalls. I tried to dominate them, but they were just too nice to take up my challenge.
Them my mom did weird stuff. She let me loose and tried to “own my hindquarters”. Of course I ignored her and walked off. Here’s the surprise stuff. She made me run. I had to fox trot and then I had to canter. She smiled. I saw her. But she had this ridiculous idea that I should keep going. My idea of a run in a circle is to stop. Why waste all that effort. Finally she looked at my hindquarters and I decided that maybe she did own my hindquarters, so I came into the center and faced her belly.
She was quite pleased with me. I could tell because she rubbed me and made me feel good.
I was shocked when she wanted me to go back out on that ridiculous circle and run the other way. We argued a bit. I didn’t want to go that way and I certainly did not want to run. Finally, I let her win and fox trotted and then cantered.
She told someone that she loved my canter. Well, who wouldn’t!? She told the same person to look at my big front end when I was fox trotting. I am pretty proud of my muscular development! I can push any horse around with that big front end!
There was a pole in the round pen that I had to step over when I was running around. Just to please her, I ignored the pole and trotted and cantered over it like it didn’t exist.
She tried to own my hindquarters again. I get it! I get to stop. I came into the middle with her and followed her over to the wall where she had left my halter.
She told me that I was the “BEST” and we were going back home. I decided to believe her and got right in the trailer. It made me sweat again and I did yell at all the pasture horses on the way home. Again, no one tried to save me. She really did take me home and treated me like a prince.
I think she is going to be OK and fit in with me. I had a good time today except for the trailer rides. Bring it on!
Lucy Star