Headline News!

Hello Everyone!  I hope I find you well.  I apologize for my extended absence, but other than the occasional visits from K and R there just hasn't been much to tell.  Until now.

Yesterday B, K, R and T loaded Sarah and me onto the trailer and took us to a new facility called Hodge Arena.  K and R stayed behind with us and we took a walk around to see the sites.  There were plenty of rather small horses there that K said are Quarter Horses.  I'm almost 17 hands and Sarah 16.2 so horses that average about 15 hands seem small to us.  But I digress.  As we were walking, we came across this very oddly shaped animal that came over to the fence line and spit at us!  It was black, had a round body set on spindly legs, a long, thin neck, small head and big ears and it was mean!  K called it a Llama.  I call it a Grouch.  Grouch continued to pin his ears and spit at us the entire length of it's paddock fence line.  A fine welcome, that!

Following our walk, Sarah and I followed our humans inside the arena to check it out.  After being introduced to the sound of the tractor and drag we settled down for some grooming.  K kicked up a fuss because I have developed a seasonal skin condition called rain rot and the hair on my back was coming off in clumps.  It was a little painful while K was addressing it, but it's not nearly so bad as my wither wound from last summer.  I will heal and, in the meantime, I get to forgo my raincoat [sheet] unless it is actually raining or snowing. 

We had just about reached the middle of our grooming session when the cows wandered in.  COWS!  It turns out that Hodge is a host facility for a sport called calf roping!  From what I've observed the calves are shot out of chute while two of the Quarter Horses chase them down and the riders throw ropes with the goal of catching each cow by both the horns and the hind feet.  How strange.  The cows don't seem to mind and the people and horses seem to enjoy it.  Me?  I'm not sold on the idea of cows yet.  They make funny noises.

At about the same time that the cows came in, B and T had arrived with Buttons and Oreo.  After they had had a chance to walk around and see the sites, and the cows, all four of us and our humans went out to check out the pasture.  Buttons, Oreo, Sarah and I are now pasture mates rather than neighbors.  We are in an eleven acre field with plenty of grass, thanks to the mild winter, and water.  It's a hilly pasture and, well let's just say that I learned to respect the hill.  Besides the four of us, there was one other horse and three donkeys in the field yesterday.  That horse and the donkeys were clearly a team and they weren't very welcoming either.  But we reached a truce and kept a respectful distance.

This morning the donkeys were moved and two other horses were turned out with us.  This afternoon, when K and R came out to see Sarah and me, the new horses confused us.  We didn't know if we should stay with them or go to our humans.  K caught up to me and offered me a treat, which was nice or her.  And so after Sarah agreed to go with R we walked up to and around the outside of the arena again before heading in on the back side of it.  When we walked in we found more cows and roping horses at practice.  I stood and watched closely and K kept telling me how good I was for standing.  But then R took Sarah in to ride and I was not okay with that.  Sarah is my best friend and I got really nervous when I couldn't be near her.  I'm afraid I aggravated K with my fretting.  I think she had hoped to groom me a little more.  Instead, she and T walked me down the aisle and put me in a stall!  I had to stand there for a long time and while Sarah, Buttons and Oreo got to explore the inside of the arena itself. I try to be good.  Really, I do.  I can't help it that the new surroundings and all of the strangers make me nervous.

Anyway, K eventually forgave me and fed me dinner.  Then Buttons, Oreo, Sarah and I were turned back out in our new field for the evening. 

I like the field but I'm not so sure about the arena itself.  K says this is only a temporary move to give our paddocks at home a rest and to let the grass grow again.  I hope we have an early spring.  I'm just not sure that I'm cut out to be a cow pony. 

~Polo