Gab With Gatz: Why, Yes, I Do Have Equine A.D.D. How Did You Know?

Good Evening, Old Sports!

The weekend with Spode has come and gone, and it sure was a roller coaster. In a nutshell: It went well on Thursday, badly on Friday, good on Saturday, and distractedly today!

Saturday was pleasant. We hung out in the very busy barn while she removed layers of dirt from me. She allowed me to watch all the other goings on at the barn. All I had to do was listen to her when she said "over" now and then, and of course I had to stand still. Other than that, she didn't mind that I wasn't focusing all that much on her. In my opinion, life is better this way. Especially since she just hung out with me in the paddock after, too. Basically, we chillaxed and I didn't have to do any work and got all her love in exchange. That's a good deal if ever I heard of one.

Life is good, Old Sports. Stay here all day, Spode!

No, seriously. Stay.

But today the deal changed. Spode decided that I have had long enough to settle into Fox Hollow, and I can now begin to learn new things again. I did the best I could to explain that I disagreed and would rather continue with our previous arrangement. Unfortunately Spode isn't great at listening. Of course, sometimes she says the same thing about me. Sigh. It's a tough life being friends with a different species...

So Spode brought me inside and groomed me. Then she put on a saddle pad. Uh oh, wait just one minute. We don't have to do that again, do we!? Unfortunately, the other horses in the barn started coming and going at this time and I stopped focusing on Spode. I started moving around and getting impatient. Spode kept asking me to stand. I kinda sorta did, but not very well. She decided not to fight me too much on that, figuring I would relax once there was less commotion. Well, not quite. She underestimated how severe my ADD is. She probably should have considered how distracted I was in the paddock yesterday:

Oooh, look over there. What's that?

Whoa. Did you hear something over there?

Can you see something over there? Because I think I can.

Whoa, what about that over there! There's definitely something over there.

Oh, hey! You're still here!

Yeah, I have a little problem. Anyway, Spode continued to work through it even though I was not all there. Fox Hollow is still a lot for me to take in, in all honesty. I'm just a baby!

Spode got the saddle on and tightened with no objections from me, but then she tried to put the bridle on me. I haven't had to wear a bridle in a very long time, and I really wasn't in the mood. I figured out that if I put my nose up in the air, Spode can't really reach me. Aha! This annoyed Spode to no end, so we had a bit of a fight for a while. She of course won, in the end. Always does, but I sure do make her work for it. The only thing I didn't like was that she grumbled under her breath afterwards that I was going to have to wear it every time she comes out now until I stop fussing and bring my head down willingly. I have always opened wide for it prior to today, so I guess I should have expected that. Oh well, it's quite likely that I'll get treats every time I wear it now, so that should be okay!

After our battle of the bit, Spode took out her two loooooong ropes and took me into the arena. She put the two ropes on the bit and through the saddle things and then we walked around for a bit. Then she went behind me and tried to drive me from the ground again. Oy. I put up a bit of a fuss about this. I would rather look out the window and try to run over Spode's mum who was standing near the door. So Spode and I had yet another mini battle as she insisted I focus on her commands. Yes, you guessed it Old Sports. She won again. Eventually I decided it was wise to pay attention to what she was doing and saying. I did some turns, walking, whoaing, and we even did some trotting at the end. Spode gave me lots of treats. She told me it wasn't pretty and I needed lots of practice, but she was pleased. She told me that she expects a short attention span from a two year old. Huh. I guess she does understand me despite the species issue. She tells me I'll grow out of it, just like she did. I got lots of treats and she left happy. I'm lucky she doesn't get annoyed with me! Wanna know how much she loves me? She painted me this fancy pants name plate just for me!