Happy Birthday to Me!

Apparently I'm 4 today! I'm practically a grown up! In fact, according to the books I am no longer a colt. That's right, old sports. I just became a horse. This calls for a big party.

For my birthday, I got a pedicure first as it was much needed after my big adventure on Sunday (more on that in a moment!). After that, Spode's family came to celebrate with me and take some pictures of me and Spode in our lesson. I was pretty anxious to get going so Spode didn't expect me to behave well for her lesson, but I was awesome, as usual. They don't call me the Great Gatsby for nothing!

I'm also pretty good at posing, if I do say so myself. 

Spode got to try out her teacher's dressage saddle today and is in love with it. It's not a perfect fit for me though, so I guess I'll be trying on numerous saddles in the future in hopes of finding one that works for both of us. A future birthday present!

Having an audience was more than a little distracting!

Spode is still working on getting me to do as she asks with no reins, especially no inside rein. It is still very much a work in progress, but I'm getting the idea of leg and seat very well.

I still occasionally bulge my shoulder and blow through her leg when there's no rein there, but I listened pretty well today. I'm 4 now, after all.  I know better!

I think Spode has a harder time throwing away her reins than I do with listening to leg for direction. Just saying. 

We continue to work on poles to stretch my shoulders as well--I am a pro at these!

Looking very professional, don't you think? 

After my lesson, it was celebration time! Spode baked me a cake this year. It was kind of weird, to be honest, but I ate it anyway just to makes Spode happy. It had spaghetti in it! Why!? Bizarre. But it also had oats, carrots, apples, and molasses, and who can resist that! Baked in a heart shape--I'm yours.

It was complete with four carrot candles!

A sticky but delicious concoction! 

After my cake and lots of pats and hugs, I went back outside to enjoy a birthday roll since I'd been hosed off. Ah, bliss. 

Thank you, Spode! Even if you do have a strange obsession with putting hats on horses, I love you anyway.

Seriously, I don't know what it is about Spode and hats, but I guess crowns are going to be my thing from now on. I think it's because I used to be called "Prince" before Gatsby. Holding on to my roots!

My 4 yr crown is much better than my 3 yr old crown. Imagine how good my 20 year old crown will look! I expect real gold!  

That's it? No champagne? Another year with no Rolls Royce? You let me down. 

I'm going to spend the rest of my evening partying with my horse friends. I've shipped in lots of oranges and lemons along with a special squeezer (that one's just for my literary pals!). Don't expect any invitations unless your name is Nick Carraway, but you're welcome to drop in. Especially if you bring me daisies...

Yesterday I had the day off because I worked really, REALLY hard on Sunday. Especially for a three year old! Well, okay, I was practically 4 on Sunday as well. It just wasn't official. I also worked hard on Saturday--Spode and I did join up after I was particularly rude in the barn. It was exhausting, but I eventually acknowledged Spode as the leader. Forgive me.
On Sunday I got back on the trailer with my new girlfriend, Jenny. Hey, I'm grown up now. I need to think about these things, though for some reason Spode says I can't have kids. I wonder why... Regardless, I like Jenny a lot. She's a flashy girl, too. A flapper? I think so! She's nice to chat to in the trailer, and I think we'll be doing it more often in our future!

Spode came very early in the morning to brush me and feed me breakfast, which I got all over my face just to see her face. It's a good thing Spode has a sense of humour. You need it with a horse like me.

This is what happens when you play with your food, old sports. 

Anyway, on went the shipping boots (and with them I noticed immediately that Spode's anxiety suddenly sky rocketed. She's still a work in progress while I'm getting to be an old pro at trailering!) and we arrived at a nice farm where we got to go on a trail ride. This would be my first, and I was eager to get going. 

Jenny and I are ready to hit the trails! Whatever that means!

I encountered actual hills for the first time in my life. That was a bit of a learning curve. At first I tried to speed up going down hills, but Spode quickly put an end to that as she panicked about falling down the hill on both our faces. Sigh. So instead she taught me to use my butt and go down slowly. Sometimes a little too slowly, but Spode was confusing me with her cues since she's a bit of a weeny about hills to start with. I also stopped a few times so I could get a better look at things with my left eye that's not quite as good as my right. In the darker woods it was especially hard to see in that eye as adjusting to light takes longer for me now after all my health issues. Still, it's far better than not being able to see anything in that eye like before, so it's a blessing! 

There was lots of scary stuff on the trail, especially a beaver pond. Although I admit I was a bit silly about that. After I was finally pushed into putting my foot in the water, I realized it was completely safe and continued to plod along on a loose rein at a relaxed walk. My bad. My turn to be the weenie of our team. Jenny and I travelled quite a distance, but eventually I was tired and requested that we turn back. That was all fine, but we ran into many, many horses on the way home, which ended up being our scariest thing. Especially on narrow trails and there were 2 horses bigger than me that really scared me. Still, nothing too bad so Spode was very pleased with our big adventure in the woods. I enjoyed it, too. I see a lot more of it happening in our future! 

A walk in the woods followed by grazing? Yeah, I am okay with this. Please, let's do more! Plus I had some admirers who came to see me and give me pats. I even had some paparazzi here!

Ready for home!

Spode and her friend got hungry on the way home and Spode needed to work on relaxing about having me on the trailer (for god's sake, old sport, I'M FINE!) so we stopped for fries. Jenny and I begged our pals for some food as well. As it turns out, Jenny quite enjoys regular fries but doesn't like sweet potato fries, while I'm the opposite. Sweet potatoes are delicious!! We also had some visitors in the parking lot. 

More fries please!!! Yum, salt. 

Seriously, put the fries in my belly stat. 

So of course, we arrived home without a scratch. Much to Spode's surprise, Jenny and I whinnied to each other when I got off. Yep, I like that mare! I finished the day with a glorious roll. 

Is there anything better after a long ride? I think not. 

And that's all that's been going on with me for the last little while! Life sure has been busy lately, but June is looking pretty quiet. Spode is going to watch a big dressage show on the weekend, and I suspect that we will be very dressage focused afterwards as a result. Goal setting and all that, but there's always hacks and bareback fooling around mixed in with that. Life is good! 

Until later, old sports.

Jay.