Nickers and Whinnies – a blog by Pippi 

March 26, 2007 I got to stand next to Bravo during our showmanship practice. I made sure I performed really well so he’d be proud of me. I nailed my pivots while my human and I were doing the patterns. He told me that I looked really good!!! He’s so shiny. Wish his stall wasn’t so far away now. I can barely hear him when he nickers to me at night. I heard through the horsevine that I’m going to be in the new back barn, too. I just hope Ebby’s not next to me. He gets on my nerves BIG time.

March 25, 2007 What is up with you humans??? Dinner was WAY late last night and we were not happy about it. No, not a bit! Didn't you hear us banging on the door? You were all here, so there's no excuse for feeding us late. I don't know what you're doing in the "secret" room in the back, but it can't be more important than feeding your loving, sweet, angelic little horses. We might just faint from lack of sustenance. Well, not Story 'cause she's tubby! Shhhhh, don't tell anyone. And another thing – where was Bravo last night? He's not in the north barn any longer, so we're not able to whisper sweet nothings to each other all night long. I miss my shiny gelding.

March 21, 2007 Something is going on out here. When I came in from the pasture, I looked out of my stall and there was a hole in the wall. Actually, it wasn't a hole; the wall was just gone. Gone. Gone. Gone like a freight train, gone like yesterday. Gone like a soldier in the Civil War, bang bang. Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to start singing. Anyway, there's a hole in the wall, dear Liza, dear Liza. There's a hole in the wall, dear Liza, a hole. So fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry. So fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it. Ok, I'll really stop singing now. So the wall is gone and you can see out, and it looks like there's a building back there. I've heard the humans talking about new stalls. I wonder if that's where they're going to be? I'm not sure If I'm going to like it. It's dark and scary back there. And during the day, it's real noisy. I wonder if my stall is moving? I may just put my butt down and not go. I like it here. Well, except for Ebby. Hmmmmm. Wonder if I can get away from him? I will have to investigate this further.

March 20, 2007 GRASS!!!! I had some grass. Oh, it was so good. Tasty. Sweet. Tender. Grass. Grass. Grass!!!!! Grass is good. Grass is green. Grass is really, really keen! I love grass, yes I do. I love grass, how ‘bout you?

March 19, 2007 Man, oh, man, did I have to work yesterday. First I had to stand in the crossties for a long time while my human clipped, brushed, and vacuumed me. Then we went and practiced showmanship. Just when I thought we were done, a whole bunch of other horses came in the arena and we had to do more showmanship. It got to the point that, I swear, if I had to do one more pivot I was going to squeal like a mad mare. Finally my human let me eat dinner, but I wasn’t quite finished with my hay when she got me back out and started saddling me. She put an English saddle on me with a brand new girth that I didn’t think was going to fit. I had two humans tugging at my middle so hard that they almost pulled me off my feet. Unfortunately, the stupid girth fit and I had to work some more. But being the sweet and agreeable horse that I am, I went along with it. Anything for my human, that’s my motto.

March 18, 2007 Story sure was annoying yesterday. She kept running around saying things like “Erin go Braugh” and “Kiss me, I’m Irish.” And she kept pinching me with her teeth saying I deserved it because I didn’t have any green on. I don’t know what her problem was, but she’s lucky she’s the head mare. Otherwise I would have kicked her. To the moon, Story, to the moon!

March 16, 2007 I enjoyed another lovely mud bath. This time it was of a thicker consistency so it stuck to my hair and gave me that nice mudball look. I don't know why my human groaned so loudly when she saw me. I thought I looked quite stylish – mud, it's what all the fashionable horses are wearing this spring.

March 15, 2007 We horses had a meeting and decided that you humans were taking our willing and good natures for granted. So we’ve decided to change things up a bit, just to keep you on your toes. First, Nugget, who always gets led back to his stall easily and with no protest, decided to come bucking out of the gate and take a tour of the farm before going in for dinner. He visited the geese, then slipped by Sarah, and ran back behind the barns. He almost got a lap in before Christy was able to stop him. Go, Nugget, go! Then Story and I were on strict orders from our humans to not get muddy before our Tuesday-night lesson. Well, those old gals should know better than to tell us NOT to do something. Story and I took great pleasure in rolling around – mud baths really are wonderful, you should try one. We were able to get mud all the way up to our ears. You should have heard the humans complaining about how tired they were from scraping all the mud off us. Unfortunately they weren’t tired enough to not ride us, so we’ll have to do better next time.

March 11, 2007 Zzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzz. Snort. Zzzzzzz. What?! What's that noise? Kay, Dean? Is that you?  Aren't you guys early? But you're going to feed us!!! Who cares if you're early. Dean – hurry up. Come on, Dean, you walk as slow as Smokey. Grain, grain now, please. Simon, quit kicking your stall, I should be next. I'm huuungggry!!! Dean, where's my grain? Oh, here you come. Grain! Grain! Mmmmmmm.

March 9, 2007 Marco?  Polo. Marco? Polo. Marco? Polo. Got ya, Holly! It's so foggy out that we've been playing Marco Polo all afternoon. Innis does the best because he blends in with the fog. I like the fog. I pretend that I'm up on a mountain in Colorado walking along a narrow trail and using all of my horse skills to stay away from the edge. I'd like to go to the mountains; I'd be awesome  – nerves of steel, you know. What? Bears? In the mountains? Ebby, are you sure? Bears? Hmmmm. Back to Marco Polo.

March 7, 2007 What fun I had last night! I was in my weekly lesson with my human just doing the normal boring stuff when the head human, Kay, started bringing the poles out. Poles, oh, my gosh, poles!! I remember them from my last home. I used to jump over them and when I did, I got to run really fast. None of this, “Easy, Pippi, slow down, put your head down” crap that this human tells me. Nope, I could run really fast and my head had to stay up so I could see over the jumps. So when Kay put the poles down, I was sure I was going to be jumping and my whole attitude changed. I was fired up! At first all my human had me do was trot over three poles in a row, which was a nice warm up. And I did do the best out of all the horses there. That doesn’t happen very often for me, so I was trash talking to Smokey, Bok, and Story. Then I heard my human ask Kay if we could jump one of the poles. So I started loping and we came around the circle, into the straightaway, and there was the pole, and UP AND OVER I went! My human came along with me. She’s not near as good at this jumping thing as I, but the old girl managed to stay on. Wonder what would happen if the pole was actually off the ground? Next a different human got on me, so I got to jump twice. My human was on Bok, though, so I was a little distracted. I don’t like seeing her riding other horses. What if she likes somebody else better than me? I heard the humans talking about how fast I can run and that I should do barrels. Maybe I should run away and join the rodeo. I could be famous – a horse that jumps and runs barrels. Maybe they could start a new competition for me. In the middle of the barrel pattern, there could be a jump. I'd win that one for sure.

March 2, 2007 My gosh it's been windy. I was scared again last night in my stall listening to the wind howl and moan outside. Kind of sounded like a coyote to me. But Bravo said he'd protect me. He's so big and strong. And shiny. I really like that in a gelding. Now today it's still so windy that it's messing up my mane and tail. I don't like it when my mane gets blown all over. Is it ever going to be spring? Mother Nature, have you forgotten us?

Return to top

Home

It's A Pleasure Youth Association is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation and IRS 501(c)(3) public charity.