Welcome to Horses Write In. This month I received a letter from a young fella of almost 6 that I spent the winter with. His name is Pony and here is his letter.

Hi Charlie, how you been lately? I just got a look at your column as my person's computer was on the fritz and she just got it fixed. I have a few thoughts on changes I'd like to write about.

Now, I thought I had it made a few years ago but then things changed. I thought I was pretty hot stuff for a while. My human tried all sorts of things and would then give up and I got to be a pasture potato for a while. I was so unruly that she didn't know what to do. I just kept acting up and not paying attention. Mainly I didn't understand her language and she didn't understand mine. Being a bully towards her made it easy for me to not have to face my lack of knowledge. Then the unthinkable happened.

She loaded me up in the trailer one day a couple of years ago and we went for a ride. It wasn't a long ride but when I got out I knew I didn't like the place. Oh, there were other horses there but there was something strange about them. Kinda un-natural in my opinion. My human called it the Trainers!

Later that day I got to converse with a few of them and found out that I was at a health resort of some sort. We got fed real good but everyday we got taken out individually and put in the arena to exercise. Man, that was rude! This instructor was okay until you did something he didn't like. He was never unfair or just plain mean, but he made us pay attention, work and think to figure out his language. He DID NOT give up and go away until you figured out what he wanted.

The first few days I started trying real hard to figure this guy out cause if you did things his way it was a whole lot less work. After a few days though, I was getting very frustrated. Even though I thought I had figured it all out he still made me do those darn exercises. I was sure that he would stop once I learned it but he kept it up and started adding more difficult signals to his exercise routine. That guy kept changing the order so I couldn't anticipate what was next!

This went on for a while, and I was proud of myself for not completely losing it. I sure wanted to, but I did hold it in. When my person finally took me home again, I was real cranky. I didn't want to be exercised anymore and I lost it one day with my person's daughter. She was trying to get me to do the exercise routine, but was giving some confusing signals, and I couldn't help myself. I kicked out at her and tried to make her leave me alone.

I did get to rest for a while after that and I thought everything was going back to the way it had been before the resort. Wrong! My person came back one day, took me into the arena and asked me to do the exercises. She was carrying one of those sticks like the guy at the resort. She gave me the signal once and if I didn't do it she would whack me one good time. That whack made me realize that she was serious! It didn't hurt but it sure caused my heart to skip a beat or two!

One of the first times that she did it, she wanted me to walk backwards. When I refused, whack and then she made me walk backwards all around the arena almost two whole rounds. Man, was that hard. I decided that maybe I had better try another tactic here so I started paying closer attention to her.

Once I figured out that she had changed and, that I had better adjust, she didn't use that stick much anymore (and when she did it was only a touch). That was all it took to remind me to pay attention to her. That was nice because with both of us changing I realized that life with humans is much better all the way around. Her signals are clearer and I really like the fact that she understands me! For instance, we are doing some new stuff at the resort and when I get nervous about anything I have to chew on the lead rope, her sleeve or whatever is handy. She recognizes it right away and we are then able to take it a little slower until I feel more comfy. This keeps me from feeling like I have to explode.

I actually think I'm going to enjoy this new stuff we are doing at the resort. She calls it, "carting" and it is a lot easier pulling that thing than having the human on your back. Those noises behind you and the sticks that are tied to your sides are a little un-nerving at first but I think I am learning to like it. Going places and seeing new sights has always interested me. Now it won't be such hard work.

Well, I guess the whole point of this is that changes aren't always bad, and I am a lot happier now that my human and I understand each other. Since we are communicating better, it is clear that my human cares a lot. I sometimes still lapse back to my bully days because it was such a habit, but my human reminds me and I try to pay attention. It is really hard though when we go someplace new because I'm such a handsome boy, and I have to show off for all those cute girls!

Take care Charlie and keep up the good work.
Pony, the Handsome One

Thanks for writing in Pony. It was good to hear from you and I'm sure this will be an interesting subject to most of our horse friends along with some of the humans. We should all be so lucky as to have our humans finally learn to communicate with us!

Happy grazing!

Until next time,
Charlie Horse