Alys agreed to let me blog again because I have so much to say. Maybe I will write my own book, like Raudi did. She told me about this the other day. She also said that Alys is finishing up a book about her perceptions of her horses’ first four years – says is isn’t any good, or at least not as good as her story. I guess if I did write a book, I’d have some big shoes to fill. Makes me wonder why I didn’t end up in a home with people who have no aspirations. There are a lot of aspirations around here.

Alys took Ryder and me for a walk up the bench today. I had a really good time. I did get a bit worn out on the hill climb. And Ryder wasn’t up for playing – she just wanted to get a bit of exercise and call it good. She’s a much older dog than Pete and Alys originally thought when they found her at the trailhead in Idaho.

Coming down the bench was a new experience for me. I had to walk through very tall weeds. At one point, Ryder played Ditch the Dog and left me in some cow parsnip. I didn’t know where to go. I heard Alys singing and ran the other way. Fortunately, this was the path that Ryder took.

Ryder and I found a long-dead moose on the trail. The bones were too big to carry home. Alys said that she’ll go back up there and put some of the bones in her backpack and bring them home. Indeed, we are training her well

Shadow

Ryder won’t admit it, but she is warming up to me. She’ll play tug with me and we sometimes race around the yard, me chasing her, at top speed. I think she might even miss me if Alys and Pete returned me to my breeder’s place. There really isn’t any chance of this happening – Alys and Pete are smitten with me. Proof of this lies in the fact that there are five, count ‘em five, bags of treats on the kitchen addition counter.

They are clicker training me – I do good and I get treats. It’s as simple as that. I got sit down. I got heel down. I got Shadow, come down. I am having a hard time with stay. Alys has not yet begun to work with me on lie down, I guess she’s waiting until I learn some more basic lessons first.

Alys is really pleased that I now sometimes sit quietly with my head in her lap. She had likened me to a toddler with razor blades for teeth and a garbage pail for a stomach. Yes, my teeth are sharp. And I do delight in eating stuff that’s lying around that I ought not be eating, like hoof filings and tissues and horse poop.

Hmm, I’d say yes, I lucked out. I like living here although every so often I get left behind and I don’t like that. But they have not yet put me in a crate. I suspect someday they will. I’m not looking forward to that.

Next: 226. 8/16/20: Flat tired