NEIGH!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAY, ODIE fans!  HAPPY NEW YEAR from your favorite Haflinger in North Carolina.  This is my best photo and makes me look a lot younger. I am 20 this month, seriously.  On New Year's Day, I was sunning in my pasture when Mom & a lady arrived with a horse trailer.  Now, it was a perfect day for a ride but somehow, I did not think that was going to happen.  However, I like to take trailer rides so I trotted right inside and settled down to noshing on some yummy hay.  Any time without that dreaded grazing mask is good.   Mom & the lady get into the truck and off we go. BUT...wait. Where are we going????  

It was a short ride on the BIG road (I love the BIG roads with all the trucks whizzing past) to my new home, Hickory Hill Stables.  Now tell me again, why we moved?  [Ok, ODIE. Your new barn is just 4 miles from my home. That's great because I can visit you all the time]  HMMMM...this could be bad. [ODIE...you are being such a brat.  You will have tons of time with all your new buddies and the best part, no grazing muzzle until Spring.]  Ok, new buddies & no muzzle are good.  Back to the barn...large stalls, great hay and full of horses, which means gossip.  Mr. Perry owns the barn and thinks I am cute.  Liza is the manager and thinks I am adorable with huge, happy eyes.  So far, so good unless Mom tells them about my ability to slither under fences. [They already know and are prepared for your Houdini tricks. BUSTED!]   First, I inspect my new "room" and taste the water...refreshing.  Then Mom takes me for a tour of the barn, the pastures and a walk with a spotty horse with big eyes & a short tail & his nice owner.  [ODIE!! You can be so rude. "Spotty horse" is a special breed called Appaloosa and their tails are supposed to be short.  Lakota is his name. He is wearing a fly mask with eye protectors because he had eye surgery.  You have to wear a fly mask ALL the time because your eyes are so sensitive to sunlight and dust. Behave, please.]  Whatever.  Lakota's owner was nice and wanted to let us eat grass on our tour of the property.  But, OH NO!  Mom snapped my halter and informed me that I was working.  Working?  Thought we were doing a friendly stroll around the pastures??  When Mom is in work mode, no grass, no treats and I had better follow directions.              Now this is a cool pasture! Look how much room there is to run and play.  But the best part is NO MUZZLE.  [Now, ODIE, remember you will have to wear the muzzle in the Spring but that is a long time away.]  Whatever.  My first day, I was in the pasture with Lakota.  In the next pasture was this tall, brown horse who wanted to run & play.  He was so much fun that I just slithered under the fence onto his side and left Lakota. Nobody yelled at me so I stayed there all day having a great time.  The best part was that the next day this became "OUR" turf since Mr. Perry thought we bonded.  This is my new, best friend:     His name is CHAPA and he is a Thoroughbred.  Chapa was on the racetrack once and loves to run.  Chapa's "room" is across the aisle from mine which means we can talk all night, too.  How cool to have a best friend, at last.  Chapa's mom is from Argentina & she makes him behave, too.  Life in 2012 is looking good.