My book is on sale!

MomToo is in charge of everything, including me. She wrote another book, but I'm not in it. To celebrate, she's offering my book for sale. Only 99 cents, she says. Regularly $3.99.

I don't know what these numbers mean. Or "sale". I just know she's pretty excited about the new book and wants to let everyone know that she writes good books about horses.

Of course, we know I really wrote my book, right?


Here's where you go to get my book. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D0HDYRQ
It's only 99 cents until May 21.

Try it. You'll like it.

Hurray for Hollywood!

Back in February, Snoopy and I were all set to go to Burbank to the "Show Me the Money" horse show. Then it rained and a bunch of people pulled their entries so they postponed the event. (Note: who are they kidding? It will take coordination between the AQHA, the LA Equestrian Center and possibly the Pope to get this rescheduled.)

So I kept practicing and Snoopy kept being his goofy self and finally-finally-finally we were able to go to the Hollywood Charity Horse Show. The show is a pretty big deal - William Shatner hosts a concert/event on Saturday night to raise funds for a therapeutic riding program. It's all well and good, but frankly, I just want to ride.

We usually get the horses and our gear loaded in on Wednesday afternoon, then Niki and Christine and I head to Viva's on the corner for some Mexican food. I'm always wishing I could have one of Viva's mammoth margaritas, but I'm exhausted and have to drive at least an hour to get home, so I have to pass.

Viva's has live music on certain nights. On Wednesdays, it's Glen Roberts' 17-Piece Big Band, which is a mouthful to say. It's comprised of a bunch of elderly musicians (17 of them, I guess). Each time we hear them, one of us says, "I thought these guys performed on Thursdays," and another of us says, "No, it's always Wednesdays." Because we're all that tired.

One of the things I hate most about showing up in Burbank is that I have to get up at o'dark-thirty to get to the center by 6:30. Still, once I'm there, I admit I love the solitude.

Snoopy gets his ya-yas worked every morning. Sometimes I longe him, but most of the time, Niki does it.

On Thursday, Niki rode Snoop in the Green Trail class. They were okay, but not exactly superstars, which is okay with me. Snoopy only has a couple of points left before they kick him out of Green. Once that happens, there's no class for Niki to take him in before I ride him. I like that she schools him before I ride. It gives me confidence.

I rode the Novice Amateur. We did most of the obstacles pretty well, and two of them pretty awful. I was loping a kind of a U-turn and I knew to use all the space. I had practiced using the space. It was easy. Until I was out there, saw where I needed to ride and... turned early.

Snoopy chipped in and split his stride over the pole. He recovered, but it looked ugly.

Then at the end, we had to turn around in the box. We'd practiced it. We knew how to do it. All I had to do was keep tapping his side to keep his feet moving forward, from corner to corner. Well, I kept his feet moving forward all right. Right out of the box. I pulled him back in and finished.

The thing is, I felt good about the stuff I did well, and promised to do better on the stuff I messed up, and I still had fun.

On Saturday, we tried it all again. He was tired, so I had to ride him aggressively, which I did. By the time we were finished, I felt like I had pushed him around the course. Fortunately, it didn't look that bad, and we got a 3rd and 4th place from the two judges.

All in all, I had fun, and so did Snoopy, I think.

He seems to love horse shows.

P.S. Remember this horse show when you're reading my latest book, MURDER ON THE HOOF. Just saying.

Tummy trouble

Dear Diary,

Yesterday I had a tummy ache. It wasn't a big tummy ache. I felt fine when Auntie Niki let me run around on the longe line. I jumped and bucked and kicked. Then she got in the saddle and made me go over poles. I like to go over poles.

But when MomToo got on me, my tummy started hurting. It hurt so much that I laid down in the middle of the poles and made her jump off.

Oops.

They walked me around, then took me to my stall. I still hurt, so I laid down again. After forever, Auntie Niki made me get up and walked me around for a long long time. Almost forever.

When I finally went back to my stall, I felt better. I wanted food. No one would feed me. I told them over and over that I was hungry. My friends all got their dinner.

After forever, MomToo gave me a little hay. It was so small, I ate it in one bite. Then Auntie Niki gave me another bite of hay. It was something. But it wasn't enough.

I hope they give me more hay today.

I like magazines. They're tasty.

Dear Diary,

MomToo came to the ranch. She was very excited.  Kept talking about a magazine and AQHA and how cool it all was. She tried to show me the magazine.

I can understand her words all right, but I don't get all those little lines on the paper.

Then she held it away from me so Auntie Niki could take a picture of us together.

It was interesting. Very interesting. I thought maybe it would taste good.

Then MomToo's hand got in the way. That was tasty, too!

Here's what she was trying to show me.

Humans get excited about the weirdest stuff. I gotta go eat some hay now.

Catching up

There is just so much to tell these days, and as usual, it comes in one big burst, instead of spreading over a few days or weeks.

First of all, I spent a weekend in February at the Pomona Horse Expo. I met a lot of great folks, and sold a few books, but most importantly, I met Julie Preble of Horse and Rider Magazine.

I had sent the folks at Horse and Rider an advance copy of FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH, but nothing had happened. Julie came to my table, introduced herself, apologized for the delay in reading and reviewing Snoopy's book, then interviewed me and asked for a copy to give away at a contest.

All within about 30 seconds.

A couple of weeks later, the contest is on the Horse and Rider website, and my interview is on their YouTube channel.



Color me stoked!

While all this was happening, we were trying to adjust Snoopy's shoes in the back to make him travel easier. Dr. Pollard came out and took x-rays of the bionic leg. These were the first x-rays taken in five years. Here's the picture from five years ago:

Here's the picture from last month:

See the difference? Neither do we. For a leg to be so unaffected by five years of constant use (I mean, it is a horse leg), is nothing less than a miracle. In addition, the fact that Snoopy treats Dr. Pollard, or any vet, as just another person in his life is amazing. Many horse begin to get "vet-shy" and try to avoid interaction with doctors. And trust me, they can all identify vets.

Next week, we are planning to go to the Show Me the Money horse show. I'd ask you to wish us lots of  luck, but I'd rather you wish us lots of fun!

I got a new video!

MomToo said she needed one for the Horse Expo in Pomona. I guess it's gonna be real soon and she's gonna be selling my book. I wish I could come along, but she said no. She'll bring her little Mini-Snoopy. Pfft, as if that'll make me feel better.

Here's the video:



Hope you like it.

It's that time of year again

This week, MomToo came out to the ranch with the humans in her family. She does this sometimes.  The Man comes with her, and this time another Man came. He used to be a little human, but now he's bigger.

They brought the two dogs, Duffy and Lady Spazzleton and Katy the cat. I like the cat but she doesn't like me. She is very soft, and I like to sniff her. She doesn't like being sniffed. As usual, the older Man held Mom's rope and they all stood together with us and I heard clicking noises.

Auntie Niki had a black box and was making it click.

Me and Mom were being good.

 

 

 

Okay, mostly good. And mostly Mom.

 

 



I confess, I wanted a closer sniff of Duffy's fur. He didn't like it any more than Katy did, and tried to bite my nose, then started barking at me. I was just having fun.

Soon I heard Auntie Niki say she thought she got a good one. A good what, I don't know, but I got to go back to my stall and eat my dinner. It was good.

Today MomToo came back to see me. It was raining, but she brought me cookies and candy canes so I didn't mind. Auntie Niki asked if any of the pictures came out and MomToo started talking about photo shopping and a bunch of stuff I didn't understand. Somehow she turned this picture:

Into this picture:

And she was awfully proud about it. I like when MomToo is proud of something. It makes her happy. She said something about sending the picture in a Christmas letter. Maybe I will get a letter.

I hope mine comes with food.