Day no. 4 at new barn

I think I've figured out the back way to the barn from work. The first time I drove that way, which was Sunday, I realized I'd forgotten to doublecheck the map and therefore pretty much drove with my fingers crossed the whole way, not sure if I was going in the right direction or not. Rather than going across the bridge in Cambridge to head to Fairfax, I make a right and go through Fletcher, which I'm not familiar with at all. The wilds of Fletcher. It takes about 20 minutes, not bad, and I think that's shorter than the Cambridge route.

I got to the barn a little after 3:30 and all the horses were quiet, munching away on hay. Everyone except Bestie, that is. She of course had already finished her pile of hay and was pulling the "pathetic me" routine trying to get more. I'm trying to be firm and to not keep feeding her endlessly since she's gotten a little chubby, but it's HARD!

I lunged her in the indoor and she was really good today. She's been getting better each day. On Saturday, the first day, I didn't take her up to the indoor because she had been so worked up over the trailer ride. To get to the indoor you walk down the barn aisle, between big piles of hay and bagged shavings (perhaps with a cat on top), past another three stalls, past a covered cart, past an ATV and up a short incline to slide back the door to the indoor. Lots of potentially scary stuff. And then, there's the indoor itself, with mirrors on three sides, and one funny little mirror at the front end that almost looks like it belongs on someone's closet door. I'm not quite sure what its purpose is, but Dude likes to stare at himself since it pretty much shows him full length. I keep waiting for him to start flexing in front of it :).

The mirrors were very scary for Bestie the first two days. We were the only ones in the indoor and it was like she kept seeing this black mare in all the different mirrors and couldn't figure it out. Like, ohmygod, how many black mares are in this arena??! After I lunged her yesterday (tail straight up in the air the ENTIRE time), we took a tour of the mirrors and she snuffled them and seemed to puzzle it out. Today she was fine, kind of prancy, but well-behaved, more like, "Hey, that is ME in those mirrors and I am HOT!"

Dude and Jake like having their stall guards up and they stretch across the aisle to touch noses. Today they got a little rougher with some resulting squeals, so Dude's door got shut. He can still hang his head out into the aisle from the side and be nosy, but can't reach Jake from that position. It's like everyone's trying to figure out who's who and what's what.