I celebrated my second birthday today with more bravery tests - apparently I excelled at the 'umbrella' test, but She is easily impressed since I was looking in the other direction at the time.
Anyway, She took a birthday mugshot of me to mark the occasion.
That's typical - She pressed the shutter just as I had my eyes shut.
Petal's diary ends here because this and Braveheart's blog were written to entertain my ailing father who has since died. May he rest in peace.
One day I was led out of my stable and towards the arena only to find that the arena had been filled with strange objects. I was very surprised when She seemed to expect me to go into the arena, but She said it was a bravery test. Not wanting to let myself down, I agreed to go in and inspect the objects.
For some reason I had to walk through a narrow space with bits of junk on both sides
Then I had to go round a sheep - no idea why
Then I had to walk into a space and back out again
I had to weave in and out of some very small cones
Then I was introduced to a bull obstacle because the course was called 'Working Equitation'
not sure if it was part of the course but I also had to pose in front of a rainbow
After going through all this I was given a Bravery Award! Here I am modelling it. Notice how Hanuman hasn't won an award and he isn't wearing a smart leather headcollar either. She says that I am very special and should get used to winning awards.
Officially, I am now 2 years old, and She thinks I should be starting some Training. Actually, Training turns out to be a complete doddle. First I had to go into the arena and walk over some poles - piece of cake!
The next time I had to go into the arena and walk over a crackly piece of plastic aka tarpaulin. I wasn't too sure about it at first and was wary of the crackling noise, but my concerns were quickly overcome by the promise of a peppermint. The video below is in real time and shows that from the beginning to walking confidently over a tarpaulin was less than five minutes.
What neither of these videos show is that at the end of both sessions, I dug my toes in at the gate and refused to leave the arena.
