I am not an Interloper!

Hi, it's Romeo again, Boyfriend's cousin. I remember Boyfriend from way back when I was little and he still lived with the bachelor herd in North Dakota. I actually haven't seen him since I've been in town. Aunt Mommie says Boyfriend is a jealous, spiteful sort, and would harass me in turnout after Aunt Mommie works with me if we were kept at the same barn. So, I don't really mind that I don't see him.

Aunt Mommie is not very happy with me right now. She was muttering last night when she brought me in from the field that I was too muddy to try to brush off. I needed to supplement the fly spray she had given me, because it just wasn't cutting it. It didn't seem to provide all day protection!

This is a stock photo of me on a "clean day", and this dirt brushes off really easily. Aunt Mommie likes for me to get dirty, so she can groom me. But I guess it is possible to take it too far...

So tonight when she brought me in, and I was even muddier, I figured I'd hear it. It started when she threw the rope over my neck, and put the halter on. When she went to pull the rope back over, it was caught in my mane, like really caught. She laughed a little, managed to untangle everything, and went to flip all my nearside mane to the off side. She tugged out a four inch long tree part from the mane and said, "And what is this?!" Uh, I don't remember picking that up. There aren't even any trees directly in my turnout field.

As she was walking me in, she noticed some... ummm... grass on my side. Not grass stains, grass. And not sitting on my back, but clinging gracefully in the mud on my side.

She snorted.

In the crossties, as she attended to my hooves and owies, she saw more green on the other side, an unknown flora species. She just patted my mud, and let me have dinner.

That was easy. But I have another problem.

I don't understand why I still have to call her Aunt Mommie. I want to call her Mother, like Boyfriend does. I've done everything I can think of. When she comes to bring me in, I always call a greeting and start walking to her, until she yells "LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEEEFFT!". That's an Army thing, when the drill sergeants would yell that in a tempo faster than one could possibly march. It was meant to tell them "Hurry up!". When Aunt Mommie yells that part, I always pick up a trot or a canter, and fly up to her.

I follow her around in the field or in the arena after I've been free lunged. I even jogged along loose behind her the other day when she jumped over some crossrails in the arena. See, I free jump!

I let her kiss me on the nose whenever she wants. I even put my nose up to the feed hole cutout when she asks so she can give me a kiss. And I used to not really like kisses... what if she bites my nose? I can't really see her very well when she is there.

So, I don't know what else to do. I can't really get any bigger, although I swear I've put on a half inch... oh, wait, the farrier is coming out Wednesday.

I keep a really clean stall. I've stopped messing with my waters. And I eat all my food. I'm doing everything I can think of.

What else can I do?!?