Horse Illustrated Magazine

October 27, 2015

Dear Diary,

Today I heard one of my humans say something strange. She was talking to her brother human, and she said, “Marey just spooked for no reason while coming into the barn.”

Now why would she say that? I got so offended I made a face at her, but she didn’t see it.

I do NOT spook for no reason! I’m not a baby like some of the other ponies on this farm, like that foal of Mati’s. I talk to him nicely through the fence sometimes, because he is so cute and fluffy and I wish he was mine. But I digress. Only babies spook for no reason. And I am not a baby.

To prove it, I will keep track of everything that I spook at for the next three days.

And it will not be nothing.

MAREY

October 28, 2015

Dear Diary,

Here is my List of Spooky Things, Day 1:

• One very scary clump of dead grass from the lawn mower. It might have been alive and it might have jumped on me if I hadn’t jumped first
• One very big crow in the tree. Everyone knows crows are spooky. It’s a no-brainer to spook when one caws right over your ears.
• A whole bunch of very terrifying flapping things in the backyard. The human SAYS it was only laundry on a clothesline. I say it was a squadron of aliens. I will not believe differently.

See? So far, I have only spooked for perfectly good reasons.

MAREY

P.S. Humans are so silly!

October 29, 2015

Dear Diary,

List of Spooky Things, Day 2.

• One very loud bang. This one was the squirrel’s fault. He threw a pinecone out of the tree onto the top of the horse trailer. He apologized later. I said ‘no problem, throw some more on it, maybe you’ll break it and the humans won’t ever be able to take us to horse shows again.’ Worth a try.
• One very strange, unidentified thing. I don’t know for sure what the thing was. Summer just ran up to me and screamed “Run!”, so I did. We all ran for five minutes. By then Summer had forgotten what we were supposed to be scared of. But I know it was something.

That was all I spooked at today.

MAREY, the Very Reasonable Pony

October 30, 2015

Dear Diary,

Here are the Spooky Things for today.

• One very scary wild turkey. She ran out of the bushes right past me. I was almost a goner. Even my human spooked. This was such a scary, spooky thing, I think it excuses the next one.
  I am a very honest pony, otherwise I wouldn’t admit this.
• One nothing. I spooked at nothing. I was walking back to the barn with my human, and the air was so crisp and the sky so blue and the wind so just right, I felt like being silly, so I was. And I’m actually not ashamed, now I think about it. Sometimes it’s just fun to get spooked—especially for no particular reason. Does that make me a baby? I say no—it makes me AWESOME!

Happy Halloween!

MAREY

Read more Diary of a Pony:
Diary of a Pony: June 2015

Samantha Johnson is a freelance writer and the author of several books, including The Field Guide to Horses, (Voyageur Press, 2009). She raises Welsh Mountain Ponies in northern Wisconsin and is a certified horse show judge. Follow her on Twitter: @miraclewelsh