{"id":22186,"date":"2026-07-24T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/?p=22186"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:21:20","slug":"back-to-normal-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/07\/24\/back-to-normal-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Nugget Goes Home and Back to ‘Normal”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patty Wilber<\/em><\/p>\n

After two days of standing over near Penny <\/strong>and not moving much following the Great Bareback Pad Debacle, Nugget regained his composure. He started moving around his big pen, investigating things again.\u00a0 He even reached his nose out to both Jessica and Jim once or twice. He didn’t let them actually make prolonged contact, but he expressed interest. He LOOKED, but didn’t fall apart when I led him to his pen, and we saw a buck just a few yards away!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"

The buck right behind Nugget’s pen.<\/p><\/div>\n

We spent the week working on trailer loading<\/strong> so he could go home without a big to-do. This went weirdly well. He both followed me and allowed himself to be sent into both of my trailers with very little hesitation. I kept myself pretty quiet and took my time, but he was very willing. Considering he had to be herded into the trailer to get here, and his overall level of skepticism, I was really pleased.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Nugget in the trailer: “i am not loving this, just saying, and no way am i backing out, but i can stand here with you, no problem.” Good boy Nugget!<\/p><\/div>\n

When I caught him so<\/strong> he could go home, his chauffeur offered to pet him. He tried to bolt.\u00a0 Ah! There’s the overreaction I know and do not love, but when I brought him back to me, we walked to the trailer with only a few momentary pauses, and he loaded up directly. Good boy. Safe travels, Nugget!<\/p>\n

Back to normal<\/strong><\/p>\n

After eight days with the\u00a0 Appaloosa Nationals<\/strong>, followed immediately by a fantastic six-day visit from my parents, sister, brother-in-law, one of my nieces, and my brother, and then another show (!! Yikes!), this week was back to normal!<\/p>\n

I do like my regular life! <\/strong>One of my clients told me that I (and Jim, too) might be the happiest people she knows. That was a very nice compliment!<\/p>\n

Normal this week included<\/strong> a return to the Vista Grande Community Center gym (free for 62 and over), some weed whacking, a little tractor work, and horse stuff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patty Wilber After two days of standing over near Penny and not moving much following the Great Bareback Pad Debacle, Nugget regained his composure. He started moving around his big pen, investigating things again.\u00a0 He even reached his nose … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[59,89,158],"class_list":["post-22186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-write-horse","tag-adventures","tag-horses","tag-the-write-horse"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2lc3-5LQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22175,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/horse-training-its-not-all-roses\/","url_meta":{"origin":22186,"position":0},"title":"Horse training: It’s not all roses","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2607.17","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Nugget, one of the feral boys, is going home. He has been here about six weeks and has gone from unhandled, almost to the point where I was thinking about when he'd be ready to get on. 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I have two horses right now that have had the the unlovely behavior of stopping and going backwards when we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_163430-scaled-e1787889260189.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_163430-scaled-e1787889260189.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_163430-scaled-e1787889260189.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22136,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/the-feral-boys\/","url_meta":{"origin":22186,"position":2},"title":"The Feral Boys","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2606.26","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber When I get horses in that have not been handled much, or have not had clear expectations, it seems like there is often a point where I despair and wonder if they will ever decide to come around. Usually, the turnaround is just a few days, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260624_171337-scaled-e1782449359919.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260624_171337-scaled-e1782449359919.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260624_171337-scaled-e1782449359919.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9280,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2013\/09\/13\/harry\/","url_meta":{"origin":22186,"position":3},"title":"Harry","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1309.13","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Harry is a\u00a0big, dark bay, seven-year-old gelding.\u00a0(Well, ok, he is really not that big--maybe 16 hands--but compared to the Dink Patrol at 14, 14.1 and 14.2, he is big) He essentially spent all seven of his years in a pen either with, or right next door to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harry, all wrapped up.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/IMG_3035-287x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10909,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2014\/06\/20\/the-next-adventure-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":22186,"position":4},"title":"The Next Adventure: Gathering.","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1406.20","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber I love cows. I guess I should really say that I love working cows from horseback. If I get a chance, I will drop most everything to load and go.\u00a0 Or I am happy to plan ahead as well! This one was planned (There was even a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red cliffs!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_4915-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20161,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2023\/06\/16\/challenges-in-a-retraining-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":22186,"position":5},"title":"Challenges in a retraining project","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2306.16","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber I have a six year old gelding, named Five, that came in as a retrain about seven weeks ago.\u00a0 He was said to have come off a feedlot and while he was demonstrated at a walk, trot, and lope, he had dumped one person and been given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230612_180154.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22186"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22197,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22186\/revisions\/22197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}