Hello, got any grass?

(Please excuse any typing mistakes, its a bit tricky with those hoofs on the keyboard.)

My name is Gato, and I am a horse. I'm 26 years old, and I used to work as a Polo horse in Germany, when I was young. One day, one of my stupid riders hit me on the head with his bat and I had to quit. I didn't like that job anyway. Too much stress and noise scaring me. I never got over the fear of swinging objects around me.

After I quit I found myself a new home with a teenage girl, who didn't let me work very hard at all. Brilliant! I just had to take her out once a day for a walk in the bush, which was fun. Something different every day. Like freshly grown grass blades or newly dumped paper rubbish that I had to examine from a safe distance. She (my owner) never did understand how frightening and exciting these changes can be.

Anyway, she took me through a number of stables, all about the same, a small square inside and a big muddy paddock outside (that I had to share with others) during the day. Could have been worse, I guess.

Three years ago, my life took a sudden change, one morning she woke me up and put me into the float again. I don't mind the float. It's kind of fun driving along the roads, but I didn't quite expect to spend the next four days traveling. Admittedly we stopped for the nights in cool new places, but it was a loooong journey.

Apparently I now live in Spain. First I took the drastic change in temperature for Global Warming, before I was told that this country has a hotter climate. People here laugh about my name. Gato is spanish for cat. Very funny. But I really can't complain otherwise.

I've got a space of 300 m2 to myself and an open shelter, where I can walk in and out of whenever I want. But thats only where I spend the nights...During the day that same girl (she's a bit older now, and I still don't know her name, I just know she's the one that brings me food and stuff), takes me out to my paddocks. I've got five of them. Big ones, too.

In spring its all full of really juicy lush green grass. Being in Spain though, that only lasts till June or so. Then it all turns into hay (imagine that: hay that grows directly out of the ground). Not bad either. Towards autumn food gets a bit scarce on my paddocks, I am told I have to wait for the rain falls.