It was not entirely unexpected, but it happened a bit fast. We knew this day was coming, but I’ll admit I was completely stressed out about it.
Tonight, I look out and see a lonely 2 horses left in our front pasture. However, we own at least 5. They just aren’t here. đŠ đŠ
2 days ago, our good friend D called to let me know about another horse opportunity. This was not another rescue; just an awesome opportunity. D and T were going to be in the general area anyhow, and they had 2 horses, 1 pony, and a puppy to go see. They took a saddle and promised to send pictures.
In the meantime, we made a mad dash to Tractor Supply to check on fencing.
The original pre-Â Thursday plan was to move all the horses. Gone. All 5 of them. Kapoof.
As seems to be par for the course, things changed moment by moment. We had hard decisions to make. And. It. Was. STRESSFUL.
Saddlebreds are a hot-blooded breed. Numerous people told us these two horses would never be good for riding; that we could never control them on the trail because of the breed. The mixes- Saddlebred/Quarter Horse were even worse.
And yet, we knew our two Saddlebreds. We knew how calm they could be; how gentle. We made HUGE leaps with both Flicka and Boi, and probably decisions that weren’t the smartest at the time, like saddling Boi just to see if we could do it. {He was completely calm, by the way, even when we tightened the cinch (or cinched the girth; whichever you prefer đ ); he did not even move- and really, we don’t need more of a lecture; we get it. đ }
The tipping point was when we decided to go for the new horse. Where were we going to put everyone?
Halo needs to be fattened up more; Elia {we’ve been calling him Jambalaya because he’s a jumbled mess :lol:} needs to be weaned. We’re undecided what to do with Blondie because we’re not sure she would ever be a good horse for trail riding, and she’s a ways off from being able to be ridden. So, we’re going to give it some time and see what we want to down the road.
Magic needs some attitude work, but she is still an awesome horse. Angel, however, is pretty near perfect. She needs some saddle hours and a thorough evaluation to make sure she is completely child-safe. She already parks out, which means shorty me can probably get on without a bench.
Magic and Angel got moved first, and that went very well. Then it was time to head home and move the others.
Halo went right in {incidentally, she went back to her first home and original trainer} and Elia followed right away. We had some shuffling around and baby came out and then we had a little bit of work to get him back in. Once they were secured, it was time to get Blondie loaded.
Have you ever tried to trailer a wild filly for the first time? No? Us either. đ
And let me tell you, that was a lot of work! Obviously, I didn’t get any pictures. It took us about an hour, but we got her.
In addition to moving our horses, D and S (the gal who drove the trailer to get Magic) were doing a horse swap over at his place. By the time he and S got back, Blondie was loaded and we were ready to go.
Horses got settled in and then we came back home for tack. At some point, he called and let us know the Saddlebred “people” were on their way. So home we went. This was going to be the make-or-break decision time. And we were dreading it…………….
At the end of the day, we’re trying to track down registration on Flicka to see what she’s been trained to do. As we thought, she had been broken and most likely shown and can even park out, although she basically needs to relearn everything.
Boi has bonded with our oldest daughter. He is a *completely* different horse when she handles him, and he does very well with Hunny and me, too.
They are both still here, and we’re going to get him gelded before sending them off to Saddlebred camp training. We realize these two are our project horses, but we are cautiously optimistic.
I really believe God brought us *here*- to this house; to this property; with these horses. I think we were supposed to save them. We realize it may not work out the way we want it to, but we really feel like we owe them a chance. It’s not their fault they were abandoned and ignored. We’re willing to give them a chance and see where we land. And, of course, we are totally attached to them and we love them, so that helps. đ
We really just want everyone home, and we’re working towards that goal as quickly as we can. Within the next several weeks, we hope to have the horses home and also get our chicken arrangements underway. Even with all our horsey fun, I miss my girlies!
So. That’s what we did today. đ Have we’ve graduated from being chicken people to horse people to full-out farm folk? I think just maybe we’re getting there…………………………
And I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Tikk Tok 