Saturday, June 6, 2009

We made it!!!

This morning came early as John and I packed up our cars full of things like my clothes, computer, kitchen ware, and charley stuff.  I also put the fish in a tupperware and packed him onto the dash.  I got the orchid and venus fly trap and we were off to get gas, top off my oil, and get the horse.  Boomer was a little hesitant to load and was moving around a lot for the first 30 minutes.  John was behind me so he could see what was going on pretty well.  After that first 30 minutes, Boomer settled down and didn't move much.  In rural areas the high way junctions are often at stop signs, so to give warning, there are usually three section of road that are grooved to make the car vibrate about a 1/4 mile from the intersection.  John said that Boomer's ears would pin as we went over each one, popping right back up as soon as we were over it.  Back, forward, back, forward, back, forward.  Too funny!  The drive was uneventful and took about 3.5 hours.  We arrived and unloaded with no issues.  The paddock is at least a half acre with grass and a small shelter.  He will get watered daily, hay and his grain twice a day.  When we clean out his paddock we just leave the muck tub outside of his gate and they will haul it off.  I am so happy to have him at a full care facility.  Every single horse out there looks shiny, happy, and well fed.  I think it will be a great place.  It is a little hard for me to relinquish control of feeding, but from what I have seen, it will be easier to let them do it.  I trust them.  It is a shared feed room and they just load up the 'mule' with everyones buckets and go along the fence line giving grain and hay.  Every horse out there is on various supplements and they feed them also.  I think I will ride him in the outdoor arena tomorrow and maybe give the indoor a try later this week.  They have a trainer out there named Charlie who grew up riding english on saddlebreds, standardbreds, and gaited horses.  He also showed in harness classes. Then he switched to rodeo events and did steer wrestling.  So, he seems well rounded.  There are a number of friendly boarders, so I am excited about that as well.  

We have pretty well set up the apartment.  It is very tiny.  I think we will make it though!  Charley is having some trouble staying his usual happy self, but I think he will probably have a hard time adjusting until John moves here full time next weekend.  

Oh, Charley and Boomer both got shocked by the electric fence today.  Charley barked and peed himself.  Boomer snorted and trotted of, tail in the air.  So, the fence works!  I was curious but couldn't convince John to touch it.     

3 comments:

Shanster said...

You made it! Electric fences scare me more than they scare the ani-mules! Furry Husband tried to get me to touch it once - he was holding it saying, "it's not that bad!" and then one of the dogs came up and touched him increasing the current... Furry Husband yelped and the dog went running yi yi yi yi'ing like Dino from the Flintstones. Uh, yeah. I'm am NOT touching the fence.

Heather said...

Boomer is still scared of it three days later. The guy who feeds said that every time he feeds he has to shake the bucket and push it towards him because he wont come near the fence. He is also pretty freaked about walking down the alley between paddocks since there is fence on both sides!

I have only touched a fence once and it was because my horse bumped me coming through the gate and the button on the hip of my jeans touched the fence wire. I must have blocked out how much it hurt because I don't remember my reaction. That was Fire when I was probably 12 or 13.

Was your poor dog scared of touching Furry Husband after that???

Shanster said...

Hmmm - I don't remember Booker being afraid of Dave after getting such a shock... but I'm sure he was a bit "hesitant" the first time Dave called him over!