Moving Day!

Finally, finally, finally it was time to move Katai. I woke up at 7:45am since I specifically set my alarm close to the time I needed to leave so that I wouldn't have much time to sit around and get nervous. I really don't know what it is about trailering that freaks me out but it's bad.

I got to the barn right around 8:40am after a quick stop for breakfast and to fill up my car's tank with gas. The horse's were still on the round bale and Christina, the wonderful person who had agreed to haul Katai for me, was still in the house. I grabbed Katai's halter and waded through the thick mud to catch her and bring her into the barn. I put her halter pads on and fitted her out with a cooler. I also scraped some of the muck off of her legs and then led her outside. It was windy and cool and I had changed the routine so Katai was already a little keyed up and as soon as Christina opened the trailer door you would have thought she'd opened the gates to hell. Katai started bouncing up on her hind legs and running her shoulder in to me. Yes, of course it is partially my fault for being keyed up and nervous but it's something I'm working on.

I reminded her that she needed to listen to me and not trample me and she started to obey again. Once I led her up to the trailer she climbed right in, I tied her and we were off. I led the way in my car since Christina didn't know where we were going so I didn't get any "pony in trailer" pictures but here is one from last time we moved her with the same trailer so you get the idea.

 

It was a short and uneventful trip and then we were there!!

 

I got her unloaded without a fuss and was walking her around trying to figure out how to get J involved and figure out where to put her when J herself stuck her head out the door of the indoor arena and yelled where to put her. Gotta love barn owners with mind reading capabilities!

 

 Everything is just so dry and free of mud. It's so completely wonderful not having to wear thigh high boots to survive a simple task like catching my horse. Katai was well behaved and really very quiet. She patiently waited to be led to her pen and then after briefly sniffing noses with the horse next door, a fancy and gorgeous warmblood from CA that looks twice as tall as my pony, she went and tucked into her hay. I don't blame her, that hay looks so good I'd like to eat it and she's got a pile in front of her that will last her until feeding time tomorrow. Since she is a little thin right now coming out of winter, I could say more about that but for now I'm just glad I'm at a different barn, I'm really happy that she can stuff her face.

After seeing that she was just going to calmly eat hay I went up to the barn to unpack my car and get my locker sorted out.

This is inside the heated tackroom/viewing area/grooming area looking at my locker and the one way mirror that makes up the viewing area window.

My nicely stuffed locker :-)

Looking into the grooming area, bathroom on the left and the indoor arena to the right. My locker is behind me to the right.

In the grooming area. There are three indoor grooming bays and one outdoor. This morning when I was there they were all full all the time. These pictures are from when I went back this evening to check to make sure Katai is settling in (she was). I'm so excited to have people to ride with!

Outdoor grooming space.

Finally the cross country course and some of the expansive pastures :)

So there we go. I am completely happy and relieved that it finally happened. When I went back in the evening Katai was calm and relaxed and after I scratched her for a little while and made sure she was ok I went home. Tomorrow I am going to the horse expo again with Lisa and will be there for most of the day. In the evening we are both going out to the barn to visit Katai and I'm going to stick around and work with her.

My hope is that Sunday evening will be pretty quiet so that I'll have the arena and grooming area to myself the first time or two. I'd like to give us both a couple of days of practice with cross ties and the indoor without bothering anyone else with her antics. Its really an unfounded concern since she's not bad, just a horse and no worse, or better, than any of the other horses here but she just hasn't been exposed to any of this stuff and I plan on doing my homework and not burdening anyone else with our inexperience.