The Move

I hate moving Katai. It’s stressful needing to load her when I know she’s not always good and each time it’s a different trailer and a different person waiting on us. I also really hate changing up Katai’s routine and stressing her out. However, there have been good things about moving as much as we have. She’s very flexible with herds of horses (kind of like kids who move around a lot and get used to going to a lot of different schools haha) and I’ve made a whole bunch of amazing horse friends.

I was doing a good job of keeping my stress to a minimum until Saturday morning. Luckily my new trainer (K) was trailering and was planning to be there around 10:45 which gave me some breathing room in the morning to get everything packed, get coffee, and not need to wake up horribly early. I still got to the barn quite early just to make sure I had enough time and got her stall packed up, picked up her extra supplements, and then cleared out my tack locker. I wish I had taken a picture of everything in my SmartCar because it was kind of like a puzzle to get everything to fit well.

K and her mum showed up right on time and I went to collect Katai. I’d been saying my goodbyes but one of the barn workers wanted to say goodbye to Katai before she left so after I caught her I brought her over to say bye to him. The trailer was luckily a three horse slant which I knew would leave ample room. However, it was a step up which she hasn’t been in for a while now and it had a tack space in the back so the entrance was a little tight. All in all though she loaded really well in about 20 minutes. She did pull back several times but I’m getting much better at some of my loading techniques and just kept her facing the trailer the whole time and made her comfortable place right at the entrance and/or inside the trailer. K and her mom were extremely patient and just let me do my thing which I really appreciated!

Once Katai was loaded I realized I’d left her turnout halter up by the gate so I hopped in my car and drove up to the upper barn to get it while they started out with the trailer. The trip ended up being smooth but there was a TON of traffic and especially semi traffic on one of our main three lane highways. I followed a decent distance behind and was really glad it wasn’t a day where I was driving the trailer.

Once we arrived I pulled her out and we brought her over to quarantine which is a roundpen with a shelter. She hung out getting her land legs back and then rolled. She still stresses enough about trailering that she sweats a decent amount and it was also a hot day which didn’t help. I made sure she found the water and K tossed her some hay including some alfalfa which she immediately started scarfing down. At that point I dropped off some of the stuff they needed like her supplements, put her fly mask on, paid K for trailering and then headed out to let her destress.

I headed home, grabbed some amazing vegan food from the Herbivorous Butcher and then spent the rest of my Saturday resting, re-organizing her stuff, and cleaning all of my tack which was sadly overdue for a cleaning. It will live at my apartment now until just before I move when I’ll move it into the new barn.

On Sunday I had planned to head out in the morning but I had a busy day planned already, so a small window to head out to the barn, and then woke up with a really sore and swollen finger which I quickly realized was infected. Bf and I headed to urgent care where I got instructions and some antibiotics and headed home. At that point it was too late to go to the barn so we did our other scheduled things and then I headed out to the barn around 4:00.

It was quickly apparent to me that I’d absolutely made the right decision in moving her closer. The drive felt easy and quick and I wasn’t already tired out by the time I got to the barn. Katai actually seemed pretty settled which I was really happy to see. She’d also been eating her grain foods and since they’re literally only vitamins they don’t taste amazing so sometimes if she’s stressed she won’t eat them. I groomed her really well and scratched all her itchy places. She was very happy to have me and sort of clingy so I spent quite a bit of time with her. Once she was all clean I put her fly mask back on, put her fly sheet on, fly lotion everywhere, and put her fly boots on so she was all armored up against the bugs. I left for a minute to put the stuff back in my car and when I walked back to say goodbye she gave me this sad little whinny that broke my heart. I’m so looking forward to having her so close and it will be great to use this quarantine time for bonding even if all I want right now is to ride my pony!

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.