the big move

We successfully moved Lucy and Claire's horse Boe yesterday!

I worked very hard all week to do a lot of the tasks associated with the move before Friday arrived, so that Friday would mainly be about the horses themselves. I am really glad I did it this way, because Friday turned out to be quite hectic.

First I got a call at 7:30 from my barn owner saying that Lucy's eye was all swollen and it seemed very painful. There were no abrasions but I decided to go right over and assess the damage. Luckily it wasn't too bad at all. The eye was swollen about halfway shut but she seemed perky and wanted to go out, so I turned her out and did her stall. I checked on her a few times and even in the short time I was at the barn in the morning, the swelling went down a lot.

The whole thing was a bit funny because the night before, I was packing the truck with the last few non-essential things and I decided to leave my brush box and my first aid box with the banamine in it at the barn, because I reasoned that it would be my luck that I move the banamine and then the horse colics. Well, thankfully she didn't colic but she did bash her face up! I joked with Claire that she either whacked her head on the side of the stall or she took herself out to a local bar and got in a fist fight. Either theory wouldn't surprise me if it were true ;)

After finishing her stall and also cleaning her paddock one final time, I went home and showered and picked Claire up. We went back to the barn and hitched the trailer up to the truck, and loaded the last few things into the truck. Then it came time to get the horses on the trailer. Boe marched right on. Lucy took one look at the trailer, FLIPPED out, and then we had a repeat of the hunter pace loading fiasco where she was completely belligerant and unreasonable. After about ten minutes of trying, I took her into the indoor and did some serious "cut the crap" ground work, where I essentially reminded her how to lead and if she hesistated or tried to back up, she got a solid thwap on the rump with a stick I was carrying in my left hand. Not before long, she was changing her tune and cooperating. I took her back out to the trailer and though she didn't load immediately, she was much easier to work with and was respecting my space. So it seems that unfortunately the trailer loading hassle wasn't just a fluke thing and I may have a problem on my hands. I am just glad we did get her on the trailer (and it was the same as at the hunter pace: she fought for a while and then visibly gave up and relaxed and got right on and stood there quietly). So odd.

When we got to the new barn, we unloaded the horses and turned them straight out. Lucy was sooooo happy. They are both in "starter" paddocks, because they're not used to the grass or the space, and these paddocks are big enough for them to stretch their legs but they aren't huge, and the grass is kind of crappy. This way they'll be able to graze a bit but the risk of founder will be much less.

Here's a video of her showing off to her neighbours, and checking out her new digs:





And here are some photos:

 

While the horses de-stressed outside, we sorted out our tack room. We are really excited that at this new barn, we have our own little tack room for just Claire and I. It's our space and we have a lock on the door so nothing goes wandering. We have our grain and our tack/supplies in there, and then we have space in the hay loft for our hay. We are very happy :)

After the tack room was all set up, we decided to have a quick ride. Lucy was really well-behaved and didn't seem phased by the new indoor, so we went on a short hack. The trails at this new barn are awesome!!