Pony Troubles

 Realizing I'm putting more bedding in her stall because she is going to be spending more time in it.

Some of you have been wondering where Mochi has been the past month.  Unfortunately Mochi has been having somewhat of a lameness mystery.  This is depressing and frustrating.  I have never had to deal with a lame horse aside from Klein getting a tiny abscess when she was four.  That problem was immediately solved when the vet came out and opened it.  No problems ever again.  My horses prior to Klein never had any lameness issues either.  Ever.

It all started on November 15th.  That was a week after our last show.  Mochi had been on break that week because we had made a trip to NJ to see the new house, sign paperwork, and drop off cars.  I rode her on the 15th after we got back from that trip.  We were going to do some dressage work and I had been on her about ten minutes.  We weren't doing anything more than walking and trotting to warm up when all of a sudden it was like her right front gave out from under her and she started limping on it.

At first I wondered if she had stepped on something or in something, but there was nothing.  I jumped off of her and put her on the lunge line.  She was very noticeably lame on her right front at the trot.  I wasn't sure what to make of it because it was so sudden and there was no obvious reason for it.  She's never had any issues.

I texted my vet the videos from the 15th and she came out the next day to see her.  I jogged Moch for the vet and she took a good look at her and found no obvious issues.  She was sound in a straight line, and she gave her a 2 on a circle.  The lameness was intermittent too.  She was fine walking around, so we decided to give her some Bute for a couple days and a week of rest.  Put her on the lunge line the next Sunday (Nov 22nd) and see how she looked.

The 22nd comes around and on the lunge line she was looking good at the trot...until she stumbled then immediately was lame on the right front at the trot.  It was like she just wasn't paying attention and tripped.  It was enough to irritate whatever the issue is.  I texted my vet those videos of after her stumble and she came out the next day again.  Here they are:

This time she did a lameness exam and took a radiograph.  Again, nothing obvious was showing up.  She blocked the majority of her right front hoof and Mochs went sound.  The vet was suspecting she had bruised her heel some how, or maybe pulled/strained something.  She does not suspect navicular (a couple friends have suggested that).

By this time we were about to make the trip to NJ, like, the next week.  She was still fine out walking around in the pasture.  The radiograph did show that some serious toe needed to come off.  I was hoping maybe a change in her trim would help.  More time off and some modification to her trims was the plan.

She was trimmed on the 28th.

 

The week before we left I also had her adjusted by our chiro for the second time that month.  She didn't find anything out of the ordinary in her shoulders.  That suggests whatever it is isn't bothering her enough to present itself in her shoulders suggesting compensation for pain or other issues. 

We left for NJ on the 1st, arrived on the 2nd.  The trip didn't bother her at all.  The Sunday after we got here, Dec 6th, I put her on the lunge line to see how she was looking at the trot.  She was looking pretty good!  There was still some intermittent lameness going on but it was barely noticeable (see videos below).  She was improving!

The Friday after that, the 11th, I got on her bareback to just walk around the property and have a drink after work.  She felt fine at the walk.  I had to trot just a couple steps to see how she felt and she felt GREAT.  She was forward and ready to go!  No lameness.

The next day I tacked her up (her Total Saddle Fit Shoulder Relief Dressage Girth showed up)  and was just going to walk around the property because obviously I wasn't going to just throw her right back into her previous routine until I was SURE the issue was gone.

 

We walked around for about 15 mins and I decided to just test the trot.  About two steps into it I felt something off in her gait.  I immediately stopped and dismounted.  *sigh*  You're playing with my emotions little mare.  I decided to just leave her rest a couple more weeks.  We are in no hurry for anything right now.  Sure, she was going really nicely, but there is plenty of time for that after she heals from whatever this bs is.

The next weekend I'm down the road taking Klein out for a gallop.  Normally, when we leave Mochs will whinny, but that's the extent of it.  For whatever reason she decided to lose her mind that day.  I get a phone call from The Other Half saying Moch had been galloping laps around the pasture, had started limping at the walk, and had a bloody nose............WHAT?  I said,"I'm on my way, put her in a stall."  Every ride since then, Mochs has been in a stall so there is no risk of that happening again right now.

She had a tiny spot of blood in her nose where she must have broke a little blood vessel during her mental breakdown.  I am attributing that whole episode to her being in the other pasture, which she hadn't spent a whole lot of time in yet and Klein leaving. Wes was still there with her but I guess that wasn't good enough.

Ever since that day she has been intermittently lame at the walk.  It's not a glaring lameness, just slight.  Still.  Cue panic.  I kept her in the next two nights and she looked better.  She wasn't happy about having to stay in, but she brought that on herself.  Klein and Wes come and hang out with her too.

This past weekend I saw her a little intermittently lame at the walk in the pasture again.  I started feeling sick.  I really started to worry about her.  It had been about a week since she ran around like an idiot.  She obviously irritated the injury more, or potentially made it worse.  I hadn't been keeping her in as long as she was walking around fine.  I hate stalling my horses.  They hate being stalled.  Just the other week while I was at the Sally Cousins clinic she went on about how turn out is the best thing for a horse and to let them be out and be a horse.  I also worried about her getting stiff on it from just standing in a stall.  That is why I would put her in at night for a few nights.

Anyway, Mid-Atlantic isn't far from us and I pretty much had decided that I would be making her an appt there and we are going to figure this thing out like, NOW.  The Other Half said just wait a few days because our new DAEP was coming and to just let him take a look at her.  A friend told me the same thing.

I talked to my vet in GA because she knows Mochs the best.  She actually knew her for years before I came along and bought her, and she has ridden her a few times too in those years.  She still suspects she has pulled or strained something, especially with her improving then going back to square one after she ran around freaking out.  She said stall her.  So...Mochs is on a week of stall rest right now.  She also suggested to just take a breath and wait until the DAEP sees her.

Our new DAEP came today.  He rocks.  I'm super excited we found a great trimmer here.  What a relief.  He took a good look at her today and decided to cast her.  She was sensitive to the hoof testers on her right front sole.  That is the only sensitive spot she has.  The rest of her hoof, and her entire leg, are not showing anything out of the ordinary.  She is moving better with the casts on too.  Despite that fact, I am still going to keep her on the week of stall rest and see how she looks after that, combined with the casts.

If there is no improvement after a week of rest and with the casts, off to Mid-Atlantic we go.

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas from our barn to yours!!

I hope you all are having an awesome Christmas today that is spent with the people and/or animals you love.  

We had a nice, quiet day.  We worked around the property most of the day and got A LOT accomplished on the ring as far as clearing brush.  The borders were just a little overgrown and there were some spots with branches that I had to duck under on Klein.  On Moch I was fine, but on a 17hh horse, not happening.  We worked until the rain came, and worked in the rain for a little while until it really started pouring.

 So much better!  This is just a fraction of what we cleared.

Fastest way to get rid of what we cleared.  No, that's not a bucket of water...

I'm excited to finish the job! 

You Have to Pay To Play

 It's a widely known fact that horses are addictive as cocaine and twice as expensive, yet worth every last fraction of a penny.  It's also a widely known fact that "horses" goes way beyond the actual animal.  All the upkeep, vet, chiro, equipment, shows, clinics, etc, etc, etc, the list could go on forever.  Let us focus on one VERY important aspect of horse ownership:  trailers.  I love my trailer.  I really do. It is exactly the one I wanted.  I didn't settle for anything less than the exact model I wanted.

 Love!

It's been great, up until these past two months.  My trailer has been kicking my ass lately.  It started with the wiring.  I took it in to have the bearings packed (regular maintenance) and a new brake controller put in my truck.  While it was there they found a legit wiring mess.  It was also time for new brakes on the trailer.  $1,217 later, it was ready to rock.  Then we had the blow out on our way up here with a BRAND NEW tire.  That's right.  Last May I put four new tires on the trailer and bought two spares, that's over $1,000 in tires.  That blow out took with it a grease cap on one of my axles, bent my fender and ripped a light off the fender.

Just a flesh wound.

 Missing grease cap on one axle that the blow out ripped off.

I'm not super concerned with the bent fender because that in no way inhibits how the trailer pulls.

My jack had been giving me trouble lately and actually got stuck the day I was taking Wes on base to meet Brook Ledge.  My barn owner's husband helped me that day and we greased the hell out of the jack.  It made it a little better but I had a pretty good idea the jack was most likely on its way out.  The night we were raising the trailer off the truck something in the jack finally gave.  Something snapped and the trailer fell back down on the truck.  Well thankfully the damn truck was under it and it didn't do that with no truck under in and fall on the ground!!  It just fell about 6" back down onto my hitch.  

The Other Half came to the rescue with a 20 ton bottle jack.  We put two six ton jack stands under it just in case the bottle jack failed.  A ratchet strap was used to keep the jack up, otherwise it would be all the way extended.  The handle was spinning freely at that point.

Ghetto fabulous.  I know...I know, all we need is for it to be resting on some cinder blocks.  But really, I didn't want it sitting there using my truck as a kickstand either.  But really, the jack looks small but it's 20 tons.  It didn't budge an inch either.

Ok, fine.  Jacks are consumable parts, things that break.  There's a reason they are readily available in trailer parts stores.  So, I found a HUGE trailer dealership 45 mins from our house and ordered a jack.  The jack came in and I had an appointment last Saturday for it to be installed.  

Oh wait, I forgot something else.  Also on the way up here we are about to cross into Delaware and I hear "Something just flew off the top of your trailer.  It kind of looked like ice?" on the walkie talkie.  Pretty sure that was my vent lid.  My barn owner in GA sucked at keeping the trees trimmed and coming in the drive way branches would brush the top and they cracked my vent lid.  I guess all the wind caught it and ripped it off.  Annoying, but, whatever.  That's a $30 part.  Plus, the trailer is parked under a portable garage.  Those things are also readily available and I knew the trailer dealer would have them in stock.

Last Saturday rolls around, I take my trailer to the dealer, they put the new jack on and install the vent lid.

The dealer used a floor jack, same same.

Yesss!!!  Like butter, so easy I can put it on and off the truck with one hand.  No more jumping with my whole body weight on the jack handle and it moving maybe 2".

Putting the new vent in.

 New vent lid.  It's the little things...like not being able to see the sky anymore.

Total for last Saturday's work?  $537, thanks to The Other Half.  No seriously, they said $537 and he immediately got his debit card out.  They also pointed out I might really want to think about having my roof seal redone like...soon.  They were right, that's not them trying to upsell me bullshit I don't need, I knew about the roof seal.  My roof seal is pretty much done.  Quote for that?  $450, and we can't do it until it is a little warmer out.  So I'll take it back for that in spring.  I'd do it sooner if it wasn't sitting under the portable garage, out of the elements.  They said if I needed it soon they would just pull the trailer in the shop and warm it up to the temp they needed for the sealant to cure.  

So, trailer, good to go again.  They also had a grease cap for that axle laying around so they put one on there.  Fast forward to tonight.  I'm pulling my trailer into the portable garage (that I have done multiple times since we've been here) and a broken bar in it that we had moved out of the way came back down as I was pulling in.  I heard a loud pop.  Fml.  I stopped and backed the trailer out a little bit.  The Other Half climbed up on the truck bed and said "It punched a f'ing hole in the trailer!!!"  Excuse me?

 

 GTFO.  G...T...F...O...  Are you f'ing kidding me?

Ummm, nope, definitely not f'ing kidding me.  Just punched a hole in the top of my $12k trailer, nbd.  Well, that's nothing a welder can't fix.  

That should be about a 10 min fix for a welder.  You better believe he broke that bar off so there's no way that can happen again.  Having the freedom that comes with your own trailer is priceless, but still, ENOUGH TRAILER. WE'RE DONE NOW.  Do you WANT to be traded in and replaced by a newer Sundowner Charter SE 2+1????  Because the trailer dealer has plenty of them in stock and we took a close look at them last Saturday and they looked REALLY GOOD.

Charter SE 2+1.  Just a 3' longer/newer version of mine.  I really love the 2+1 set up.

This welding job will be a cheap fix but still, over $1,800 in maintenance in the past two months is plenty.  

Well, one thing's for sure...

 

Presenting: EN's 10 Things People Who Don't Ride Should Stop Asking

The other day EN posted 10 Questions People Who Don't Ride Should Stop Asking.  They did a good job with that one.  They had me laughing because everything was so true.  It reminded me of a couple weeks ago when The Other Half said that he had to explain to the other guys he works with what sheath cleaning is.  Don't even ask me how the subject came up.  He said he explained it to everyone's horror and they were walking around trying to comprehend what he told them for the rest of the day.

My other favorites from that post:  When will you be back from the barn?  Why do you blindfold your horses in the summer time?  Where do you put your horses in the winter?  Do you want to do something this weekend besides go to the barn?

Just yesterday someone I had lunch with said "So, where do you keep your horses?"  I said, "At our house."  He just stared at me like I ignored his question.  He said, "No, where are they??"  Again I said, "They are at my house..."  Blank stare.  "They are at my house, like...on the property, we have a HORSE property.  There's a human house AND a horse house!"  It still didn't register all the way.  Not sure where he thought I should be keeping them?  

Of course every one knows the worst question you can ask me about my drafts, "Is he/she a Clydesdale?!"

What are some of your top questions that people ask you about your horse(s)?

Wes' Routine and More Adventuring

 A beautiful foggy morning.

The weather has been pretty perfect here lately.  Wes wasn't feelin' it today because it reached about 71 and that's too hot for a polar bear.  Poor guy has been sweaty the past couple days.  At least it hasn't interrupted any of his usual routine.

His usual morning roll.  He grunts every time he rolls and it's hilarious, he seriously enjoys himself.  But you know, that's what you do when you're retired and living it up doing whatever you want, you enjoy yourself!

 He also has figured out where the grain comes from.  Here he is insisting he can help me make dinner.

 And more yawns after dinner.  He loves his Himalayan salt lick in his stall too.  He will eat dinner, lick his salt block, yawn, then be ready to go back out, get a drink then lumber off out in the pasture, and maybe stop at the hay net on his way.  It's good to be king.

I actually saw him hold his ground against Klein this morning.  That is the first time I've ever seen him stand up to her even in the slightest way.  She is the fun police and the fun police is on duty 24/7.  He was minding his own business, drinking out of the stock tank when Klein decided (as she regularly does) that SHE wanted to drink from the stock tank in the exact spot he was.  She squealed and swung a hip at him and he swung his hip right back at her and they bumped each other.  The Other Half was out there with me and told Klein to knock it off, so I didn't get to see who would have won.  I'm pretty sure it would have been Klein because I doubt Wes would stand his ground beyond that, but that was more than I've ever seen him do.  Good for him.  The fun police can't ration water.  Luckily everyone has a automatic waterer in their stalls too.  The fun police can't be in two places at once.

Speaking of the fun police...  Klein and I went out exploring some more yesterday and found more area for hacking and conditioning.  We had some nice gallops.  Klein was enjoying herself.  She also did the first auto change she has ever done.  She did it while we were galloping.  This once a week schooling changes stuff is sinking in with her.  
 

 

 First jump school at home!

I had also stacked some cavalettis so we would have SOMETHING to jump.  They're small but they're better than nothing.  The Other Half is going to build me some jumps soon.  Plus, there are barns super close to school at until my collection is built up.  I do have some other stuff I can jump, I just need to set it up.

 Waiting for their Klein mare.

Today was our day to school changes.  Lainey posted another great dressage exercise of the day that involved changes so I thought we might as well give it a try.  

Here it is:

Heads up! Another #DEOTD for my more advanced level horse and rider combos! Counter canter into four cavalettis (slightly less than nine feet apart depending on your horse's level of collection) and stay straight into a flying change and then counter canter and repeat the exercise. ***If your horse doesn't know his changes yet you can modify with a simple change through the walk. This exercise teaches the horse collection and straightness through the poles and the flying or simple change and it promotes a balanced rider who is capable of maintaining a counter canter through the turns on the approach of the cavalettis. Huge thank you to long time student Jessie Clise on Bucky for demonstrating today's dressage exercise in her lesson! Enjoy guys! #crosstraining101 #dressageisfun #winterworkouts

A video posted by Lainey Ashker (@laineyea) on Dec 11, 2015 at 11:20am PST

(Press play!)

Klein has a strong counter canter.  She can counter canter tight serpentines all day long.  We warmed up and then worked on a couple changes by themselves over a pole.  Then we cantered over the cavalettis and added some counter canter.  After we had that together we added the change.  She was changing a little late behind but she is getting it.  Even changing from right to left, which is her more difficult side.  One of the times she was late behind changing to the left I made sure to sit down on my right seat bone, gave her an opening left rein and a tap with the whip when I asked and she got it.

After my ride today I headed over to a barn 10 mins from home to meet up with a friend and audit the Sally Cousins clinic going on there.  If I would have known about it before yesterday I would have taken Klein.  But Sally goes there on a regular basis, so we will catch her next time.  That's right...Sally Cousins...10 mins from my house.  What?  In GA to take a lesson it was a minimum of a 70 mile haul, which was fine because good lessons are worth it, but.......Sally Cousins is 10 mins one way, and Lainey Ashker clinics are 15 mins the other way.  I already don't ever want to leave here!

Auditing the clinic.

First Rides at Our New Home!

For our first ride home we did Lainey Ashker's dressage exercise of the day from last week.  It involved leg yields with cavaletti.  It worked great and we will definitely add that in to our regular dressage program.  I love all of Lainey's stuff.  Speaking of Lainey...the first day we were home I hadn't even been in New Jersey for twelve hours yet and I found out that Lainey will be doing a clinic at a barn 15 mins from our house.  15 MINS AWAY.  Of course I signed up!!  That is no unusual occurrence here either.  You cannot go five minutes without passing a barn or hay farm here, it's awesome.  I pass a tack shop every day to and from work.

 Ring crew!  I love that guy.

 

 Crossing the bridge to our ring.

Yeah, I know, I didn't switch her back to her Boucher for dressage, sometimes we dressage in the Kimberwicke.

 Cool down walk on our trail.

Check out the sunsets here...

 Klein and I also went adventuring.  Pretty sure we found our new conditioning territory.

 You better believe we tested out all the galloping room over there too.

They missed their Klein mare.

I am excited to have found some great area to condition/hack on.  This place has turned out to be perfect.

The New Jersey Move

Last Georgia sunrise!

We left last Tuesday, stopped overnight on the eastern shore of Virginia and only had five more hours to go Wednesday morning.

We were going to be on the road at 5am Tuesday morning but Klein had other plans.  Remember she had a little streak of throwing fits about loading last winter?  She has been good for months and the morning we need to leave for a road trip...she throws a FIT.  What can you do?  Nothing but accept that we just got put on Klein's schedule.  She's loaded at 4:30am before, in the dark, in the cold, in the wind.  It was nothing else but Klein just feeling like not getting on the trailer for whatever million possible reasons in the horse universe. 

When she doesn't feel like loading she likes to walk toward the ramp then swing her hip around the outside of the trailer.  *sigh*  I pulled my trailer up along a fence line to eliminate one exit for her.  There were two of us and three exits for her.  She instantly realized we had her number once I moved the trailer.  She started not even wanting to walk forward.  Ha!  I got the lunge whip, The Other Half walked her and I walked behind her with the lunge whip in my hand, I very lightly snapped it behind her when she got to the ramp to hopefully not let her attention drift even one second to trying to swing her hip.  As soon as I softly snapped it she went on with a quickness. 

Poor Mochi, she's such a good little horse.  She had to wait on Klein's circus act for almost an hour.  Mochi, of course, went right on like she always does.

Klein's "do you still love me?" face.  She knows she was not being a model citizen getting on the trailer that morning.

Ugh, finally on our way.

We were rolling along, entertaining ourselves with the walkie talkies The Other Half had bought for the trip, which was a beyond genius idea.  I drove my truck and trailer, he drove one of his cars.  We each have two vehicles.  We dropped our other two off a couple weeks before this trip and did a one way rental car back to GA.  Him driving behind me was great actually, he kept people from tailgating the trailer and he would get over first and make room for me to get over, which was really nice when we got close to NJ on super busy highways.

South Carolina!

Water/rest break.

The random things you see on road trips...like a van full of inmates towing a porta-potty.

Oh hi, Brook Ledge!  We meet again!  Haha, two weeks ago they were picking up Wes, and there they were passing me with the girls.

We foggy patches in every state on this trip.

We were almost out of South Carolina when all of a sudden the truck shuddered and it felt like I ran over a speed bump.  As fast as I checked all my mirrors and saw a black flap in my right mirror, I heard "PULL OVER, PULL OVER, PULL OVER!" on my walkie talkie and started down shifting the truck as fast as I could to get pulled over safely with out slamming on the brakes and throwing the girls up against the chest bars.  The tread let go on my right rear trailer tire.  Seriously??  Are you serious?  ALL OF MY TRAILER TIRES ARE BRAND NEW!!!!!!  Even my truck tires are all brand new!!!  WTF?!

BRAND NEW!!!  Load range E too.  Complete bs.  The warranty will be replacing this.

Not only did I have a blow out it also damaged my fender and ripped the cap off the axle in front of it.

The definition of NOT FUN.

Traffic going by you at 70mph on the highway while you have the heaviest side of your trailer tipped toward it is probably one of the most unnerving situations I've been in.  The trailer rocked every time traffic went by.  Luckly The Other Half had it changed in five mins.  People, if you don't have Trailer Aid, you should.  It makes your life much easier in a dangerous situation like this.  Instead of messing with a jack you just pull your good tire up on the ramp and you are ready to change the bad one.  This is the second time I've had to use mine and both times I had the tire changed and back on the ground in five minutes or less.  I could see there was some damage to my fender but I just wanted to get the hell off the side of I-95.  The girls were amazing.  They were quietly munching hay through this.  I know they heard the tire let go, The Other Half said it was loud.  The girls seemed to not take notice.

We got back on the road and got off the interstate at the next exit to double check everything and put a little more air in the spare.  The full extent the blow out did was purely cosmetic. 

The cap that it ripped off the front axle.  The blue is the bearing grease.  It was fine to drive with like that.  I double checked with my dad...he builds race cars and does stuff like taking big rigs apart down to their frame, then puts them back together.

Easy fix.

Meh, that will all wash off.

So, if a little cosmetic damage and a $11 grease cap is all that happened during a blow out on a trailer with two horses and over 1,500lbs of other crap (I had to weigh my trailer) I'll take that ten times over any day versus what could happen in that situation.  I am so so so thankful.  The trailer never even weaved.  It just felt like I ran over something.  Also, I carry two spares so I had the peace of mind that IF that crap happened again on that trip, I was prepared.  We were going to Jersey.  The end.  I have U.S. Rider too.

Ok, so, back to road side entertainment...

What in the random hell?  Little Mexico in South Carolina I guess...

North Carolina!

Hay nets refilled/water/rest break at a truck stop in North Carolina.  I opened the door over my side ramp so the girls could watch the activity.

Every time we stopped for a break we would put Manny in the tack room with his litter pan so he could have a break too.  He was riding with The Other Half.

We decided to go to Norfolk and over/under Chesapeake Bay then up through Delaware because that kept us away from D.C. and Baltimore traffic.  If you go that way for any reason and you take Highway 58 out of Emporia, VA prepare yourself for a rough ride.  I have never cussed more at any piece of road than that highway.  It was an hour and a half of me yelling at the road for every bump.  How can a highway be that bad?  It's not even a little highway.  It's a popular route.  It was TERRIBLE even with a loaded trailer!  I apologized to the girls about 25 times during the time on that highway too.  I was so happy to see Norfolk and get the hell off of 58.

I was SUPER happy to see this thing too:

$22 for a two axle trailer, in case you ever use this.

Once we hit the bay bridge tunnel that meant only about 45 more minutes until our overnight stop.  I wanted to get the girls off the trailer more than anything.  I would have got them off the trailer at a rest break and walked them around, but not after Klein's fit that morning.  I wasn't going to risk having to play that game at a truck stop.

One of the tunnels under Chesapeake Bay.

We arrived at our overnight, which was an AWESOME place!  It is a bed and breakfast with a barn.  It's on the eastern shore of Virginia, so people bring their horses to ride on the beach and get away.  The owner, Eleanor, was a wonderful host.  Very, very nice lady.  You can find her website here:  http://www.windrushholidays.com/ .  The girls had a whole pasture to themselves.  Sorry I'm not sorry that I refuse to lock my horses in a stall after riding on a trailer all day. 

I unloaded the girls, unwrapped them, and let them out to relax.  I got their dinner ready and hung their hay nets, then got my stuff and headed up to our room.

The girls' pasture for the night.  There was a run-in in the back.

She has a beautiful place!

The house where we stayed.

The next morning Klein threw a little fit about loading but she was on in about 15 minutes.  I really couldn't blame her that morning.  She didn't want to be in the trailer again all day, I didn't want to be in the truck again all day.  I promised it wouldn't be as long of a day.  Mochi, of course, loaded right away. 

Foggy VA morning.

Swimming ponies!!  I told The Other Half we have to come back here when they swim the ponies!!

Delaware!  Yessss!  One more state to go!  I missed the Virginia and Maryland signs...

Delaware Memorial Bridge aka almost there!!

New Jersey!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!!!  Home sweet home!!!!!

The girls in one of their pastures.

First morning home.  I'd say Klein approves!

And running around squealing the next morning.  This is one happy Canadian.  Colder weather and NO BUGS.

So, we made it.  Safe and sound.  But, we all know the story of the New Jersey move doesn't end here.  Wes was waiting for me about 30 mins away.  I picked him up the next day.

I missed my boy.

Time to go home.

I got really lucky and had an amazing ponysitter for Wes.  She did a GREAT job with him.  I didn't have to worry about him one bit, and that made a cross country move with horses less stressful.  I am forever grateful to my friend for taking care of my boy like he was one of hers.

 Unloading the boy at home.  I took my divider out, left the chest bars, so he could have a box stall to ride home in.  He likes to ride backward (so does Klein), so when we opened the dutch doors we were greeted by his big head.

The three of them just stared at each other, probably trying to figure out how Wes got there when they were the only two in my trailer.  Then they all sniffed noses and cantered off into the pasture together.  My little herd was back together.

 Everyone in their stalls for dinner.  My barn is full, so is my heart.

 The happy herd in their other pasture.