Moved with no mishaps

Wow. The whole move was a whirlwind because I was busy at work last weekend and felt pulled in many different directions. The long and the short of the whole event was that it went just fine. I got to the barn mid-morning last Saturday and was pleased to find that the horses were turned out; it had been a crazy weather day on Friday so I wasn't anticipating turnout. It definitely made my life easier since they were both happy to have been outside.

I got everything except the four bales of hay left upstairs into my car and then Jodie arrived with the trailer. I basically dressed Dude and Bestie in their trailer boots and off we went. They both loaded really well. Dude is always a pro at it, so he went first, and then Bestie, who seemed a little unsure of the goings-on, followed him on. I headed back into the barn to grab a couple of leftover items, then ran and jumped in the car to catch up with the trailer. It was kind of a crazy departure and I was glad that I'd said goodbye to a few people the day before and earlier in the day.

After confering with Jodie I'd left both horses unblanketed and it was good that I did. Bestie was steaming when we got to the new barn. I think she was a little nervous. Dude was fine. Once we got them into the barn I threw a cooler on her and she dried pretty quickly. Laura, the owner of the new barn, had their stalls all ready with big piles of hay, so they got focused on that pretty quickly. Nothing better at taking the edge off than a big pile of hay!

Bestie's stall is right in the middle of the barn and is huge; probably a third bigger than her old stall. There are no bars over the stall door, so she can hang her head out and check out what's going on in the aisle and in the other stalls.

Dude is to the left of her against an outside wall. His stall is pretty much the same size as his old one and has a window that looks out on the side paddocks. It also has a cutout so he can hang his head in the aisle. It didn't take him long to realize that he could reach Bestie's blanket rack and pull her stuff down. Repeatedly.

There is a lot of ice currently at the new barn so the horses haven't gotten turned out. It is really treacherous on the path to the fields. This week has been cold and it hasn't thawed at all, plus we got more snow and single digits last night. Temps are supposed to warm as the week goes on, so hopefully this weekend they'll get back out.

On Sunday I grazed Bestie and the sun felt really nice. There's a huge grassy area in front of the barn that will be nice for handgrazing. Dude was a little full of it so I walked him in the indoor but didn't take him outside ... self preservation!

All in all they settled in pretty well and I've seen them getting more and more accommodated to their new surroundings as the days go on. Dude has been able to hang his head out and visit with Jake across the aisle when they both have their stall guards up. Both Dude and Bestie greet me when I arrive, but not as frantically as they did the day after the move. They're getting the new routine.

Dude and Cullen BFF

These photos are of Dude and his buddy Cullen. With our departure from the barn looming, they got to enjoy a little gelding friendship moment tonight.

Dude and Cullen go wayyyyy back. I'll let Dude tell the story:
"When my family first bought me I was at a barn in Jericho. One day this little bay gelding showed up. He was young, maybe three years old. That was when I first met Cullen. He was so young my family and other people called him things like Cullen Flower and Baby Cullen. I said, "Kid, stick with me and I'll show you what's what." He was a good kid but he needed a lot of training with his girl and from me and the other boys. He hung out with us guys in the front field. We'd graze, check out the mares, and graze some more. Every so often one of us would have to go in with our people who wanted to ride. Those were great days. After a while, Cullen and his girl Jenny decided to move to a new barn with a group of other people and horses that were switching barns. Me and my girl stayed at the old barn. I was sad that Cullen left, and my girl was sad because her sister left. It just wasn't working out for us anymore at the old barn, so after a few months, we decided to leave and go to the new barn also. On the first day I was there at the new place, my girl and her mom went to turn me out and they took me to the first field, Cullen's field. When he saw me, he came trotting over to me. Right away we started chewing on each other's withers. It was great. We were friends together again. That's one of my family's favorite stories. Now, if I have my stall door open, he stops and catches up with me. If I'm in the ring when he's there, we have a visit. He's a good jumper. What can I say? I love that little guy."

Healthy Horse Workshop

Here's a good learning opportunity for horse owners in the area ... the Healthy Horse Workshop on Saturday, March 28, co-hosted by Vermont Large Animal Clinic (VLAC) and the University of Vermont (UVM) Horse Barn. Morning seminars presented by the VLAC vets will be held in room 101 at the Fleming Museum on the University of Vermont campus and cover topics such as equine dentistry, vaccination and deworming protocols, nutrition and more. Then, in the afternoon, the vets will do demos at the UVM Horse Barn related to gastroscopy, chiropractic work, lameness, powerfloating, and first aid and emergency. Both facilities are easily found on the UVM campus map.

Fees for the workshop are as follows: $15 for a full day including lunch, $10 for a half day including lunch, UVM students are free with their UVM id, and kids under 12 are free. Lunch is $6 for those admitted free. The UVM Horse Barn will be open and members of the barn will offer fun activities. Questions can be addressed to Mark Young of UVM at 802-862-2151. Registration forms can be downloaded here.

I've been to the clinic in past years and it is really worthwhile. There are usually plenty of opportunities to ask questions of the vets and attendees can catch up on the latest information on equine medical topics. This is the first year VLAC has teamed up with the UVM Horse Barn. In my opinion, it's a nice partnership—the seminar gains a spacious site for the demos and UVM gets the opportunity to showcase its equine program to the public. Also, the proceeds from the seminar will be donated to the UVM Horse Barn.

Nothing too exciting happening

Last night I got to the barn late because we had to get Maddie to the airport for her trip over winter break. I think it was close to 7 pm when I arrived, and Bestie and, amazingly, Dude had finished their hay. He's a slow eater so I was kind of surprised that he was done, but when I checked out his stall he had left quite a bit of the hay because it was stalky and leafy from milkweed.

They had been turned out earlier in the day so I basically wanted to clean up their stalls and get home. I think because they were at loose ends they seemed really pleased to see me; neither would leave me alone as I tried to muck. Dude kept coming over and sticking his head in the wheelbarrow, Bestie would stand smack in the middle of the stall, pretty much in the way no matter where I went, and look at me. I was like, "Sorry, guys, no entertainment from me tonight." After mucking I brushed off their turnout sheets, picked their feet, gave them each a portion of a flake to keep them happy until night flake feeding at 9 pm, and left. It was one of those days that seemed r-e-a-l-l-y long.

Horse happenings in VT

We're on the backside of winter, so at this point area horse happenings start to appear on the calendar. One fun event is Everything Equine, which will be held at the Champlain Valley Exposition grounds in Essex Junction, VT on April 25 and 26. It's a two-day event featuring demos, vendors, guest speakers and a horse performance show on Saturday night. I always find the presentations very interesting and helpful ... you get to hear the latest on feeding, pasture maintenance, supplements, medical issues and more from experts. Definitely a worthwhile event for anyone interested in horses.

The second event already on my calendar is the Whispering Pines 4H Club's annual tack sale. Scheduled for May 9 (also at the Champlain Valley Exposition), the sale gives everyone a great shopping experience and the opportunity to buy needed items at bargain prices well before show season kicks in. There's usually a good selection of consigned clothing, footwear and saddles, plus an assortment of other horsey items ... things for kids, halters, brushes, blankets, etc. We got a beautiful leather halter and lead for Dude at the sale one year at a bargain basement price.

It's a consignment sale, so a portion of the proceeds go back to the consigners, but a portion also supports the efforts of Whispering Pines 4H, a very active horse club in our area. I've started going through the "pony pile", the collection of plastic storage boxes in our basement, and have a pretty good assortment to take to the sale. As the date gets closer, there is usually an ad in the Burlington Free Press outlining the consignment procedure; in recent years they've had a Friday evening drop-off for sellers that minimizes the craziness on Saturday morning.

Kind people in the world

I got a call early yesterday that there would be a little memorial for Jen's horse Ariele at noon. Amazingly, Laura, the owner of the barn where Jen had planned to move Ariele (and where Dude and Bestie are heading at the end of the month), offered a burial place for Ariele right there on the property. Laura is a very warm, generous and kind-hearted person. Randy, who works at our current barn, offered to move Ariele from the clinic to the new barn and bury her. A small group of us gathered to say goodbye to Ariele, shed tears and share a few laughs remembering some favorite stories. Jen laid flowers on the burial spot and said a final goodbye to her girl. Ariele's place is in a back corner of a pasture, right along the treeline, a quiet and beautiful spot. Thanks to the support of Laura and Randy, it is wonderful that her final resting place is on the property where her mom Jen had expected Ariele would be so very happy.

Another horsey angel

Bestie's neighbor Ariele passed away last night. She got sick over the weekend, and it was all very perplexing. It first seemed like a colic, then like a virus, and she ended up heading to the clinic at 2 a.m. Wednesday after running a fever, not eating, and just not seeming at all right. The vet treating her at the clinic has her own horse in our barn, so the questions would get fired at her when she'd arrive at the barn over the last couple of days--no rest for the weary. After Ariele's fever came down, the prognosis was "cautiously optimistic." I'm sure we all saw a glimmer of hope; I know I did. And then I got an e-mail from Jen late last night with the sad news.

Ariele was a tall, fine-boned bay mare with a beautiful face, with a perpetually wide-eyed kind expression that made everyone who passed her stall want to reach out and pat her. She was a princess with a full wardrobe of blankies and coordinated saddle pads and wraps. She and Jen were a team, a team that enjoyed the give and take of a solid relationship filled with love, and a team that now can hold their special memories of their time together in their hearts.

To the lovely Ariele ... peace.