Cat
10-16-2008, 02:12 PM
We're exhausted!!
When we left this morning it was overcast, but not raining. Sorta nice because you didn't have to worry about bright sunlight while driving. :cool: But we weren't too far down the road when it started raining and pouring. The drive was suppose to be 2 hours and well over half of it was rain.
So then we were about 15-20 minutes away and I had to make a pit-stop so we stopped at Walmart. I clamoured out of the truck and one of the trailer wheels caught my attention. :eek: It had blown. When? Who knows. I was shocked that we didn't "feel" it in the drive, but the thing was shredded beyond all hope.
Hubby then says - well guess we need to go home. Huh? :huh: He was going to drive home on the thing! I'm like - we are at walmart. They have a tire/car area. I'm sure we can get it replaced! I don't understand how men thing sometimes. :mad: We are almost 2 hours from home and he wants to just turn around and go home with a blown tire and come back and get the horse a different day? Did not compute!
So we go into Walmart and they don't do trailers. :doh: BUT - they would give us a jack to use (nice jack to) and a lug wrench and we could change the tire ourselves and they would replace it on the rim for us. They just could not physically put it on or take it off the trailer. Ok, that can work. Of course its pouring while hubby is jumping on the lug wrench to get the tire off. Put us almost an hour behind, but it was changed out. This just so happened to be the only tire on the trailer that was a 70, the others were all 75s - so we are wondering if that had something to do with it blowing. Or maybe it was the oldest out of them.
Anyway, on our way we went, a bit frazzled and not looking forward to loading the horse. Well we get there and it took us a bit to find the guy because he was on the other side of the barn working on a tractor. But we found him and he already had my horsie in a round pen w/ a loading chute off of it. He said "are you sure this is the one you want?" Yup! I wasn't ready for this, but he then opened the gate to the pen and just let them all loose! and I do mean loose! They took off over the road and into the field across the road and buried their heads. Guess they have done that more than once before. :eek:
So he gets my boy into the loading chute and puts my halter on him, and my boy is a little jumpy, but not bad. Then we backed the trailer up to the chute and had hay ready for him in there. He would reach out and eat what was on the floor, but not go in. So we brough out sweetfeed. Still no more than a step. So the guy tossed some corn cobs in there and lightly used a butt rope on him. Nothing to freak him out - just encouragingly. I was impressed as I am used to some the old-timers just wrestle them on, but he said that he prefers their trailering experience to be nice so next time it is easier. Took us about 1/2 an hour, but he finally went on. We tied him up and he pulled back a bit but quickly settled in eating hay.
I've got to say, watching the whole process I am VERY pleased with the mind on this horse. He resisted a few places, but quickly accepted the things that were happening to him. He also trailered the 2 hour trip home wonderfully!
When we got home, we backed up to the barn and were a bit worried about getting him in the stall. I went in the trailer and loved on him while I untied him, and I even get a interested sniff or two from him. Took some encouraging to get him to back out, but again, did faboulous for his very first trip on a trailer! He didn't fight the lead rope at all and walked to the stall, but wouldn't go in. However, when I turned him around, he backed right into it as nice as could be. Then saw there was a flake of hay in there and well, that was the end of that!
Right now I am letting him settle in for a bit, and will go back out to visit with him. I think he is close in height to Toby - just stockier. And he is only 5 - so 2 more years of filling out for him (Toby is 7 and I think is the first year I haven't seen change). I have a few photos, but will get more.
http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/42681/2102696460058074505S500x500Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/38515/2908282300058074505S425x425Q85.jpg
(Excuse his dangling - he wouldn't put it away!)
http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/24949/2310840610058074505S425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/952/2757086520058074505S425x425Q85.jpg
When we left this morning it was overcast, but not raining. Sorta nice because you didn't have to worry about bright sunlight while driving. :cool: But we weren't too far down the road when it started raining and pouring. The drive was suppose to be 2 hours and well over half of it was rain.
So then we were about 15-20 minutes away and I had to make a pit-stop so we stopped at Walmart. I clamoured out of the truck and one of the trailer wheels caught my attention. :eek: It had blown. When? Who knows. I was shocked that we didn't "feel" it in the drive, but the thing was shredded beyond all hope.
Hubby then says - well guess we need to go home. Huh? :huh: He was going to drive home on the thing! I'm like - we are at walmart. They have a tire/car area. I'm sure we can get it replaced! I don't understand how men thing sometimes. :mad: We are almost 2 hours from home and he wants to just turn around and go home with a blown tire and come back and get the horse a different day? Did not compute!
So we go into Walmart and they don't do trailers. :doh: BUT - they would give us a jack to use (nice jack to) and a lug wrench and we could change the tire ourselves and they would replace it on the rim for us. They just could not physically put it on or take it off the trailer. Ok, that can work. Of course its pouring while hubby is jumping on the lug wrench to get the tire off. Put us almost an hour behind, but it was changed out. This just so happened to be the only tire on the trailer that was a 70, the others were all 75s - so we are wondering if that had something to do with it blowing. Or maybe it was the oldest out of them.
Anyway, on our way we went, a bit frazzled and not looking forward to loading the horse. Well we get there and it took us a bit to find the guy because he was on the other side of the barn working on a tractor. But we found him and he already had my horsie in a round pen w/ a loading chute off of it. He said "are you sure this is the one you want?" Yup! I wasn't ready for this, but he then opened the gate to the pen and just let them all loose! and I do mean loose! They took off over the road and into the field across the road and buried their heads. Guess they have done that more than once before. :eek:
So he gets my boy into the loading chute and puts my halter on him, and my boy is a little jumpy, but not bad. Then we backed the trailer up to the chute and had hay ready for him in there. He would reach out and eat what was on the floor, but not go in. So we brough out sweetfeed. Still no more than a step. So the guy tossed some corn cobs in there and lightly used a butt rope on him. Nothing to freak him out - just encouragingly. I was impressed as I am used to some the old-timers just wrestle them on, but he said that he prefers their trailering experience to be nice so next time it is easier. Took us about 1/2 an hour, but he finally went on. We tied him up and he pulled back a bit but quickly settled in eating hay.
I've got to say, watching the whole process I am VERY pleased with the mind on this horse. He resisted a few places, but quickly accepted the things that were happening to him. He also trailered the 2 hour trip home wonderfully!
When we got home, we backed up to the barn and were a bit worried about getting him in the stall. I went in the trailer and loved on him while I untied him, and I even get a interested sniff or two from him. Took some encouraging to get him to back out, but again, did faboulous for his very first trip on a trailer! He didn't fight the lead rope at all and walked to the stall, but wouldn't go in. However, when I turned him around, he backed right into it as nice as could be. Then saw there was a flake of hay in there and well, that was the end of that!
Right now I am letting him settle in for a bit, and will go back out to visit with him. I think he is close in height to Toby - just stockier. And he is only 5 - so 2 more years of filling out for him (Toby is 7 and I think is the first year I haven't seen change). I have a few photos, but will get more.
http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/42681/2102696460058074505S500x500Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/38515/2908282300058074505S425x425Q85.jpg
(Excuse his dangling - he wouldn't put it away!)
http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/24949/2310840610058074505S425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/952/2757086520058074505S425x425Q85.jpg