I have been riding horses forever. Horses have NEVER scared me - got one that bucks like a bronc? Call Lysh. One that rears? Call Lysh. One that won't stop/steer? Call Lysh! Seriously, I USED to be a great rider. I loved a challenge, craved a challenge and seriously put myself in harms way more times than I can count. BEFORE I had kids. When we lived in North Carolina, a friend would go out to a local dealers farm almost daily and I started tagging along. I had a blast riding all of the different horses he had. There was one in particular, a little appy mare with the "classic" ratty mane and tail, she was black with roaning - and stocky as all hell. That mare would run thru every bit that they tried. Another friend of Nancy's loved the look of this mare, but the mare kept running off with her. I am not an out going, vocal person, but for some reason I spoke up and asked if I could try her out in the pasture. This poor little mare, she just didn't want people on her mouth. YANK and she'd run - DUH what would YOU do? So I got on her, asked her to walk and she started to trot off "blindly". Instead of panicking, I sat firm, dropped my hands and just played with the bit - give and take, one side then the other and within 15 minutes that little mare was so responsive we were having a blast in the field going around trees, stumps, other horses, calves - Nancy's friend was so impressed she asked what I'd done - I told her, she got on rode the mare all over and then bought her!!
Then we moved home and honestly I don't know when exactly it happened, but I became a basket case. When I met Sammii, she had Image. He was a cute appy gelding, but I learned quickly that he'd dance on his hind legs to try to get out of work. Sam never let him win though - we had a blast trail riding and then took him to a couple shows. He was ok for the most part, but at one show, he reared and drove the horn into Sam's chest. It hurt her so understandably she got off - course, he took that as "I won" and got worse. At the next show, I tried to take him in the ring, and we couldn't get near the gate, he reared, I'd keep at him and he'd try to duck in the barn. I absolutely was not going to let him win but at one point I was afraid he'd take my head off.....and STILL I didn't get down. He went so high once that I thought we were going over, honest to God had we not been so close to someone's brand new shiney truck I would have stepped off and pulled him over - I was THAT frustrated with him.
About a year later, a girl that Vince worked with called and asked if we'd be interested in a quarter horse gelding that a friend of hers was giving away. SURE! We'd go look at least. So we did, turns out the girl who owned the horse is the sister of one of my high school class mates and her husband used to be a police officer and knew Vince. I led Pete around, patted him etc etc and he was fine - a bit spoiled, he loved peppermints but he was a nice horse. We brought him home. One of our first rides, we headed off down the road, I don't have anywhere to ride that goes anywhere without riding on the road, Pete was fine in traffic, and fine when we crossed the bridge, we went a little further and then turned to come home. Just before the bridge, I could hear a car coming so we stopped and waited for it to pass. While we were standing there by the water I saw it....a beaver. Well, I saw it, it saw us, Pete saw it, Pete snorted, beaver dove, beaver slapped it's tail, Pete whirled, Lysh flew thru the air and landed chest first in the gravel - thankfully not on the tar!! I didn't immediately let go of the reins and got a MEGA rope burn over an very new and raw scar from my sliced finger that needed 6 stitches! Pete was in the middle of the road, I thought I heard a car, so my first thought was "GET THE HORSE" - I got up, gasping for air, and stumbled towards Pete - his eyes were HUGE and I swear he was saying "OMG what is this thing coming at me and where'd my person go" - I managed to convince him that I was not a man eating, gasping blob and caught him. I got him to the side of the road and assessed the damage to my hand which was burning like crazy. I had a blood blister over the end of my scar, my thumb and ring finger were rope burned to the point of open sores and I had gravel in my knee and my palm but I was intact otherwise. I walked home. Vince untacked Pete for me and then helped me wash up my hand. A few days later, I took him on a trail ride with friends and he was great, ok it was a fluke! Works for me. Until about 2 months later, I went to get on him, he half reared and I lost my balance and fell backwards onto my wrist. I tried to brush it off, but a few days later, my wrist wa pretty sore and I had a lump so I went to the Dr. The xrays showed a small fracture that had started healing already so she wrapped it and said "take it easy". Yep sure. That was on a Wednesday I think - Sunday I went to a horse show. Pete was fine in the pleasure classes, we went into Barrels, a nice easy lope and he exploded into a bucking fit. I pitched to the right, caught myself but then toppled left. DOH! I landed on my already sore wrist. Monday morning back to the Dr, where I'm told since I won't listen, she's referring me to an Ortho specialist and I'll have to have a cast. Damnit. That was it for me and Pete. His old owner really wanted him back, so back he went. He took a big chunk of my confidence with him.
Then came Bella - she was sweet, she had a buck to her but nothing I couldn't ride out. The night I ducked into the fence and was greeted with BOTH her hind feet directly to my right thigh and had to pick myself up off the ground THREE FEET from where I'd started - there went Bella and a whole other chunk of my confidence.
In the fall of 2006, I bought Doc. He was a bay tobiano APHA stallion. Advertised as breeding stallion ONLY because of a bucking problem. Huh. We'll see right? Well, I started riding him. Not so much as a buck, ear twitch nothing. I rode him down the road, we went on a couple small trails he was great. We took the winter off, and as soon as the ground was safe in April and we were going fantastically walk/trot. And then it happened. I decided to take a short cut and get on him in the driveway one day. It was windy. I didn't have the reins securely in my hand, when I stepped up, he moved off. Instead of stepping down, collecting myself and him - I swung my leg over....bumped his hip and I honestly don't know if he bucked, side stepped or stood on his head. Next thing I knew I was laying on the ground - I sat up and the world was spinning. I was facing the OPPOSITE direction, my arm hurt like hell, my head hurt and Doc was loose! Thankfully Vince was right there, unfortunately so was Kenneth. I yelled for Vince to get Doc, and Kenneth was at my side asking if I was ok. I touched my head and didn't see blood on my hand so figured I just needed a little time to collect my head....and then Ken said "mommy you're bleeding" to which I said, "no honey I'm not" and by that time Vince had put Doc away and was at my side - sure enough, my blonde hair was red. Damn. Vince got a towel for my head and tried to help me up - my head hurt so bad it was definitely NOT funny. We took Kenneth to Gram's, Vince called Casey and asked her to call the ER and give them a heads up (just as a side note - I've been there so often when she said "my sister in law fell off her horse and has a head injury" they knew who she was talking about!!) After a CT scan and xrays it was determined that I did in fact have a brain LOL, no broken bones thank goodness. They argued about whether or not I actually had a cut on my head, and the Dr actually tried to tell me that it was probably just a piece of gravel that had punctured my scalp - the nurse commenced to scrubbing the hell out of my head, and then went "oh dear" and left to get the Dr. I had a CUT big enough to need 10 staples!!! I left the ER with a script for pain pills (which I never did fill), instructions to take it VERY easy, the OK to take a quick shower to get the blood out of my hair and absolutely NO confidence left.
That fall, I lost Buck and a huge part of my heart. I brought home Tanner - supposedly a fantastic trail horse - he flipped himself over on me. Another chunk of confidence gone. By now I'm negative confidence points!!! Along came Beau. He was a FANTASTIC riding horse - I love him and had a blast on him - HOWEVER, safety is a big concern with 3 kids, friends, friends kids, etc etc etc and about the 5th time he literally came OVER his stall door and tried to bite someone I said "enough" and sold him at an incredible loss, but safety comes first.
Now I have a big problem. Do I throw in the towel and save a lot of money, but sacrifice my sanity and happiness? Or do I fight it out? I'm chosing to fight it out - for now at least.....we'll see how it turns out.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Fear - Overcome it or let it overcome me....
Megs Horsey Survey
I "stole" this survey from my best friend, Meaghan's blog - Rocky Mountain Yankee
1. How old were you when you first started riding? I started riding well before I could walk - probably 6-8 months - Grams got videos somewhere.
2. First horse ridden: Ginger - Grams nasty appaloosa mare.
3. First horse trotted on: Probably Star, I don't think Gram ever turned me loose on Ginger and she wasn't much for running around the pasture.
4. First horse cantered on: That would also probably be Star.
5. First Horse fallen off of: Sunday, Michelle Carlisle's horse. Right after we got Star, the neighborhood girls got together for a trail ride and Michelle was going to ride Star while I rode her totally reliable mare Sunday. Karen was supposed to hold Sunday while Michelle was getting ready, and she didn't. I head a death grip on the reins and was in an english saddle...Sundays head went down and I somersaulted down her neck and started crying saying I'd never get on her again. Michelle grabbed me from behind mom and said "OH yes you are!! Get back up there and stop crying" Lesson learned - Thank you Michelle! :)
6. Most recent horse fallen off of: Oh geez! Who HAVEN'T I fall off of would be a better question as of late! Look for a blog on that later actually - but hmm, I think Tanner was the last "official" fall a year ago when he threw a tantrum, reared and literally threw himself down on top of me.
7. Most terrifying fall: Flipping off Doc backwards onto the pavement directly on my head. :(
8. First horse jumped with: Star.
9. First horse who ran away with you: Star.
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: This is a toughie - I was NEVER scared of anything until....Pete and that damned beaver and that's set a trend in motion turning me into a HUGE wimp!
11. First horse shown : Buck - we got 3rd in Bareback Equitation.
12. First horse to win a class with: Buck.
13. Do you/have you taken lessons: No but I should.
14. First horse you ever rode bareback: Star.
15. First horse trail ridden with: Star.
16. Current Barn name: My own :) Unofficially we are Five Star Farm.
17. Do you ride English or western?: Both
18. First Horse to place at a show with: Buck
19. Ever been to horse camp?: Yes, 4-H. It was a blast the first year, but the second was better because Meg got to come too!
20. Ever been to a riding clinic? No.
21. Ridden sidesaddle? Not with a real side saddle, however I have hooked my leg over the horn of my western saddle many times.
22. First horse leased: Piper
24. Highest ribbon in a show: 1st
25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?: No....well, been to? YES participated in, NO.
26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?: Yes.
27. Ever fallen off at a show? Sadly, yes.
28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: Not anymore
30. Ever done pole bending?: Again, only at local play days
31. Favorite gait: I love most gaits, lately mostly a walk though.
32. Ever cantered bareback?: Many times, growing up, the only time I rode in a saddle was to show in or when I was pretending to be a jockey LOL.
33. Have you ever done dressage?: Nope.
34. Have you ever evented?: No.
35. Have you ever mucked a stall?: Many a time.
36. Ever been bucked off?: Yeah, who hasn't?
37. Ever been on a horse that reared: Yes.
38. Horses or ponies. Probably horses, but I DO love ponies.
39. Do you wear a helmet? Hmmm, well, I'd love to say yes, all the time but to be honest, no not as much as I should although the general concensus is that had I had a helmet on the day I fell of Doc, I'd probably have broken my neck so it's a no win situation if you ask me.
40. What's the highest you've jumped: I think ONE time we may have pushed Angel to 3 1/2 feet but that was in my fearless days - now I prefer to not jump anything.
41. Have you ever ridden at night?: Yes, moonlit snowy nights are awesome!
42. Do you watch horsey television shows?: Every chance I get.
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall? Yes, the worse was off Doc, 10 staples in my head, a concussion and dislocated elbow.
44. Most falls in one lesson: NA
45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?: When it suits me.
46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse? Yes I know I have, but to be honest, I can't think of which evil one it was.
47. Have you ever been bitten? Yes, Star left a big purple welt on my back once the *&#$!%.
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?: Yes, many times.
49: Favorite riding moment: There are so many, Im not sure I could pick just one, but one that sticks out in my mind, was one of the swimming episodes with Meg, and those people stopped to take pics - I just wish that we'd gotten copies or even pics of our own!!
50. Most fun horse you've ridden: I've had so many fun times on so many different horses, but Buck was always the best - hands down.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Whew! What a trip!!
A couple months ago, Sandy - Skippy's prior owner, emailed and asked if I would like to take Louie, Skippys almost 6 year old son on a free trial/lease as life changes for her are leaving her short on time to spend with the horses, and she's living 2 1/2 hours from the horses now as it is. I told her I needed to give it a little thought and talk to Vince about it. I had just gotten Buddy and just wasn't sure how Vince would feel about the whole thing. Now, in all honesty, I *think* I talked to Vince about it but I've pulled the "don't you remember??" crap with Vince so many times, that I honestly couldn't remember if I did but Meg and Tosh told me that I DID because we ALL were surprised that he was agreeable to it!! But STILL, I held off giving an answer until I had REALLY thought about it - I have to admit that although I loved having the babies last year, and I DO love the barn chores and my animals, I'm down to only 3 of my own - one of which is hopefully going to live with Meg and I have discovered how much more enjoyable a smaller number of horses is not to mention how much LESS feed/hay I go thru!! At this time last year, I had 7 horses I believe....that's a lot of hay!! Heck, just going from 6 to 4 has cut my hay bill noticably!!
Anyway! I finally told Sandy, YES! I want to take him on a 6 month free trial/lease and see what happens. Louie was born on Sandy's farm and Sandy loves this boy so this was a hard decision for her to make, but she really can only have one horse right now and her other horse is a 26 year old that she's had since he was born so she had to make a tough decision.
Everyone who knows me, knows that patience is NOT my strong point. I am not a patient person....not at all. So having to make the decision and then wait 2 weeks to go get him was killer to me. Throw in the whole horse trailer saga, the very un-cooperative Maine/New Hampshire weather and it's been a stressful couple weeks.
Vince got home at 4:30am Wednesday morning, and although he did know that I was going to get Louie, he wasn't happy about it. He says that I didn't talk to him about it before making the plans - now that goes back to the first paragraph LOL - So Wednesday we went and visited with Dad and we went and spent some time with Judy and Tosh at the daycare - well then there was some arguing over whether he was going with me or not, whether I was going at all etc etc. I pulled the horse trailer out of it's spot and one of the tires was flat.....this tire has a leak, only leaks when it's parked a certain way and has never leaked so it's TOTALLY flat before...is it an omen??
So Thursday morning, get up, kids off to school, run to Tru Value for a can of "fix a flat" - realize that DAMN it is FREEZING!! I started to put the stuff in the tire (just unscrewed the valve stem cover lol) and remember - you have to immediately drive after you put this stuff in, better wait until I'm ready to get in the truck and go - so find out from Vince if he's going, staying or ?? :) He was up and dressed or at least moving in that direction but was still barely speaking to me....great...should be a FUN trip 4 hours each direction huh??
He put the fix a flat in the tire while I filled a hay bag and threw the other horses some hay. Hopped in the truck and away we go!! I had wanted to leave at 7:30 but it was closer to 8:30 when we left. Stopped at Irvings to put air in the tire, which was an ordeal in and of itself!! The tire was SO low that it wasn't registering on the pressure gauge!! Each round of air was 3 minutes worth of air for 75 cents, it cost $3 to get completely situated with the air!! The trip down Rt 3 was bumpy but uneventful. We stopped at Toby's to get something to eat and sadly got into an argument so I went to the truck and left him to wait for his sandwich. The rest of the trip down Rt 3 was in relative silence. We hopped onto 95 in Augusta and things were going ok. I noticed that the truck seemed to be "floating" while we were behind a big truck....I was white knuckling it - and Vince was swearing about going to get horses in the winter and me doing things without talking to him first. When we went thru the first toll booth I got away from the big truck and the truck started handling fine so obviously it's the whole air/drag/blah blah blah - SO! Avoid following too closely to big trucks, A-OK by me!!
We were making good time, and got off 95 in Gray. Gas was getting low so I pulled into the first gas station - only to find that ALL pumps were out of service - dangit. So get back on the road and start looking for another gas station. Wasn't horribly hard to find one, but it WAS hard to get into. I pulled far enough into the lot so that we were out of the road and Vince hopped out to try to manuever the truck while I went in the store. I fixed the handle on the escape door, which is broken and I'm surprised I haven't lost it yet!! Walked past the spare tire (this is important LOL) and into the store. When I came out, I again walked past the spare tire and got in the truck...Vince just looked at me. "Oh sorry do you want me to drive still??" :) LOL He said I was "real slick" and that I just used the tight quarters at the gas pump as an excuse to make him drive!! NOT true!! But he drove the rest of the way YAY!
We were driving along, minding our business - me keeping my mouth shut because no matter what I said, the conversation kept turning back to "this is why I don't like to take the trailer anywhere in the winter"..."Honey aren't the trees pretty" "uh huh but the roads are awful this is why I don't like moving horses in the winter" LOL Anyway, we were on a particularly bumpy part of the road by Sebago Lake. The road itself isn't narrow, but there is fence on one side and big snow banks on the other side. We're bumping along and I happen to look in the side mirror just in time to see the spare tire go FLYING off the side of the trailer, bounce at the car behind us and disappear.....as calmly as possible I said "UM the spare tire just FLEW off the trailer" Oh great!! One more reason to add to the list of "why we do not move horses in the winter" LOL There was NO place for us to pull off immediately, so we had to wait until we got to a turn out on the side - we pulled over and were turning around when the car that had been behind us pulled up next to us. They were very nice and said that the tire didn't hit them or anyone else but it was on the OTHER side of the road in the snow!! Great! Thanks! So we went back but again, had to find a place to turn around and again head back south. We pulled off on the side with the 4ways on and I checked out the "HOW" of the situation, while Vince walked across the road and then literally had to wade thru the snow to get the tire. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband??
We again got on the road and were doing great until the handy dandy "TomTom" told us to take a right onto a road other than what google maps said but we all know how road signs can be!! So we went with it. The road was narrow, COVERED in holes, frost heaves, bumps...you name it, it was there!!! More ammunition for the "why we don't haul horses in the winter" campaign!! Literally 3mph was TOO fast!! *sigh*
FINALLY get to the end, and what's there?? Rt 25 which was the road that we were supposed to turn onto instead of the goat trail we'd just come across!! GOOD!! That means we don't have to go back that way!! YAY!! From there it was less than a mile and we turned up the farm drive. Long driveway thru the trees that opens up to white vinyl 3 rail fencing.....first thing out of my mouth was "Poor Lou, he's going to be in redneck hell compared to this place" :) We pulled up towards the barns and were greeted by a teary eyed Sandy.
We made small talk and she took me to reintroduce me to Louie. He's a lot bigger than his momma, but he is startlingly similar in looks!! They have the same facial marking one one side and the same Belly spot although Lou's is bigger - but overall Louie has more white too. He's very beefy too!! He's half arab and that made me think he would be more refined but if it's possible, he's refined and beefy!! So we talked about our agreement and signed papers and all that stuff and then Sandy loaded me up with his blankets, brushes, bridles - even his saddle!!! Then came the loading part. He walked right up to the trailer but wasn't about to get ON the stupid thing!! Sandy pulled while I "encouraged" from the back, that didn't work, so we switched places. Still no dice. Sandy went and got some grain, that got him up on the ramp but he put his head up and bonked his nose on the trailer ceiling so backed out again.
At one point, Sandy had the rope and ducked under the chest bar. Lou was half in the trailer and pulled back real quick and jerked Sandy's head into the metal chest bar. I thought for sure he'd knocked her out!!! It took her a minute but she got back up and we ended up giving Vince the lead rope!! He'd just said "I'm not the horse person" LOL Sandy got behind Lou with the lunge whip and just "wiggled" it at his hind feet and after a couple minutes he got right in the trailer and that was that!! He did get a little fidgety so we said our good byes, Sandy and I hugged and I promised we'd keep in touch, LOTS of pictures and an open door to welcome her anytime, and we were off. Once we got going, Lou settled right down. We had a VERY uneventful ride home!
When we got home, Vince and I talked about how to go about unloading Lou - didn't want him to go flying backwards out of the trailer, he needed to do it in a calm manner. He backed most of the way out calmly and when he started to speed up, a firm "whoa babe you're alright" was all it took and he stopped with his front feet on the ramp and was perfectly calm. We walked up and down the driveway to get his legs back under him. We got to the barn door and he planted his feet..didn't want to go in, but just giving him a second and he walked right on in, right into his stall and was perfectly happy!!
YAY!! He even let me stand on a stool in his stall to change the light bulb. He sniffed noses with his half brother and just seemed to settle in almost instantly!! Friday he got to go out alone and explore the boundaries. He walked into the electric wire once....and that once was all it took!! :) Today he got to go out with Buddy and although there was a small squabble at first, where Buddy thought he'd "show him" - he got his butt put in place and that was that. So I turned Rowdy out too and the brothers stick together! Whether they know they're brothers or not, they did hang together and Rowdy asserted himself with Buddy which he's never done before. The 3 boys are so at peace with each other now/already that there was no squabbling over who would be coming in first, they all just stood there - I grabbed Lou first, Vince grabbed Rowdy and Buddy just stood patiently (another first, he's usually pretty....er, um assertive!)
Lou has won Vince over....Vince is a non lover of arabs to begin with, but he and Lou made friends tonight and hopefully all continues to work well!! I'm excited for my first ride on him!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
First Impressions
Earlier this week, I was driving home from Bangor, I was on Rt 15 in Orrington and on the side of the road was an oil truck. Not surprising since it IS Maine and we seem to have a never ending of snow and cold this winter. The part that surprised me is the color of the truck. At first glance it was a HIDEOUS pink color, like Pepto Bismal pink. I was thinking, "wow! must be a newer company just using whatever truck they can get their hands on", next came "I'd be embarassed to drive that truck". As I got closer, I realized it was a brand new truck, which made me think "what were they thinking??" As I got next to the truck I realized how mistaken I was. This truck is a Webber Energy truck, and across the side is a message about Breast Cancer Awareness. I felt foolish for ridiculing this truck and all of a sudden it was no longer a horrid looking thing, it touched me that this company bought a brand new truck in this color scheme simply to bring more awareness to a topic that every person should be aware of and support - Breast Cancer.
This also made me think back to a conversation I recently had. I am in no way shape or form a girly girl. I have always "hated" pink, give me jeans and a tshirt in navyblue/black and I'm a happy girl. About a year and a half or so ago, I started being drawn more to pink things - the first being a pink ball cap that says ARMY across it. I made Vince buy it and he seriously wanted to know what was wrong with me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but then in a recent conversation I realized just where this had come from - laugh if you want, but in 2006 Wrangler ran the "Are you tough enough to wear pink?" - it was the theme for the 06 NFR. I guess my line of thinking is, if all of these cowboys/tough guys can wear pink then SO CAN I! It is for a good cause right?? Go ahead and laugh. I know I did when I realized why all of a sudden I felt it "ok" for me to wear pink!!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lovely February Snow
Winter in Maine is always a treat! It is not uncommon to go from 38* one day to 25* and yet another FOOT of snow the next. Yes, yes that is exactly what has happened this weekend!! We had 2 days last week of mild temps and then a "snow storm" that dumped about 8" on us. Saturday was sunny and beautiful and yesterday was "warm" HA! and over cast. Today should have been the kids first day back to school after vacation - so mommy's vacation should have started today.....No such luck.
This tree is usually "fluffed" way out - I KNOW I have an "unsnow-y" picture of this tree and I'll try to find it - if you look on the right side you can see one of the other trees out there folded right over!
Another of the "fluffy" trees - those bottom branches are normally high enough that the kids and I can walk under there, the horses stand under there.....This snow is H E A V Y
First...my fence. That top wire is *normally* about 4 feet high. Second, you can barely see it but the neighbors cable tv wire is so weighed down that it comes off the phone pole at the road strait to the ground on her lawn!!!
Here is another picture of the tree out in the field that's bent right to the ground - I'm thinking it's probably broken :(
Rowdy wondering why the hell we have to live in Maine!!
Obviously the wires coming towards the camera are mine, you can see the neighbors line better in this picture.
Front of the barn. *sigh* I had to squeeze into the door and then squeeze out again with the shovel. This snow is WET, HEAVY and there's A LOT of it!!
I really do love it honestly but I AM very ready for spring at this point. I guess it's not done snowing yet either - supposed keep right on snowing thru tomorrow I believe.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Days like yesterday I can do without
So yesterday morning started with a stupid valentines argument with Vince - he was trying to be sweet and I was being....well, bitchy! So he took the kids fishing, and I headed for Sammii's to take her to go pick up Indy.
The trip to Parkman was uneventful of course, the trailer was empty. Indy got on the trailer relatively easily considering he's only not quite 5, hasn't been on a trailer since he was a weanling and one of those trips as a baby resulted in an accident where he almost hung himself! He stood fairly well while we waited for Sammii's friends husband to sand the driveway and the road out so we didn't slide into the woods. And we were on our way, both breathing a sigh of relief.....too soon of course.
About a mile down the road, we hit a frost heave and all hell broke loose. The trailer started rocking, I looked in my rearview mirror and the trailer was flailing from side to side and all I could see through the trailer window was feet and chest. I put on my blinker and tried to get the truck and trailer to the side of the road and stopped as quickly as possible without causing even more problems. Sammii jumped out the passenger side and I got out and went around the back of the trailer. I've never seen anything in my life like the scene in front of me.
Indy was sitting his front left leg/hoof were over the chest bar, his right front leg/hoof were over the divider and his hind legs were in the front of the trailer where the walk space is. Ok breathe - how the hell do we get him down. Sammii was trying to open the escape door (it sticks) She yelled "Lysh I can't get it open" and I headed around the side of the trailer - that was the FIRST time I've had almost NO trouble opening the stupid door but the noise of a passing car sent Indy flailing again and he ended up over backwards with his head and neck contorted and he was choking himself.
I was starting to get that panicky feeling, Sammii tried her cell but had no signal - I knew I had no signal because just when shit hit the fan, I'd looked at my phone to see if I had any missed calls. It was 11:48 when I looked. She looked at me and said "what the fuck are we going to do?" and a car crested the hill behind us - I told her to flag someone down and get them to go back to her friends house to get help. She practically had to jump in front of the car, they weren't going to stop - thankfully they did, and they went back and got Sammii's friends husband, Seth. We were getting ready to cut the trailer tie so he could breathe - thankfully I had my hoof knife in the bed of the truck because my razor knife is sitting on the dryer!
I stepped into the trailer and was trying to keep Indy calm, keep myself calm and figure out what the hell to do.
Picture this - a beautiful bay horse, on his back with his head and neck twisted to the front of the trailer, attached snugly to the trailer, his shoulders/withers where his ass should have been, a hoof over the divider and his assend where his front end should have been.....a TRULY thoroughly terrifying site. I was trying to figure out how to get a lead rope on him so when I cut the tie, we'd still have something to hold onto him with in case he did manage to get out over the tailgate or SOMETHING. I wasn't putting anything past this horse/situation.
I reached for the tie and he started flailing. Sammii yelled for me to get out of the way and I dove out the escape door and we slammed it shut - I'm not really sure why, honestly it was the adrenaline/fear pumping at that point. I saw the metal on the PASSENGER side of the trailer give as his foot slammed into it, and then silence. Neither one of us knew what to expect when we opened the door but it wasn't what we saw.....Indy was ON HIS FEET and standing there, blowing and looking around like "what?"!!! OMFG!
He was still nerved right up and there was NO WAY that we were going anywhere. We couldn't unload him and walk him back to her friends house - the road was crazy busy - NOT ONE car stopped, very few slowed down even!! There were TWO cars directly behind us when shit hit the fan and NEITHER of them stopped. They HAD to have seen what happened.
Seth finally got there - truth be told, it didn't take long but it seemed like forever. Sammii gave him instructions to go back to the house and call the vet - we couldnt' see any injuries - how I don't know but he has nothing but minor scrapes, but there was no way we were going to be able to do anything without a vet coming to sedate him.
Seth went and was back about 15 minutes later - vet had a cow emergency but said this took precedence and he'd be "right along" and Seth went home. Sammii stood in the trailer patting Indy and talking to him, keeping his head forward for a while, and then asked if I'd stand with him so she could have a cigarette. I climbed in and stood with him and scratched his face and rubbed his neck - he is a very sweet boy but he was still so nerved up.
After a few minutes, Sammii climbed back in with him and we waited some more. A white van crested the hill and slowed down and we were hoping it might be the vet....no such luck, they were pulling into the driveway just in front of the truck. About 5 minutes later, we're standing there all is calm with Indy and some moron right next to us somewhere shoots a damn .22 or other smaller caliber gun. And that was the end of Indy's calm. He didn't flip back out, but he was a lot more nervous and fidgety.
Thankfully at about 1:15 we saw a vet truck....only it kept on a driving!! WHAT?! About 5 minutes later, another truck pulled up behind us and Dr. Hernke from Dover Vet Clinic got out. He told us that the on call vet had just passed us - he didn't know what was going on, but whatever he was there now that was all that mattered!
He asked Sammii a few questions and climbed in the trailer to give Indy a quick once over to see if there were any major injuries that he could see and he discussed with Sammii what he was going to do - he felt it would be best to give Indy a combination of Xylazine and Acepromizine. To give him Dormosedan would too heavily sedate him and we didn't want to drop him to the floor....although, I did think it might be easier to get him home that way LOL.
Dr Hernke listened to Indy's heart and then gave him the sedatives IV. While he was doing that, the on-call vet pulled up and said that she had thought she had another emergency and knew that Dr Hernke was on his way. Neither Sammii nor I felt that we would have cared for her - her tone/manner was not as comforting or friendly as Dr. Hernke.
Pretty soon, Indy's eyes were a little droopy and his head was lowering a little....what a great site to see!! Dr Hernke and Sammii took care of the details, and I climbed in to shorten his tie a little - didn't want his head drooping too low. That's when I noticed it....when we moved the divider over to load him, the butt chain had been left hanging attached to the wall of the trailer.
We figure, the combination of the close cars behind us, the frost heave jolting not only him but the butt chain would have swung and smacked his hind leg(s) and also sent the hay bag swinging which would have smacked him in the face - it all would have been enough to send him through the roof - literally!!
We got in the truck, taking deep breaths and hoping for an uneventful trip home at about 1:40pm. In all honesty, the time went by fast but slow at the same time. We pulled into Sammii's driveway and Indy unloaded like a pro, he was still a little sedated though. Sammii did a quick once over and then turned him out with her daughters mare Tia, and his parents, Jesse and Danny (who is now gelded). Jess wanted nothing to do with him and she made it clear that he was NOT part of her herd, Danny submitted to Indy with the baby chewing motions that young horses usually do when introduced to other horses, and Tia was pretending to be friendly long enough to get close and then would chase him off. But that's the way of herd dynamics.
I made it home just in time to get Lady's things together for her "mom" to pick her up and take her home to her new barn and new friends. Good luck to Michele and Lady (aka Shy shy).
After all of this, and much discussion between Sammii and I, my trailer is for sale. I need/want a stock trailer. We both feel this would have been avoided had he been able to be loose in a box stall AND - had something happened, there would have been more room for us to SAFELY work around him.
I have also decided that I am getting a kit of some sort together of tools and handy things to have in an emergency and I will NEVER take another trip without these emergency items!! We had ONE lead rope, we had NO extra rope, no knives except the hoof knife, no tools and absolutely NO first aide stuff. WTF was I thinking??
Happy Birthday Rowdy!!
ot". I remembered on the 10th but it slipped by me on the actual date! He is growing into such a cute little twirp. Almost 13 hands and oh so smart. He loves to run and play and is just the friendliest little critter. His "boys" STILL haven't dropped - hoping they do very soon so he can have his brain surgery as he's a little nippy already and I don't want the hormones taking over his head completely. I'll discuss all of this with the vet when I get them out for spring shots. Now, here's Rowdy a year ago: of course with his little tongue hanging right out of his mouth from the get go the little rotten brat!! And now....This picture was taken a couple weeks ago.
