She’s Here! Officially a California Girl

Like clockwork, May showed up at 4:45 yesterday afternoon. Luckily, I had a barn mate with me to wait (and provide wine) as we waited. May was the last horse left on one of Brook Ledge’s big semi truck trailers. Unfortunately, a semi truck was NOT going to fit onto the barn property (without causing a lot of mayhem), so I told the driver that he could just unload her on the road by the barn and we could walk her up. (He offered to walk my trunk up, but I told him we’d just come back down with my car and get it. I think he was relieved.) Luckily, the road next to the barn is usually really quiet, so I wasn’t worried about traffic.

Driver was impressed with her ability to eat (no kidding), but said she had also been calm the whole trip and drank plenty of water. (WHEW)

Then it was time! He pulled down the ramp and set it up before disappearing into the trailer and reappearing with Ms. May. Let me tell you, it was a wild relief to see those yellow ears perk up around the corner. At first, my heart was totally in my throat. She looked so stiff coming down the ramp… but then she hit solid ground and looked totally normal. Now I realize she was just being careful on the ramp. Smart girl.

Of course, being dropped at the bottom of the driveway meant we had a solid 10 minute walk back UP the driveway to the area of the farm that my new trainer occupies. In true May fashion… she power walked along next to me, checking things out without being worried about them and perfectly happy to walk past many things I know she has never seen in her life. (Palm trees? tumble weeds?)

When we got closer to the barn, we threw her in a individual pen and grabbed my trunk. What did she do? Roll… eat some hay… try to figure out how to get to that one patch of grass by where the automatic waterer was leaking. We headed back down to get my trunk. Not sure why I was so paranoid about it going missing… just was haha.

From there… it was desperately time for a bath. The tail got scrubbed… multiple times and still looked not as great as I wanted. Oh well, work in progress. Her mane and tail got trimmed while she dried a bit, then I put her in a small paddock near the barn for the night. I made sure she knew where the water was (and she took a nice big drink!) before I gave her a little hay. As I cleaned up, she enjoyed tasting all the hay and was clearly comfortable enough to dive right in… even if it meant not being able to see anything going on around her.

By the time I left, the sun had gone all the way down, but in the dark, I could see May with a hoof cocked near some horses in the field next to her. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to see her back with me and all settled in in her new home. I am heading back out this afternoon to give her a nice easy ride and continue getting us both settled in our new home.