Quarantine visit

Finally today we had the opportunity to visit Baasha in quarantine. My sister and I, that is. She wanted to say goodbye to him before he flies away forever, and I needed moral support in dealing with the quarantine woman, who my mom described as having "very little social graces." My mom was being a good Christian when she said that. I will have to say more on that later, but she's pretty awful.

She allowed us less than one hour visit, after a 2 hour drive getting there. To our utter disappointment, Baasha was not thrilled to see us. In fact, he went to the corner of his stall and pouted there, like he used to do at dressage shows. I'm worried - he is apparently unhappy, and we're not a good enough reason for him to get happy. (I can comfort myself that in July, before quarantine, he was overjoyed and hugged me with his head, but today...)


Nose to the corner of his stall, he wanted to be left alone. I know, most of his visitors came from the USDA, bearing needles. We took him outside and groomed him, I inspected and photographed all his feet (I'm going to start doing this more as he is adapting to the natural barefoot trim). I fed him some carrots and noted that he chewed wtih difficulty still and spit out one piece, even after his ultra high-tech dentist visit.



My sister had to sit on him one last time and I helped her up in his stall (!!). She loves him so much. He's hers too. He does look better now, but it's deceptive, he's growing in his winter coat, and that always makes him look rounder.

I am so impatient for these 4 days, I can't wait til the moment that airplane takes off, and I'm sitting with Baasha on that plane, free from quarantine, free to care for him myself.

His diet has been carefully forecasted, and since I have nothing to do but obsess about him, I'll type it here. I've looked, and sadly there is no Equine Senior in Germany, so here's the plan:

Freechoice grass hay
Soaked hay pellets
Oil (up to 200 g per day)
MSM/Glucosamine
Vitamins
Small amount grain
Free choice himalayan minerals

Nothing to do but wait, and plan.