Arrival

When the trailer arrived today 10 minutes early, I heard snorting inside and when I went in, found a soaking wet horse trembling so much the entire trailer was shaking. That is something I've never experienced before and I'm feeling bad that people don't teach their babies to trailer, and by the time t they're 5 they have a 4 hour journey that traumatizes them. Haegerhof *sigh*

Getting him off the trailer was a very delicate process, I didn't want him to panic and leap forward into me in that tight space, and he was standing with all 4 feet in almost the exact same spot, not willing to put a hoof on the ramp. I just went slow and let him rest for every attempt at backwards, even though having someone say BACK in English is certainly not in his vocabulary.

He walked with "sea legs" for a while, and stood with his legs braced, he was completely disoriented from the drive.

Thankfully today the weather warmed up and most of the snow melted, and the horse's body dried as he stood in the sun.


He doesn't like the geotiles and paws at them. They're slippery even in dry weather.



He discovered the water trough, perhaps the first time in his life not drinking from an automatic waterer. He played with the water with his nose, swishing it around and taking sips from time to time. It's easier to drink without pushing a lever!

He went in the stall but prefers to be out where he can see in both directions to the horizons.





When he tried to eat, it was obvious he's not used to a hay bag, and when it moved, he'd leap back "The hay MOVED! Everything is so weird here!"







When he noticed the horses across the street, it became top priority to keep track of them. In fact, I'm pretty worried because he's agitated and when people came and started riding up there, he could hear them and he was very very concerned. Look how tall he is in our paddock. I'm so scared he's gonna just hop over the gate and go to his friends across the street!



But when Bellis goes into her stall, this is what he does. "DON'T DISAPPEAR!"



Sometimes it creeps me out that he looks a little bit like Baasha, especially in a black halter. I'm definitely keeping the halter on tonight, in case he leaves our property. It's cheap crap leather, it will break if needed.



His passport is in Polish! I only know one word of Polish, the one for thank you. Maybe I'll get to say it to Mag one day.



His registration? How do we transfer ownership? There's no address on there!



Now I have three halters that my animals came in that will never be used again. The red one is Bellis', the blue with DAPHNE on it is Mara's, and this brand new el-cheapo is Mag's. Nice that they sold him in a brand new halter, but ugh, I'll never use that!

As happy as I am that he's here, I will not sleep tonight, not likely. Good that our barn lights work and I can check from the house if he's still there.

OH I forgot, I fixed our fence today, and it went from 2K volts to 10K volts! I'm also worried he'll touch it (there's just an electric divider between him and Bellis) and he'll fall down from the intensity.

So many things to worry about. My photographer friend called and congratulated me, and told me to drink some sekt (champagne). I am, but mostly to calm down.

J will be home soon I hope, and will start spoiling Mag.

I don't normally feed young/new horses by hand but I need Mag to think about other things than the Icelandics across the street. I took some bread out and threw some to Bellis and then dropped a slice on the ground for Mag. He picked it up and apparently didn't know it was food. He played with it in his mouth a while before eating a bit of it curiously. How strange.

A few minutes ago I went out there with 2 vitamin snacks and gave him one. He rolled it around in his mouth but didn't chew. He tossed his head around like WHAT IS THIS! and spit it out, and then promptly picked it up again to suck on it some more. Again, strange. Wait til he learns about apples and carrots!

I haven't groomed him or done anything training wise really because he's too agitated. I just began the lesson of WAIT while I hung the hay bag and guarded it for a while as my own while he tried to fathom why I wasn't giving him his food immediately. He seems to be polite, he didn't try to push through me to get it.

When he acted nervous about the plastic bread sack, I shook it around and held it there until he touched it, then I moved it away. I did the same with his laminated registration, shaking it around until he faced it and touched it, then I removed it.

Oh, one more thing to worry about. He's probably never slept outside in his life, but he doesn't seem to like the stall, and I'm not about to see if he's ever worn a blanket on day 1, so I'm just trusting that it won't be so cold to freeze him to death tonight. I'll give him enough hay to last the whole night.

I come from a family of worriers and it spoils our fun, but what can I do. When J gets home I'll feel better.

He is beautiful though, isn't he? I guess, especially when agitated!