Colorado Bound!
On October 22nd, an army of Serenity Farm family helped to load up 7 horses to head to Colorado.
The horse hotel on wheels showed up just at day break.
Everyone took a horse, and we had a couple extra handlers for those potential trouble makers.
Macchi was the first horse on the trailer. That wasn’t the plan, but I knew plans were just a rough sketch for today. He went first as the back most stall was the largest and well, Macchi is a giant among Serenity Farm horses.
Everyone loaded nicely…well, I would like to say that. Jayden got her self in a bit of a tizzy and took…longer than anticipated to load. Note the broken side…yes, that was from her.
But, she did get on, once she decided it was more work than just getting in the trailer with all her friends.
The horses headed out for the drive and I ran back to the house to put the last few things in the truck, load up the dogs, say goodbye to Shawn (who will join us when the house sells, or 3.5 weeks later if it doesn’t).
My realtor, who is a horse person, met me at the Colorado house with pizza and a friend to help out the final touches on the yard (magnetic flash lights, reflective tape and poles, water tank filled, hay piles out, etc.). The week before I had been in CO for a few days setting up fencing and making a safe arrival area for the horses, knowing it would likely be dark when they unloaded.
And it was. At 11:00pm, 14 hours after they left Bentonville, the horses arrived. The rig was able to turn around in the pasture and then park where the driveway was gravel and safer for unloading.
We took the horses off two at a time so they wouldn’t be alone in the pasture. Jayden unloaded much quieter than loading.
While I was settling the horses in, the drivers unloaded all the bedding and manure. That’s 7 horses worth of shavings and leftovers (both of hay and what the hay turns into). It may or may not still be sitting there a couple weeks later…
While they were tired from the journey, they did trot around a little bit before settling in for some hay. They had hay and water in front of them for the whole trip and since they all had box stalls, the hay was on the ground so they could stretch their necks and clear their airways.
My helpers left shortly after knowing the horse were settled (remember that the trailer didn’t get in until 11pm, I don’t blame them and will be forever thankful for their help), the hotel on wheels left just before midnight.
I stayed up with them until 1:00am before getting a few hours rest and checking on them again around 4:30am
Then a couple more hours of sleep and starting our first day in Colorado at 7:30am
Even though we did everything right, horses will be horses. Jesse did end up with a bit of a tummy ache but after a couple days at Colorado State University, he is all better and happy to be settling home with his friends.
The view is beautiful and we were fortunate enough to arrive in temperate weather conditions. The horses seemed to have settled very quickly into the new routine. Though, some of the more chilly mornings they are rather excitable.