Sunday, September 11, 2011

Mission Accomplished - Moving is Done!

Finally we can say Mission Accomplished! Everyone is now happily grazing in their pasture at the new farm as of yesterday. As always everything went smoothly and the horses loaded and unloaded easily.

The first order of business for finalizing this move was relocating the Big Boys to a different pasture. On Friday morning they went for an after breakfast stroll and we led them to a different pasture. In Big Boy form they ran around for a few minutes acting like they were in a foreign land. Actually for the boys they were pretty tame and only ran around for a few minutes. Unfortunately the pasture is just huge which made it impossible for me to capture a lot of the exploring on video, they were just too far away or they were behind trees.


The Big Boys taking a look around their new pasture



On Saturday morning we were up and at it bright and early. Everyone had a very early breakfast and had their halters put on. Instead of wandering away from the gate after breakfast like they usually do they stood there and kept an eye on us, curious about what we were up to.


Kennedy, Stormy, Clayton, Johnny and Rampal watching us, wondering why they all had halters on. Johnny is saying "Dude, something is up, we ALL have halters on."

Kennedy was the first horse on the trailer, followed by Toledo. One by one they made their way up the ramp and backed into their stalls. Everyone was loaded in good time and away they went.

Toledo was a little unsure about the ramp but walked right on the trailer. He picked his legs up very high like a Walking Horse to minimize having to touch the ramp, it was cute.


Rocky waiting his turn


Gus


Faune


George


Asterik

After they were loaded we made our final field trip to the new farm. Given how long it has been since many of these horses have been on a trailer it has amazed me each time how well everyone has loaded. Of course it helps that we can start with a horse that we know will load well. Then everyone watches their friends walking up the ramp and they don't want to be left behind. The last horse to load is usually trying to drag us up the ramp!


Pulling in to the new farm


Winston was the first horse off the trailer


B-Rad and Alex watching the trailer drive past their field


Some of the Big Boys watching the new arrivals: Baby, Tony and Thomas


Leo and Chance watching the new arrivals


Clayton, Kennedy, Rocky, Toledo, Stormy, Johnny, Rampal and Tiny checking out their new pasture. They trotted and cantered around for a a couple of minutes and then settled on grazing with some walking. The allure of pristine grass was powerful!


Kennedy and Toledo


Clayton, Rocky and Stormy


Johnny, Rampal and Tiny


Stormy, Rampal and Clayton taking a good look around - they had just spotted the mares across the driveway


George and Asterik were the only ones in their crowd to do more than walk around and graze. Here they wow us with a slow trot.


Winston and Faune


Silver, Gus and Romeo


Fonzi and Chimano taking in the sights


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad it all went well - that must be a great relief!

IsobelleGoLightly said...

That's horse heaven there, to be sure! Lucky horses and great owners for placing them there with you for their retirement!

Vivian, Apollo's Mom said...

Oh! I want to come up so badly and see everything! I'm glad that move went well. I want to see what everything looks like with everyone there compared to last year!