Oh my gosh.  I am beat.  Totally drained.

But, it is done!

Thanks to our friends at VALLEY VIEW RANCH RESCUE – who have rescued just about every kind of horse and loaded them for 30 years – all went off without a hitch!

Well, there were a few hitches…

First, we loaded the mustangs (I had trained them to eat in the barn so I could trap them there.)  Then we loaded Annie (who needed some ‘panel persuasion’ to load, then the 4 riding horses (Finn, BG, Gwen and Wrigley)… and then we were out of room.

Uh oh.

We had two left.   The tiny ones.  Dodger and Norma.

So, we off loaded the mustangs (that was fun) and put the tiniest two up front of that trailer and closed the wall divider.  Then, we loaded the mustangs back up (rodeo) which confused them because they had less room than the last time…

And they were off!  9am.

 

I HAD TO CLEAR OUT OF THE HOUSE

Meanwhile, I wasn’t totally packed up to leave for good.  There seems to always be something that won’t fit in the truck…

But, I had to be out so I dragged whatever wasn’t fitting into the garage to pick up later.  I got the router (important to Hubby) and hugged the Grass Valley house for the last time – for a while.

Scouty was so happy to go with me.  She saw that EVERYTHING was now gone and the poor girl was very upset.  She slept the whole way, probably relieved that she was coming with.

Anyway, I left 2 hours after the horses.

WE ARRIVED AT THE SAME TIME – 4:30pm

We took different routes and I left two hours later, but we arrived almost exactly together.  Weird time warp thing but glad it worked out that way…

The trailers pulled in first.  It was 108 degrees.  Everyone worked very fast to make sure the horses didn’t suffer in the heat.

Like a well oiled machine Marlene back into the Mustang pasture (perfectly the first time) and opened the gate.   They ran into their new space and kicked up a storm.

Next we offloaded the saddle horses, which was easy.  They all walked – very alertly – into their new pasture.

Then, Marlene pulled around and backed into the pony pasture.  She did it on the first try, again even having to maneuver between a fence and my trailer.

Annie jumped out.

Last were Norma and Dodger.  Both emerged easily and walked into Annie’s pasture.

Sigh.  All in.  All done.  All in one piece.

i waved good bye to the great transport team and thanked them from the bottom of my relief filled heart.

WATER!

I then ran around and pulled the waterers and hoses off of the truck.  I tried to eyeball which hose was the right length for each spigot… but basically, I just used whatever worked – they needed water FAST.

Luckily, everyone drank.  And, also luckily, the water was very clear.  Yes, we had the well tested, but you never know how it tastes.  All well water has different chemicals and it all tastes differently.

Ours is really tasty!

NORMA AND BG

Norma and BG didn’t seem quite right… and i always worry about heat stress and water intake – colic.

Luckily, I had SAY WHOA TO COLIC products on hand.  Those formulas are life savers.  To me, just knowing that I have it on hand, relieves me.  Anyway, I dosed both Norma and BG – to be safe.  Soon thereafter, they settled and I, then, was able to settle, too.

TIME FOR BED

Hubby made a fabulous dinner while I was showering – scrubbing off the day’s fear and nerves.

I can hardly keep my eyes open… so for now, I’ll say goodnight.

I am so relieved.  The big part is done.  Now all I have to do is unpack our lives and start over here!