The New Place

2 posts in one day! I am ambitious tonight. Actually I just really want to catch this up to present day. We have gone through so many things lately, that I want this to be a current chronicle, not always 10 years ago.

I went up the road to look at a new place, just a couple of miles away from Big Name Barn. A couple of miles away in distance, but lightyears away in standard of care. I went for my tour and was very impressed with the small barn. It was older and not as well lit, but the horses had large grass pastures and the stalls were spacious and very clean. Sign me up!

I arranged the day for the new barn owner to come and pick him up. It was the very beginning of November. It was a Friday evening and I was sick. I had left work early, feeling feverish and dizzy. I went out to the barn with my roommate to wait for the new barn owner. It was drizzling and very cold. I sat and waited with Sammy in the cold drizzle and felt more and more miserable. My roommate finally ordered me back into the barn, and she took control of the situation.

The new barn owner pulled in and we loaded Sammy. He trailered nervously the couple of miles to the barn and when we got there, he had managed to shove all the mats against the door of the trailer.

We got him there and unloaded. Once he was in his new stall, he calmed down. I told the new barn owner I was usually out every day and that I would probably be out in the next few days. Instead I ended ups getting sicker and sicker.

I called in sick for work on Monday and then again on Tuesday. It was Tuesday night, the night of the 2000 presidential election. I felt like a knife was being stabbed into my ribs with every breath or every movement. At midnight, my roommate took me to the ER. We were a bit upset to think we were going to miss the election results. Little did we know that the election was going to last 5 weeks before a decision would be reached. In any case, my diagnosis was pneumonia. I was unable to go to the barn for 2 weeks.

When I was finally able to go out to the barn, I was happy to see that Sammy had water and food and a clean stall. I was too weak from the pneumonia to ride, so my roommate rode him for me while I watched.

The new place was a big improvement and Sammy seemed happy. I couldn't wait to be strong enough to ride, now that I had a trained horse and a good place to keep him. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Apparently 45 days of training isn't enough to consider a horse fully broke. Who knew?

More to come!