We've been taking care of a horse ("Chance") at our barn, and he got a new home yesterday.
He was picked up from a feed lot in Riverside by the barn manager where we board. She gets horses there pretty regularly, re-sells them, and makes a little money. He came to the barn on Memorial Day weekend, and was nervous and full of cuts and scratches from his pasture-mates. But he had a soft eye and willing personality, and seemed grateful for the kind attention. I just liked him, and he liked me. He is also a branded American Hanoverian (in horse parlance, that means a well-bred registered horse). He was originally intended for one of my teen-aged working students at the barn, but she changed her mind after a few weeks (fickle child). So we worked with him, got him more fit, gave him good food and supplements, and found out that he's a nice horse with good skills and a solid work ethic. I spoke with a lot of my horsey-circle of friends and finally found him what I think will be a great new home. He left yesterday.
No one would ever call me warm and fuzzy. I am straight-forward and blunt, and the gatekeeper of my mouth is usually at lunch. When my child went off to kindergarten (or any other grade for that matter), I never looked back, and I never shed a tear. Come to think of it neither did she, but that's another story. So when we were getting Chance ready to leave, I made up three or four bags of supplements to send with him. He is going to be in the care of one of my previous horse clients, and she came to our facility to drop off the payment for him, and help get him loaded to go. I gave her the supplements and way too much information about him and his habits and what he eats, and how he does everything (babble babble babble). I lead him out to the trailer and he got in and they drove away. I felt like a mother who has sent her kid away with his little lunchbox of goodies, and was almost in tears.
It's funny how things strike you. I know intellectually that it's a great home with good people, and yet sending this horse off to a new life still got to me. It was so unexpected to be caught off-guard. That hasn't happened in a long time. When was the last time it happened to you?
He was picked up from a feed lot in Riverside by the barn manager where we board. She gets horses there pretty regularly, re-sells them, and makes a little money. He came to the barn on Memorial Day weekend, and was nervous and full of cuts and scratches from his pasture-mates. But he had a soft eye and willing personality, and seemed grateful for the kind attention. I just liked him, and he liked me. He is also a branded American Hanoverian (in horse parlance, that means a well-bred registered horse). He was originally intended for one of my teen-aged working students at the barn, but she changed her mind after a few weeks (fickle child). So we worked with him, got him more fit, gave him good food and supplements, and found out that he's a nice horse with good skills and a solid work ethic. I spoke with a lot of my horsey-circle of friends and finally found him what I think will be a great new home. He left yesterday.
No one would ever call me warm and fuzzy. I am straight-forward and blunt, and the gatekeeper of my mouth is usually at lunch. When my child went off to kindergarten (or any other grade for that matter), I never looked back, and I never shed a tear. Come to think of it neither did she, but that's another story. So when we were getting Chance ready to leave, I made up three or four bags of supplements to send with him. He is going to be in the care of one of my previous horse clients, and she came to our facility to drop off the payment for him, and help get him loaded to go. I gave her the supplements and way too much information about him and his habits and what he eats, and how he does everything (babble babble babble). I lead him out to the trailer and he got in and they drove away. I felt like a mother who has sent her kid away with his little lunchbox of goodies, and was almost in tears.
It's funny how things strike you. I know intellectually that it's a great home with good people, and yet sending this horse off to a new life still got to me. It was so unexpected to be caught off-guard. That hasn't happened in a long time. When was the last time it happened to you?
Oh, you sound like me, and oddly enough, the animal in my story has the same name, Chance. He's my son's Golden Retriever who came as part of the deal when my son moved back home after a year on his own. But Chance was way too much dog and massively undisciplined and destructive, so we had to foster him out to a terrific dear friend who has other dogs. When he left, I, who was most annoyed and dismayed by the dog and his damage in the first place, was a huge basket case. So, I get it. I really do.
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