Unfortunately, his price was out of my current budget (see poor college student). And he was further away from me than I ideally wanted to drive, but wasn't out of the realm of possibility. So we kept talking and she told me tons and tons about him, and I lapped up all the information. I got lots of photos and a few videos from her, and she explained the good, the bad, and the ugly about him. And it just didn't really phase me. A lot of it is pretty typical track behavior, and he seems to have a personality that can take a joke. The more we messaged each other back and forth, the more it just seemed like the perfect match.
After a little bit more messaging, we finally found a price compromise that worked for her family, and worked for my budget too. Then we set up a date for me to come see him, and likely take him home. We wanted to be sure it seemed like a good match, but based on the information given from both parties, it seemed like it couldn't be better!
As the date got closer, I got more excited. It wasn't a done deal by any means, but I was definitely twitterpated (if you don't know what this word means, go watch Bambi). I spent a couple days getting together a list and packing up the trailer, so I could have everything he needed. Then the day before we were supposed to go and get him, my heart sank. It seemed like it wasn't going to work out. I had to leave my area by approx 5am in order to get back with him before dark, but that meant I was getting into their area around 10:30am, and they had a lesson scheduled! It was too late for them to cancel without getting their money back, and they wouldn't be back at the barn where I needed to pick the horse up until 12:30. I tried my hardest to find out how we could leave around that time, but it just wasn't going to work. And my current work schedule would prevent me from going up that way for at least a month. It was going to have to be Saturday or not at all.
Suddenly, his owner made a suggestion. Something no one would ever normally do. She gave me the address of the barn and offered that I could go up and meet him without her, and if I liked him, put him in the trailer, and we would meet up afterward to exchange money, and sign a bill of sale. I stared at the message for a little while, processing it. There didn't seem to be any downside. His family could go to their lesson. I could follow my original plan of arriving around 10:30. After double checking with my road trip buddy (my awesome dad), we went ahead with this plan. His owner and I acknowledged that this had to be the strangest possible horse sale in history.
Late Friday night, I received a message from his family that her girls were heartbroken about seeing him go, but glad it was going to be to a good home. They told their mom to tell me that his favorite treats were peppermints.
So of course, I promptly drove to the closest Walmart and got peppermints. I already had carrots in the trailer, but I couldn't go without his favorite treat! And we have basically 0 treats around my house other than carrots because Charmer downright will not eat anything else. A giant box of peppermints. The girls were thrilled. Of course while I was at Walmart, I snagged a few road trip snacks as well.
Right on schedule, we pulled out of our drive at 5:03am on Saturday morning. The drive was easy and uneventful. Idaho is having an unseasonably warm winter, and it made the drive beautiful. Normally most of the drive would have had snow or ice, but with some temps in the 50s for the previous 3 days, most of the snow had melted, until we were within 30 minutes of his home. We made great time, especially hauling the trailer (even if it was empty), and pulled into his home at 10:28am. His face was the first face I saw. Hanging over the gate before I even hit the ground. He has an unmistakable blaze, and I had seen enough photos to know it was him.
I stuffed him full of as many peppermints as I could fit in my pocket (which was probably like 20). I felt his legs, gave him a quick jog, and he seemed to have fairly clean, tight legs, save for one small bump on the front of his left hind. I fussed with it and pressed it and he didn't seem to even notice. And he was obviously sound when I jogged him out. So I threw some BoT quick wraps on him, and loaded him in the trailer. He checked out the trailer for about 2 minutes, and then leapt in and chowed down on some alfalfa in the hay bag.
His family had told me he loaded great, but tended to be nervous in the trailer, but he seemed quiet and happy, and just kept chowing down on alfalfa. I called his owners and we set up a place to meet. We found a gas station just off of an exit ramp with easy trailer access. I pulled in and waited for them to arrive. Took less than 5 minutes and they were there. The four girls all crowded the trailer and gave him tons of love and said their goodbyes, and their mom and I handled the bill of sale and money. Once we were done, we chatted for a few minutes, and then she said her goodbyes to him as well. They clearly loved him a lot.
We got back on the road, and had another 4 hours of uneventful driving. My favorite kind. He shifted in the trailer twice, let out a half-hearted kick once, but other than that was quiet as could be. He finished off all of his alfalfa by the time we arrived home, and looked more than ready to get off the trailer.
He looked around, with a face that said "where's all the snow??". It was almost 15* warmer at home than where we picked him up. He looked around, and hopped off the trailer. I walked him around for a few minutes, then took off his quick wraps. Then we took him to the arena to check out his "home" for the next couple days while he got acquainted with our horses over the fence. He walked the boundaries well, paid attention, and then I set him loose.
He took about 2 steps in the arena before stopping and dropping to the ground to roll. Our arena has nice soft sand, and it was a little wet, so it was perfect for rolling in. After a good roll, he took off galloping around the arena, throwing in a lot of bucks. Charmer joined in on his side of the fence too. After about 10 minutes of being complete idiots, and both of them being pretty sweaty, they decided that was a lot of work and calmed down.
I fed both of them, grained them, and made sure the new kid had water and went inside for the night. I woke up once around 1:00am and went out to double check on both of them (perks of living on the property!) and all was well. Fed and watered again in the morning and everyone was happy campers. And he got to meet both of the senior horses over the fence as well with minimal drama.
Since it was such a drama free introduction over the fence, I decided to put him with Charmer on Sunday night, once the senior horses get separated. I spent some time walking him around the fenceline, and especially the electric section of the pasture, and then set him loose. A little more galloping, and then finally everyone settled down again, ate some alfalfa, drank some water, and got some mash-grain. And by this morning, everyone was still in the right place, so that's a good sign. Hoping we can keep it up, and everyone will stay happy and quiet.
I'm pleased to say it seems like this guy will be a perfect little match for us. Even if getting him happened to be the weirdest horse sale ever.
So this is Wonder. His JC name was BrainWash. He is 9yo (as of January 1st), and raced 23 times, and won over 160k. Seems to have a decent pedigree as well (although I don't know a whole lot about racehorse pedigrees). All in all, I'm pretty excited about him, and can't wait to see what he is like under saddle - I've already seen that he is pretty athletic!
Comments
Post a Comment