Bringing my horses home was eventful. Our old ’89 Ford pickup truck did the job but not without a few senior moments. Oldsters need naps now and then. The old truck has the muscle but gets a little hot on a climb, or on a hot day. Yesterday was both.
By the time we got to the top of Dixie Mountain Road, the old truck had had it. Boiling over furiously we let her rest while we went to collect the horses. Not only did we load the two large plump horses (my daughter Juliana called them BBW-Big Beautiful Women) into the horse trailer we rented, we also loaded several bales of hay and bags of grain and boxes of other assorted horsey things the previous owners threw in for good measure.
Although we filled the radiator up with water before leaving the ranch, the truck was not as game as earlier in the day. It was too hot altogether. We got down the mountain and had to pull over into a neighbor hood while John went to get some antifreeze. After refilling, we started out again only to pull over a few minutes later, in a Walmart parking lot, to buy more antifreeze. This time I bought 4 containers of it, just in case. We put two and a half in before it was full.
Starting out again, we overheated. The day was just too hot and the traffic too slow during rush hour near Portland. We found another shady spot, a lovely little oasis, opened the windows of the horse trailer so both horses could stick their heads out, and let the traffic go by. We fed them some alfalfa nuggets, and gave them more water. We entertained a few little girls coming out of day care, with their fathers in tow.
Juliana and I fed some ducks as we relaxed in the grass under a shady tree. At 6:30 we decided to try again. Traffic was better and the day was cooling off some.
The window where Honey was tied kept falling open as we drove. We would shut it securely each time we started out, but a little bump in the road would send it falling, BAM! Open again.
Honey was delighted to stick her head out the window and watch the other cars going by. She reminded me of a dog. She got some waves, and smiles too, from other drivers and passengers going by.
Finally we were home and we led them out of the trailer, one by one. They were so alert; sniffing the air, looking around, taking in everything. They were so different in their awareness compared to when they were at their old home. This was a huge adventure. In fact, every time we stopped to rest the truck, they had the same reaction when we opened their windows and they looked around. Then they would get a little bored and be ready to go, stomping their feet and snorting out their noses. Their personalities were beginning to show.
Juliana and I led them to the back yard as they continued to look all around, stopping suddenly to look more closely, or sniff at something.
We put them into the smaller corral with the lean to. Mairsiedotes was in the little pasture, out of their way for now, but not out of sight.
They did a lot of sniffing and getting to know each other.
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