Thursday Adventure

I can only hope that I made the right mistake. A week or so before the wedding I saw on ad on Kelo for an older well broke gelding. Of course I had to email and ask more about him. Come to find out he was from a lady who adopts from other rescues and uses them in her youth program. She pulls from a couple different rescues and I'm going to find out if she has the same deal with the rescue this horse came from as she does with the other rescue I've talked with.

Well, through our conversations she mentioned she had a belgian she'd like to place along with Joe the QH. I said I'd be interested in both. Unfortunately she needed both Joe and Thor out of the pasture because her youth group camp is this weekend.

I made arrangements to go pick up the horses yesterday. I pretty much bought them sight unseen as she didn't have any pictures of Joe (and I know why now). She did have pictures of Thor on her website but I think she wanted him gone before the camp started. She pushed pretty hard for me to get them before today. I understand but it still seemed a little odd. She does rescue and make people sign contracts and she was very worried about Joe and Thor going to a good home. So I think all in all the previous owner has a good heart.

So we left our place about 5pm to get to Alvord, Iowa by 6-6:30pm. We finally arrived and looked around. We had to wait for them to bring Thor and Joe up. She came and got us and right away I knew I was going home with both.

Poor Joe. His face has marks all over showing where his skin was ripped off by a too tight halter. I'm going to get pics and show you later. He's still so thin. All of a sudden he lost weight and he's only now slowly picking up the weight after a month of pasture and a teeth float. But as Mike and I discussed, Joe probably never had much for grain. I'll have to measure him and make sure that he has a winter blanket for this coming year and a nice dry/warm stall for this winter.

Thor on the otherhand, is massive. He made Joe look tiny. Thor doesn't look anything like Sam. Thor has a body like Bob's and has the coloring of Dude. The bright sorrel with flaxen mane. His tail on the other hand is a bit gray. Unfortunately Thor was used by the Amish and when he lost the sight out of his left eye, they got rid of him. It doesn't bother Thor any to not see out of that eye. In fact, the way he holds his head reminds me of Blondie and how she held her head. She too was blind in the left eye. Thor's feet are massive. I'll have to measure them at some point. His feet remind me of Bob's. Wonder what he'll be like for the farrier.

After deciding they were coming home with me we hung out and talked a bit more. One of the girls had fallen in love with Thor and waited until he was loaded to say her goodbyes. He had to hang out a little bit longer just for her but I didn't mind. We finally got going around 7:45pm.

Thor does NOT like to travel. We got to the West Lyon school near Larchwood and had to stop and readjust Thor in the trailer. He was all sweated up and rather upset for being a big guy. Earlier he tried to turn around in the trailer. Not a good thing for a 2000 lb animal!

Thor finally settled down and we continued to putter on home. When we hopped onto I90 we were able to go between 55 and 60mph but then when we started coming in to Sioux Falls the rain started. Oh how I wish I would have thought to bring a sheet for poor Joe. He was in the back of the stock trailer. I need to buy an enclosed slant load!

We finally rolled in about 9:15pm and we unloaded. Mike went in to make a pizza and I got the barn ready for Joe and Thor. I got them settled for the night and ran in for a quick bite and then back out for more chores.

I figured it would be safest to leave them in the barn overnight because of the stress and impending storm (which I some how managed to sleep through but was a pretty wicked storm). There was lighting in the sky when we finally made it into the house about 10:30pm. I felt so bad leaving Joe and Thor in the barn. I need to find some type of night light so they don't have to be in the barn in the dark. I don't like leaving the lights on overnight. It's an old barn with old wiring.

This morning I woke up fairly early and headed out. Both Joe and Thor were just hanging out. They didn't eat as much hay as I'd hoped but at least they'd gone through some of the hay. I took Thor out first. Boy is he a handful. He was happy to get out of the stall and into the mare's winter pasture. He wasn't too upset that Joe wasn't around. Joe on the other hand was very upset he'd been left behind. So I rushed back and got Joe and got him out into the pasture. I guess both Joe and Thor came from the same rescue in MN. I would have felt terrible breaking them apart.

I stood around for just a little bit to watch the pair graze on the tall grass. Oh how I wish I could have stood there all morning watching them graze. I'm a bit worried that the other horses will cause a problem later today but there's nothing I can do about it. Hopefully no vet bills will insue. I don't think that Joe or Thor will do much but hang out and touch noses with the other horses but I sure hope there isnt' too much excitement while I'm gone.

And to top it off I can't even go home right away after work. We are planning on picking up some of the left over conservation trees so I won't get home until sometime after 5pm! And all I want to do now is go play with Joe and Thor! Oh well. I'll try to get pictures of them out in the pasture so I can formally introduce them to you!