Carrie brought a rescue to her barn last week. His name is Shining Armour. I mentioned him briefly Friday.
Carrie found Armour (Who I'm not allowed to call "Army," "Armee," or "Arnie" upon threat of bodily harm) near Leesburg. He was bred for someone's daughter. The daughter eventually lost interest and they left him in a lot over the winter which starved him. Carrie visited him one day, fell in love, and then drove back up the next day. I found out she was bringing him south when Shane and I got home and realized Mommy wasn't around.
Armour is not officially adopted. There is an option to adopt/purchase, but for now Carrie is nursing him back to health. He is at the riding barn where we already had a lease. Carrie's tried working with him a little on the lunge (He is not healthy enough to ride). He reacted negatively to the lunge whip even though Carrie only uses it to point. She had to switch to using a (much shorter) driving whip to direct and Armour accepted that more easily.
Carrie started to look for another horse to ride, because Captain has been lame. The vets came out and the recommended approach was "wait and see." Carrie's friend Crystal took Captain in on her property to wander with her horses and take it easy until he can rotate back to the riding barn.
Until Carrie found Armour, she researched for weeks and even drove out to Wytheville once and to Maryland another time with Grandma to check out prospects.
Meanwhile, Nibs is Carrie's pretty little pony. Pink isn't Carrie's go-to color, but she can't resist putting it on Nibs.
Nibs is a unique training project in that she's too comfortable with people. She wants to stay right next to Carrie whenever Carrie is around. Nibs' personal space bubble is non-existent. If Carrie walks away or tries to work on having Nibs move off, Nibs scoots back in. She still acts as if she's more comfortable with people than horses. Geese don't seem to phase her either.
Not pictured, there has been some ongoing trailer drama. Carrie found a body shop to work on her trailer for cheap....in October. She's had to pick it up from them, use it, and drop back off multiple times since then and they're still not done. I didn't pay any attention, because the horse world is Carrie's. She got frustrated and enlisted me to help get on the shop's case. After a week of calling and them promising to do it 'soon,' I called again and they were working on it (They'd actually called Carrie and she stopped by. I didn't know that yet when I called ready to lay into them. I figured out they'd contacted her before I said anything, but I still felt odd/sheepish after).
And yet, it's not done.
I need to harass them again. Carrie put it up for sale and had a couple of possible buyers slip away when it wasn't done when she said it would be (aka she quoted the shop and then they failed to deliver). I've been so consumed with work, Shane, everything else I do, and, honestly, horses rarely enter my mind until I'm home and talking to Carrie in the evening. By then, the shop is closed.
We're selling the trailer, because Carrie's parents semi-surprised her with a trailer at the end of January.
They must be really happy with how many commissions she's helped them with. Or perhaps they didn't want to hear any sob stories about trailer repairs, exchanges or woes for the next 15 years.
We need to sell the other trailer, so that we can pass the proceeds back to offset a large chunk of the gift. We certainly don't need two trailers.
Carrie's next horse adventure (after selling the trailer) is going to be to visit Sonya at some point. Sonya and Jeff have been battling constant health issues and are (possibly) preparing to sell their barn to retire/downsize. Carrie wants to give Sonya a "big ole hug."
Me? I'm going to go to the allergist and start getting horse shots. Carrie's going to be tracking more and more fuzz home as the weather improves.
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