Jeff and Sonya have had a rough time of it. They've had three horses collic including a young one (a sister of Nib's), Jeff's personal horse (Griffon), and one of the stallions (Nib's father, Bear).
The young one died. Bear required surgery they couldn't afford, so they donated him to a Friesian group who paid for the surgery....only he developed an infection and died, as well.
Griff had a positive prognosis at Virginia Tech, but then a horse carrying a deadly, contagious virus died on property and put the veterinary hospital into quarantine. Instead of coming home, Griff was forced to remain at the hospital for a month and racked up bills to the tun of hundreds of dollars a day.
Burdened with debt and grief, Jeff and Sonya made the decision to fully retire from horses.
Sonya is a private person, but Carrie's been in contact with her and people who know her. She drove down in a surprise visit to offer love and support for a day.
One of the hardest parts of getting out of the horse business is finding a home for all your horses. Sonya is something of a horse collector in that she adopted and got attached to a large number of four legged friends. She's always been really picky about who she will sell a horse to. She has war stories of horses she's sent off and then returned home after finding them in squalor or abusive situations.
She was touched when Carrie offered to buy Annie.
Annie is one of Nib's sisters. She's a Bear foal and was born after Nibs in August. Sonya has needed to sell her, but has had trouble saying goodbye. She's put up some half-hearted ads, but without much follow through. Annie is in the spot where she's a good future prospect. She's almost the age to be broken and ridden, but not just yet. However, it's harder to downsize and sell your property if it's loaded with future prospects.
Carrie knew all this. She knew Nibs and Annie have shared pastures before. We talked it over and our goal would be to buy Annie now to help them with bills and sell her down the line. Carrie would work with Annie after she has time to settle in and start to advertise more in earnest.
Carrie went down on Saturday to help and talk. Sonya okayed the plan and Sunday morning Carrie hooked up the trailer.
This left me with Shane. Saturday was a "catch up on everything" day....laundry, dishes, cleaning, grading.
Sunday was going to be more laid back.
Carrie tried to call during church. I called her back after the service and heard she'd "done a thing."
"I need a favor," she said. "Can you and Shane prep the stall near the tack room for me?"
Throwing wood chips and kicking them around is one of the more fun barn tasks.
Sam watched ever hopeful for a bucket of feed.
Shane did a good job. I had him stuff slow-feed bags with hay while I filled and carried buckets of water.
Carrie drove up not too long after. Nibs pranced over and danced around. "Do you know who's in there?" Carrie asked. "Do you remember your sister-pony?"
There were two horse butts when the trailer went down.
The butt on the left belongs to Annie.
Annie was very nervous. She'd only been off Sonya's property once before and it was for a vet visit. She whinnied and was skittish as we stalled her. Carrie brought Nibs into the adjacent stall to try and calm her.
The other pony's name was Oakie. She was only going to be staying with us temporarily. Oakie's owners had semi-gifted her to Sonya, but it was time for Oakie to return to her Fredericksburg home. Our barn was an easier (and cheaper) drive for them, so Carrie agreed to stall her for a few days.
Sam was very interested.
The hotel McCruari charges $30 a night for a corner stall suite. You get water, all the hay you can eat, and your poop shoveled.
Oakie did not like being trailered, by the way. She worked herself up into a sweaty mess on the trip.
Oakie didn't seem to mind. She was happy to be on solid ground and munching hay.
Everything seemed to be going well. Nibs was a little extra hyper and Annie was sensitive to any and every noise, but life went on. Carrie planned to keep the girls stalled overnight to give Annie more time to acclimate before turning her loose in the pasture.
Maddy had her own little adventure later on. A woman came out for a trial ride! We're hoping to put our ponies to work to get their exercise and earn back some of their keep. The ride went well, so we're hoping to hear back.
Carrie had me help clean up the barn in the morning, because of the visitor and one more on the horizon: Heidi's trainer is coming to give Heidi a lesson on Monday. The trainer could have horses or know people with horses looking for board, so there's the hope the lesson could also help us make good connections.
Lots going on here!
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