Being a Blessing...Support Style!

Carrie volunteered her time and energy on Saturday by offering to trailer two horses.

It was a rough situation. One of our boarder's friends tried to start her own horse rescue and got hurt. Badly. She needs multiple facial reconstruction surgeries. Carrie's sure it was a kick to the face, but no one knows which horse did it or under what circumstances. 

Carrie's been offering assistance to the family and friends as they try to piece together what happened and how to go forward. Carrie offered to research rescues, contact, and haul free of charge. 

The friends helping out decided to take her up on the offer. There were five horses on property and they asked Carrie to deliver two of them. 

Carrie was the main helper in this endeavor. I wish I had some pictures of the actual adventure! I played the support role.

First thing in the morning, I went out to move mats in the trailer.

They're heavy. I had to remove the divider and reinstall it, too.

Carrie was stressed and got upset when I didn't read her mind. She needed help carrying some stuff up from the barn and I didn't hear her yelling while I wrestled mats. I would've thought to check on her eventually, but minutes after waking, coffeeless, and in a hurry don't translate to reading minds (especially when the mind in question is in a flurry figuring out what they need!).

We launched in time, though. I opened the gate and took a quick parting shot for the blog.

Carrie would be gone from roughly 8 AM to 1 PM. She had to drive out to Zion's crossroads, ace the horses, and drop the first guy off in Staunton. That was way out of the way for the mare, but it was she got to go for a ride or "he'd kick down the walls of the trailer." 

Really wish I had pics!

Meanwhile, I drafted Shane and got to work on the barn. We were out of sweet feed.

I drove down the Subby and poured 150 lbs in we bought on the way home from dropping Bucket off with Grandma.

The boys liked the new hay. Especially Magic. I caught him wrapped around it eating and warding other horses away from 'the precious.'

He didn't have any choice about sharing when Carrie locked all the boys in the dry lot overnight! She'd mowed the pasture and wanted it to sit before throwing hungry mouths and heavy hooves back on it.

That meant more cleanup for me. 

The new hay went quickly, but it left a mess.

There were branches of lambsquarter strewn all over the feeder and ground. I hope that some of the ground branches I missed add traction in the rain.

I gathered a bunch.

Bales are compressed, but I can't do the same by hand.

I threw out a new bale when I was done. At least they smell good. 1 bale down. 421 to go.

I spent at least an hour and a half in the barn taking care of everything solo. Then it was Shane and Dad time. I got him to do chores and useful stuff before we played some Gemfire and waited for Carrie.

When Carrie did come home she ended up on the phone for over an hour with our boarder ("It's not your fault!" Carrie said. "Don't blame yourself about her choices and the results.").

Carrie paid the toll for her efforts Sunday. She had a rough night and spent most of the afternoon passed out on the couch.

I loved that Carrie stepped in to help. I'm looking forward to when I'm able to take a more direct hand and maybe Shane can be more useful than stressful!