Sunday, February 1-- Bringing the New Mare Home

So fellow boarder (MQ) and I hook up her trailer and hit the road at 7:30 am to make the trip into the Northern Tier of PA to pick up the horse our BO has found for a former boarder & lesson student of hers. The former boarder lost her horse to Potomac Horse Fever in the summer of 2007, and has been casually looking for a new horse for about a year.

About six months ago, new horses moved into our barn, and for the first few trimmings, they used the farrier from their former barn. John the Farrier, as we shall call him, got chatting with BO about Morgans and mentioned that he had a client in central PA who was dispersing his herd and retiring south, so if she needed a nice little Morgan mare, good with kids, good on the trail, sweet personality, he knew of one.

BO needs another horse in her own herd like a hole in the head, but she kept the offer in mind. Last week, John the Farrier called to say that another local client of his was going down to the dispersal to pick up a quarter horse from the retiring horseman, and the little Morgan mare was still available-- did BO want to make one trip count and have them bring the little Morgan up with them? BO rolled the dice and said, yeah, throw her on the trailer. Sight-unseen, on the recommendation and reputation of John the Farrier, a guy we don't know all that well, but who sees a lot of horses and seems a gentle and honest enough soul.

BO then did some fast phoning and told the former boarder that she'd agreed to take this horse with former boarder in mind. Former boarder, an amazing gambler herself, said, hey, what the heck?! Sure, I'll buy her. And so an unseen horse has been bought and sold and transported to John the Farrier's farm in Northern PA, where we're going to go pick her up to bring her home.

BO has a clinic on Sunday, so can't go make the trip to John the Farrier's, so it's me and MQ, hooking up the trailer in the barely-dawn 17-degree morning and heading out. It's about a 56 mile trip over PA farmland, with "landmarks" to look for like "the Penn State statue in the front yard" and "the tangerine-colored house on the sharp curve"-- not road signs or names or route numbers, but idiosyncrasies of personal tackiness....this is PA for you; I'll write about adventures in PA one of these days, but I don't have the strength right this minute. But we did go through "French's Asylum", which prompted this little bit of historical research: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/french/page1.asp?secid=31

We find John the Farrier's house with no problem, and he goes out to the barn to get the horse while we open up the trailer and get it ready for her. I turn around, and he is leading the sweetest-looking little Morgan mare down his driveway-- all perky ears, big doe eyes, and delicate bones and feet. She's a little lean, but even with the extra pounds she needs, she'll be a small Morgan, lighter of bone and more delicate-featured than our Foxwin Morgans. She's got a longer neck and face as well; she is certainly of the lines that cross-bred with Saddlebreds later into the 20th century than ours. She's beautiful, petite and pretty.

And we don't know her name. John the Farrier can't remember-- she's one of dozens of client horses for him-- and her papers won't be transferred until the buyer's check clears. So we all three are in love with this pretty little mare, and we don't know her name!

She hops on the trailer with a bit of persuading, and then whinnies all the way home. As we pass farms, horses in pastures whip their heads up to her call-- who's that going by? With all that whinnying, I'm concerned that she's working up a sweat and going to be chilled in the morning air, so I'm mentally planning out getting her a cooler (blanket) when we get back to the barn and wondering if she's ever been blanketed...and how am I going to blanket a strange horse? What if she tries to eat me?

But we pull in to home, open up the trailer door, and she's cool as a cucumber, not a sweat spot on her. Apparently, she's just vocal, but was not upset.

She steps off the trailer to the excited whinnying and spectating of our herd of 15- who's this? Someone new! -- and into her waiting stall just like she's lived there all her life. She snatches some hay, sniffs her water bucket and peers out from the stall, getting the lay of the land. She's quiet, sweet, and very, very friendly.

I call the new owner, who asks how tall she is, what color, what she's like. I'm delighted to be able to say that it looks like we came up lucky 7s when we rolled the dice with her-- she's kind, pretty, sweet, relaxed, very people-oriented. I think we got a winner. I get a sense of the breeder's thrill at putting a horse together with an owner-- the potentials of the burgeoning relationship feel really good, and I can see why my BO likes doing this...

I spend the morning cleaning stalls and checking on her. She's relaxed in her stall, but whinnies occasionally to see if anyone is out there. She seems happy to know where someone-- horse or human-- is at all times, but not panicked if she can't see them or get an answer. By mid-afternoon, she seems to want to come out and see what it's all about, but is patient and contents herself with hay.

Today, I hope, we'll get a name for her and get her out with some other horses for some sunshine and companionship. I'm glad I won't be there to watch the integration-- that can sometimes be a little harsh to watch as they chase and pester and sort out pecking order-- but I look forward to going back out soon and visiting with this new girl. And I look forward to knowing her name!