He arrived safe and sound!

Well he finally arrived! He got here a little after 10:00 pm on Saturday, March 7. The big rig trailer pulled up, opened the door, and I thought I was going to burst! I asked if I could walk up and see him and they said yes. I saw the white snip before anything, and then his eyes looking around wondering where he was. He had 3 trailer stalls to himself, basically a box. They said all he did was eat the entire trip which made me happy.

I put his halter on and walked him down the ramp. We stood in the driveway while he looked around. I wanted to estimate how tall he was on level ground (the concrete driveway) and my guess is he's 16.0 or 16.1 hh. He looked pretty skinny and looked like he had a small frame, but I still loved him instantly. We stood in the driveway for a bit as we looked each other over, and then it was time to get to his new paddock.

He dove into his hay right away and had no interest in his grain. He seemed very patient and not very frazzled after being on a trailer for 3 days straight. It was cold so I wanted to put his blanket on since he does not have a proper Colorado winter coat. He didn't care about the blanket at all. He didn't even flinch.

My neighbor to the east has a mini-pony and a mini-donkey, and Red was real interested in them. The mini's ran over and ran the fence line, and Red joined them bragging about how much faster he was. He went back to eating and I stood in the field with him for about another hour, until I couldn't feel my face anymore, then it was time for bed. I couldn't wait to see him in the morning.

More tomorrow....

Welcome!

Welcome friends, family, and strangers! This is my first attempt at a blog, but I think this will be a fun project. Let me give you a little background. I have been around horses almost my entire life. I love them, they complete me. I just purchased an off the track Thoroughbred (OTTB) from TBFriends and he will arrive this weekend. This blog will give you all updates on our progress on a fairly regular basis.

The horse is Red Avenue, a 2003 TB gelding. He raced, but not very well, which is why I now have him. My goals for him in the future are to be a nice eventing horse or a hunter/jumper. He left California today and he should arrive this weekend. I have to admit I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas Day to arrive!

Getting him here has not been all fun and games though. I have to start out by giving you a warning when it comes to transporting your horse. This was my first long distance transport experience. I looked up several haulers, got lots of quotes, did some background research, and picked one based upon the time of transport and price quoted. I'll skip all of the painful details, but the hauler was paid and never showed up. They have vanished off the face of the earth. My money is gone.

In my post-scam research I have found there are 3 companies involved in this scam: Total Equine Services, We Haul Horses, and Double S Transport. Please please please avoid these guys. If you find a hauler you think you want to book, check out http://www.horse-transporters.com/ and look at customer comments before you book. Also, do not give a dime to anyone until your horse has been at least picked up, no matter what "deal" or "savings" they offer you to pay before. If they can't make the trip without your couple hundred dollars, you don't want them touching your horse, and you need to find a more stable, reliable company.

But back to the good happy news, Red Avenue is on his way! I will post again when he arrives and as I slowly start to work with him and see his personality... err... horseality, I will let you know what I have learned! The plan is to work on bonding and building a trusting relationship between the two of us before we do any work. Then I will introduce some work on the lunge line, add a surcingle and side reins, the saddle, and I hope to be riding soon (but I'm not going to rush anything). Until next time...