Friday, July 19, 2013

Not-Hodor is Here

Good grief, he's finally here.

I slept like the dead last night.  I wish I could say it was because I'd been up for two days in a happy excitement....

But, honestly, it was because I was so nervous.

When did I become a nervous, fretful person?  The 8 year old tomboy in me is so disgusted.

Wednesday morning Not-Hodor (as much as I love that name I took one look at him as he got off the truck and realized, "Wow.  He does NOT look like a Hodor.  Like, at all.  Well, that sucks.  What do I call him now?")  was due to be picked up around one pm.

At 10:30 in the morning I received a call from the transport company.

"Hi, is this Becky Bean?"

"Yes.  What's up?"

"Well, our drivers called CHP about the road your horse is on, and it's just too tight for them to make it.  So we can't go up the road and get your horse - you're going to have to trailer him down to meet us at the mouth of the canyon."

"Uhhh, that's not possible.  I'm up here in Oregon.  Are you sure?  I've seen semi trucks on that road lots of times." 

Inwardly I was thinking, Geez.  I booked this almost two weeks ago, and did follow up calls to make sure there were no issues. I was very specific about where he is located.  You couldn't have looked into this yesterday?"Well, maybe you can have your parents trailer him down?  We can't bring our rig up there after the CHP advised us not to."

"No, sorry, we won't be able to make it up.  Unfortunately, you'll have to meet us down there."

"If we hadn't rescheduled to today, that might have been a possibility... but my mom is hundreds of miles away in Orange County, and my dad is two hours away, moving RVs.  We only have the landlord there to help him load."

"...maybe call a friend?"

"I guess I can try?  It's been almost ten years in that area, but maybe I can find someone?"

So began an incredibly stressful couple of hours.  They flat-out wouldn't come up.  We flat-out couldn't come down.  The whole time as we tried to fix things, I did alternate research..... and realized that if he didn't make this transport, the chances of him making it here in time for me to be able to take him to the clinic were about nil. 

Eventually one of the dispatchers realized that her daughter lived near where  Not-Hodor was located - so we called up the daughter's husband, and he was able to trailer him down to meet the transport at the mouth of the canyon. 

Only he needed cash to get it done, because he was broke and needed to buy gas.
Only there was no one on hand to give him cash.

Etc, etc, repeat ad nauseum.

It was a fun time  I'll cut out the several hours of trying to coordinate movements from the trailer company, my parents, the guy doing the short trailering, someone who would bring him money, etc, etc. 

When I finally confirmed Not-Hodor was on the big rig and headed north (Huzzah!), I let the trailering company know that there was a change of plans as to where he was being sent.... because the barn I shopped for and had chosen was now closed due to an outbreak of strangles.

Surprises were more fun when I was a kid. 

"Surprise!  We bought you a new backpack!" was a lot more fun than, "Surprise!  Your new barn has a highly infectious illness running through it!"

Yesterday morning, after driving over to double check the new barn had room for a big rig, I called up the transport company.

"Are we still on for 1-3pm drop off?  If not, let me know. I understand things happen.  I'm just going to have my kids at the sitter and don't want to keep them there unnecessarily long."

"Yes, it's 1-3.  The driver will call when they get close."

"Okay, sounds good."

I arrived at the barn at about one.

By two I abandoned hanging out in my car, when my dislike of faking being social with strangers was overcome by how stinking hot it was in my car, in the sun. 

If it was the barn I was going to be staying at long-term, I would definitely have made a huge effort... but yesterday the idea of chatting with new people just sounded exhausting.  I hate small talk. 

"Nice to meet you!  How's your day going?"

"I'm exhausted and really itchy.  Even though the poison oak on my private parts has finally faded away, I got a new batch of it all over my arms and legs.  Even worse, the puss is getting everywhere, and that's just gross....wait.  Where are you going?"

No, I didn't say that.  But it's what came to mind when someone asked me how I was doing- and then while they stood there, waiting for an answer, I had to raffle through my mental box of "Boring but safe replies" to throw at them.

I seriously hate small talk.

To make matters worse, I've discovered that I've completely forgotten how to speak horse.  I feel like a complete beginner - and I sound like one, too.

"So, what kind of horse do you have?"

"Uh, he's a big grey - part Iberian - maybe Andalusian, maybe Lusitano -and part Tennessee Walker."

"Oh, he sounds great.  What are you planning on doing with him?"

"Uh... ride him?  On his back?  Maybe lead my boys around on him?"

"No, I mean, are you a gamer?  A 4-H-er?  Barrels?"

"Uh... I just want to sit in the saddle?  Trot around, and maybe canter some?"

Eventually I snuck off and found a tree to sit under, where I could read Shogun (again) and wait.

Finally, at four pm, I gave up and went to pick up my kids--- who had missed their naps and were dangerously grumpy from being over-tired.

Finally, a little after 5, the trailer showed up.  It was a pretty legit trailer - each horse was cross tied in their own expensive-looking box stall, lots of clean bedding - I'd probably go with the trailer company again, even with the issues.

Between chasing the kids and general business, I didn't get any pics of him unloading. 

I led him to his microscopic box stall (they are in pasture during the day, and stalled at night), and gave him a moment to drink and eat before leading him out to the pasture area that's now his (for now, at least):





It looks green, but there's really not much to eat... which is good, because it means he can stay outside all day instead of being dry stalled to avoid founder or colic.

I took a couple of pictures, just to prove he was here, but he looked tired and kind of gaunt in most of them.  He came off the trailer pretty thirsty - that boy is going to have to learn it's okay to eat and drink on a trailer.  He's also a bit too thin - which is definitely not my parent's fault.  When my mom had her accident they had to leave the mountain in a hurry (obviously), and leave the landlord to throw feed at him.  She owns a bunch of easy-keeper 14.1 hand Quarter Horses - I don't think it was on purpose, but he just wasn't getting enough for his size. 

That's okay, I like fattening up horses.

My boys were in awe that they actually owned a horse.  I didn't tell them he was coming... mostly because I didn't want to hear "IS HE HERE?  IS HE HERE TODAY?  WHY NOT?" a bazillion times a day.

The fact that they had a horse, and that they get to visit him every single day was blowing their minds.






"See, howrse?  See my twuck?  Look!  It's monsta-twuck!  Look, howrse!  Look my monsta-twuck! You wike my monsta twuck?"

"I love you, Not-Hodor.  I love you so much.  You're my favorite horse.  I love you. You're pretty. You're a big horse.  I love you."

Even better, Not-Hodor seems to really, genuinely like kids.  He could have "grazed"  anywhere in the pasture, but chose instead to graze right by the fence...despite the fact that every time he got remotely close enough to touch, two skinny little pairs of arms shot through the fence, straining to touch him.






Eventually I decided to quit torturing him with all the noise and activity and we all went home for the day.

This morning the DragonMonkey came bursting into my bedroom at crack of dawn.  "C'mon, Mama.  Get out of bed.  Can we go see the horse?  Please?  Let's go see Not-Hodor.  Can I ride him?  Can I walk him on his leash?  Please?"

On the one hand... go away, child.  I'm in bed.  You are up waaaaaaaaay too early.

But on the other hand....





We headed out of the house at a little before 9 to get to the barn, which is less than 2 miles away.... and we made it there by a little after 11 after meltdowns, and early naps, and even some lovely pukings.

Getting to the stables used to be easier before children.

I also discovered it's nearly impossible to lunge a horse and take pictures and/or a video at the same time.  Maybe after Not-Hodor and I get some practice? 

I did get a somewhat decent video, that shows off his movement a little bit.





The video on my phone is much higher quality (although still just as bouncy)... anyone how to upload to Youtube without losing quality?





I'd forgotten how calm he is - he doesn't ground tie yet, but he'll respect the leadrope in the hands of a very tiny child, so I bet I'll have him doing it by tomorrow or the next day.  I led both boys around on him and then rode him for a little bit. 

He's just as nice as I remember, with the only downside being that I have no idea what cues to give him to let him know that trotting is okay. I get the impression he thinks it's wrong to trot under saddle, and it's something I'd like to fix.  Any time I try to correct his trot (ask him to collect), he thinks I'm getting after him to gait.

Don't get me wrong, his gait is a dream to ride, but since you have to really push him to stay in it, and the second you relax he breaks into a walk, I'd like to work on his trot, which comes effortlessly to him.   Even with work on his muscles and regular exercise I don't see him being able to keep that gait up over lots and lots of miles (cough, endurance, cough.) 

I asked The DragonMonkey to take a picture of me on him for the blog, and he did.

So, here you go:






I look good on him, don't I?

Yeah.  I don't know what I expected.

The only bad thing the horse did in the two and a half hours we were there was try to roll while I was leading the DragonMonkey around on him (WITH a saddle on). 

To be honest, I wasn't sure if he was rolling, or if he was laying down to take a nap (I swear I saw him settling down, rather than preparing to roll), but I wasn't going to just let him lay there to find out which it was.  That's one thing I absolutely won't stand for, so I reprimanded him pretty convincingly - hopefully he won't try anything like that again.

For the record, I'm very proud of the DragonMonkey.  He hopped off without me telling him to, dashed to a safe distance while I convinced Not-Hodor for about 2 full seconds that laying down with a saddle/rider on was a horrifically scary, potentially fatal mistake (lots of noise and backing him up.)  As soon as we were settled again the DragonMonkey came trotting up on his skinny legs, with zero fear, and asked to get back on.

We've come a long ways from the kid who freaked out when he touched a sticky peanut butter sandwich.

Anyways, it was pretty incredible, getting to spend the morning with a horse.... MY horse.

Tomorrow, when I go ride him again, the stirrups will be exactly where I left them. 

Those of you out there who constantly borrow horses and saddles, like I did for seven years - you  know exactly how exciting that is.

Anyways, here's a bunch of photos of Not-Hodor.  I'm sorry I don't have better conformation photos, but some idiot took about 10 minutes squaring him up PERFECTLY for photos....  and then proceeded to take a bunch of 1 second videos instead of pictures of all his angles, as the phone was set to video instead of camera. 

Some idiot didn't have the heart to do it twice.

Anyways, here's a bunch of pictures... although, I admit, they're more a reference for me than they are for you.  I can't wait to see him not only chubby, but all muscled up.





 Crappy picture, but it kind of shows his presence at the trot.



 The Squid is MUCH further away from him than he looks in this picture - also, I did a test run and with even a minute amount of pressure the leadrope slips from his fingers.  I'm not planning on making this a regular thing - I just hadn't figured out where the hitching post was in this barn yet, and if I put the rope on the ground he tried to follow me.



    I love greys, but I'm kinda sad that hind stocking greyed out - I think he used to have four socks. I bet he was pretty flashy (not that dappled grey isn't.)











I'm in love with his neck.









              This is the DragonMonkey.  Squid's feet don't even reach the bottom of the saddle skirt.



A different "Between the Ears" pic - The Squid smiled like this the entire time he was on his back.



His stall, like all of them, is located right on the arena.




I couldn't get him to stand right on the cement, which was disappointing, because the light was much better for pictures, and the wet made my cell phone show his conformation better.  He kept hunching his back legs up underneath himself, like they are in this picture.  It took me a long time to figure out this is his "HOLY SH*T I'M TERRIFIED.  PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE" face - he was too well behaved to do anything but silently plead at me.  I wonder what happened in his past?



He's sunken around his tail - free feeding and beet pulp/rice bran will help that.





His cloudy eye.




You can see why I can't call him Hodor. 

I'm hoping to have a name picked out by the end of this weekend, because I can't keep calling him "the horse" or "Not-Hodor".   



Labels:

23 Comments:

Blogger Veronica Foale said...

He looks like a Duke to me. Or something nicely regal and magnificent. I'll think about it and get back to you.

July 20, 2013 at 1:08 AM  
Blogger CT said...

Sooooo exciting...... He's so cute with the kids! Awwwww :)

July 20, 2013 at 1:18 AM  
Blogger Snipe said...

I can see why they called him Roman. It's a dignified-sounding name. I'm curious to hear what you come up with.

July 20, 2013 at 2:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMG he's awesome. He was just awesome with the kids, which makes him worth his weight in gold in my book. His weight isn't that bad, like you said, a few weeks of good food and some exercise and he'll be looking like a million bucks. I hope it's okay that I'm crying tears of joy for you. Happy stories make me do that. Also a good thing that your poison oak has cleared up on the areas that you need for riding.

July 20, 2013 at 4:43 AM  
Blogger Heidi the Hick said...

I think he's the right guy for you. Look at him with your kids - even if he was butt ugly, a horse who tolerates children and seems to like him, he'd be totally worth it. Your horse reading skills are fine too, because you figured out that he was too well behaved to act out when unsure of the situation.

There's a weird let down phase when a new horse comes into your life. You start seeing flaws and wonder if you've made a mistake, what the heck are you going to do with him ... At least I get that!!! It works out. You'll get to know each other. That convoluted journey to get him to you really put a sour vibe on it. But man, I LOVE how your kids are into this!!! You're a brave lady to wrangle two little boys and a new horse, but of course we do what we must to get our horse time! And when people ask you what kind of horse you have, you can say, "a good one".

July 20, 2013 at 6:08 AM  
Blogger Peanut said...

What a sweet, noble, beautiful boy. And he's so wonderful with your boys! I'm glad he found a soft place to land with you.

Cement can feel like walking on ice to them if they're not used to it.

July 20, 2013 at 6:09 AM  
Blogger FD said...

Becky, I am actually, properly, legit, jealous. By all appearances, even though your unexpected free horse is not what you thought you wanted, it looks to me like he is everything you need. Sometimes life is good to us like that.
So congratulations! Enjoy him - do what you like with him, and remember their hierarchy of needs is much shallower than ours!

P.S. I hesitate to offer advice on the trot thing because you'll see mugs soon right?

July 20, 2013 at 6:54 AM  
Blogger strivingforsavvy said...

He's awesome! Good for you!

July 20, 2013 at 7:43 AM  
Blogger summersmom said...

Summer the tramp is going to fall madly in love with him over our 5 day trip together. I think as a precaution I am going to step up her raspberry leaf supplement and maybe she won't spontaneously go into heat at the sight of him. So glad he is such a good boy with the kids! Its so nice to have a horse that is just a natural around them.

July 20, 2013 at 7:50 AM  
Blogger Justaplainsam said...

I am so unbelievably happy for you Becky! He looks like he was an angel for the kids, and the kids look so excited to be on a horse. Just enjoy him for now, Mugs will help you sort out his trot I'm sure!

July 20, 2013 at 8:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats!!! He needs a noble name. Like Noble or Regal or Royal or a slightly jokey name like Boris or Ptolemy (Tolly) or Bob. Or a name with deep meaning to you and no one else - one of our horses came to us named Lester and we call him Uncle because I had a great uncle Lester. We have a Towanda and a Tatonka, a Tony and an Avatar, a Lucy and a Rocket (minis), a Woodrow, Uncle (Lester), Smoky (Smoky Joe), Triscuit (aka Biscuit; her daddy was Graham and his babies are all buckskin- Graham's little crackers) and last but not least my heart horse 29 year old ArabX mare Gherkin.

July 20, 2013 at 9:14 AM  
Blogger shadowlake2005 said...

Oh Becky, I am in love! He reminds me of Gandalf's horse, I think his name was Shadowfax. What a lovely guy you have. This long-distance voyeurism from two thousand miles instead if from the arena fence just got ALOT harder!

July 20, 2013 at 10:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OOOOOoooooo, Shadowfax is a great name, but then, so is Gandalf.

July 20, 2013 at 11:34 AM  
Blogger Laura Crum said...

Becky--Do you know Kerrin and Dink? They got Lester and Smoky from me and my horse partner Wally. Small world. Your new horse reminds me in one way of my Sunny, who was also said to have come from Mexico. Sunny also virtually never shows upset. Not sure why, but he can be worried about something and will stoically hold his ground. I've learned to read him well over the years, but that stoic pose was/is interesting and I'm not sure how he came by it, but like you said of your horse, I wonder if he wasn't treated pretty harshly at one point.

July 20, 2013 at 2:33 PM  
Blogger AareneX said...

I suppose you will never call him Hrothgar, huh?

Because that would be cool.

July 20, 2013 at 2:50 PM  
Blogger Snipe said...

He may have slipped on concrete at one point. That could explain his discomfort at the wash rack.

Becky, if something like this came along in my life, I wouldn't listen to people who thought I should be pointing my horse in some direction or another. I'd just enjoy him. Your horse seems delightful. Have fun at that clinic, and I hope to see some pics when you guys return. Again, congrats on that nice, nice horse.

July 20, 2013 at 3:39 PM  
Blogger Natalia said...

I am so jealous, he is gorgeous. He looks like a Paolo to me. And you don't need to have a plan or a particular riding goal. All he has to do is make you and your boys happy and that's enough. Have fun at the clinic!

July 20, 2013 at 11:05 PM  
Blogger Tara said...

Some said Royal, and that would fit him....he seems like a nice horse, congrats...:)
Tara

July 20, 2013 at 11:07 PM  
Blogger lytha said...

becky, when i saw the third pic, the one of the tiny hands on his face, i couldn't help it - i cried. so overwhelmingly happy for you.

July 22, 2013 at 4:34 AM  
Blogger Scamp said...

Congratulations, he's gorgeous! I know what you mean about the stockings - I mourn the loss of Tico's black legs and silvery gray mane and tail. :)

July 22, 2013 at 12:13 PM  
Blogger Lori said...

Oh Becky! What a lovely boy. I like the name Remington. Rem for just hanging out. "What a lovely horse. What is his name?" “Remington” you say with a British accent! lol What fun. To name such a special steed. I teared up over the picture of DragonMonkey reaching up to pat his nose. Sigh. Congratulations.

July 24, 2013 at 7:51 PM  
Blogger sammy said...

I don't know, I can see why he could be Hodor! Remember how loyal and steadfast he is to Bram, and how he carries him through anything! What more could you ask from a horse?

July 26, 2013 at 9:14 PM  
Blogger CurtsBooks said...

Looks like you have a real winner!

August 4, 2013 at 5:20 PM  

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