First was remembering everything! Then, it was how I was going to feel when I picked him up from his lovely mum (I have big shoes to fill!). Then there was going to be loading him and then how was I going to feel watching him on the CCTV camera and then of course there was unloading him and then there was 'what next?' which happened once he got out of the box - the possibilities being endless; walk around the yard, stable, pen, field...a combination and in what order? Field with his pony company, field on his own first...? And then what - would I dare leave him? What if? What if? It's no surprise that at 3:00 I took a momentary break to go and get some ibuprofen and water.
However much I like to worry, Kennedy has neither put a foot wrong today nor batted an eyelid. When I say that, I don't mean in the way where people are forgiving of out of character behaviour because of a change of yard, I mean he has literally taken everything in his stride today!
He loaded onto the box fine after Caroline managed to get him out of his stable with his travel boots on! He travelled like a saint never seeming to get stressed or uncomfortable (and I watched the camera fixedly the whole way home).
(I do apologise that it's sideways! I've no idea why!)
When it came to unloading, I felt a little more nervous. My Caroline safety net had been taken away and I had to step up and be the calm and sensible one. Luckily, Debbie had been thinking on her feet and not only gone out and bought me a pie (she knew I'd suddenly hit a wall having not dared eat or drink for fear of being sick) but also put a load of hay down in the field which meant (sorry Kenners) that the other horses weren't interested! Kenners went straight into his field, plodding along behind me on a nice loose rope. I expected something when I let him off - maybe a jog about or a whinny but good old Kenners decided it was exactly the time to sample the grass and got to the business of eating it right away.
Next, came the Syd test. Syd, Debbie had told me, is a little like marmite - horses either love or hate him. However, equally, Syd either loves or hates other horses and Debbie was a little concerned at how he might react to Kennedy so she decided to keep him on a lead rope. Initially, there were a couple of snorts and whinnies from both parties. However, a few minutes in, it seemed that Kennedy was the nice sort of marmite and Syd started to look for affection from him. Luckily Kenners seemed happy enough to repay a bit of back scratching and they were off.
"Hi!"
"I'll scratch your back - you scratch mine!"
Soon it was time for everyone to gather round and the other big boys came over to say hi too. Everyone was pretty civil with only the odd squeal here and there for good measure...
After that, Kennedy had missed some valuable eating time so he decided to go back to the grass for a bit, stopping every so often to share another good back scratch with his new friend Syd.
At just after 6, Syd and Kennedy came in from the field and back to their stables. Kennedy was pretty sure he wanted to eat his bed and not the freshly prepared haynet or even the desperate bid at stopping him treat ball with broken up crunchits in. So, whilst I sought professional Kennedy guardian advice from Caroline, I popped him in the courtyard with a hay net. He then decided he'd rather eat very small weeds making their way up from the cracks in the concrete - what's the issue with my nets Kenners?
"I refuse to even look at that hay net!"
Anyway, after much deliberating, I popped him in his neighbour, Rocky's, stable where he wasn't on quite such a clean bed that took someone quite such a long time to rustle up with lovely soft banks and a nice squishy floor (just saying Kenners). Anyhow, he seemed happy enough when he discovered the nice fresh hay in the net that was so lovingly organised for him. I managed to finally pry myself away at about 9pm after leaving him chewing on hay in Rocky's stable.
So there's our most exciting, stressful, fun, scary and exhausting day out of the way. I'm going to say night night and I'll update again tomorrow as we take our first ride in the morning!
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