Moving Day

We've moved! Stitch is at his new home!

The TLDR version is that Stitch travelled well and mostly settled in quickly. He'll be in a quarantine pen for at least 5 days before going to the big field and meeting his new friends.

I had planned to take a bunch of pictures, but the only I one got was of Stitch in his quarantine jail cell.

Here's the full version of how the move went:

First of all, he had to have a booster shot for the strangles vaccine that the new facility requires. I had scheduled it for the day before we were moving, on Dec 31st, at noon, for which I received a confirmation email two days before the appointment.

Pony was in just before 12. At 1pm, i figured I might as well go hook up the trailer while I was waiting, and I'd shoot her a message at 1:30 if she hadn't arrived.

There was a bit of difficulty getting the trailer hitched up - the trailer was parked before the snow arrived, so it was sitting on bare ground, but the truck was on a layer of snow and ice and sat higher than it normally would. I had to crank the front of the trailer up all the way so that it would clear the ball, and even then it was a little reluctant to connect properly. But I thought it was on enough that I could pull it forward and once I straightened up it would be ok, and thankfully I was right.

After that I sent a message to the vet to confirm if we were still on for the afternoon, and quickly got a "Crap. Be there in 30." message.

Turns out she's been pretty sick and told me to stay away from her so that I didn't catch her cooties. I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the sore throat/hoarse voice/tiredness I had for a few days after Christmas.

Stitch wasn't as good for his jab this time, done on his butt. I think he was anticipating that a thermometer was going to be put where the sun doesn't shine, which he was protesting after his first jab. 

But he got done, and I spent another couple of hours packing my stuff up.

I have a lot of stuff.

Too much stuff.

I downsized somewhat after I went down to one horse this summer, but not nearly enough. That's come back to bite me in the ass now that I have to move it all.

My dad was coming with me on the day of the move, so we loaded the rest of the stuff mostly into the bed of the truck. It pretty well filled it. Plus one side of the trailer and the tack compartment. (It was mostly blankets. I didn't realize how many blankets I had out there.)

I don't know that I've ever trailered in the winter. We got lucky in that the forecast changed from an expected high of -20 C (-4 F) to a balmy -14C (6 F). Totally bearable. But it still brought on some problems.

Tire air pressure. It drops in the cold. Each tire was 8-10 psi lower than ideal. So they had to be pumped up. Note to self- buy an extension cord that will reach from the cab of the truck to the back of the trailer so that when the air compressor that says it has a full charge turns out to not have a full charge and you can still get the job done. Thankfully, I was able to grab a cord from the barn and get the tires pumped back up.

Metal contracts or expands when temperatures change. This affects things like butt and chest bars that don't have a lot of wiggle room to get into their fittings. We didn't have to actually make any adjustments, they just didn't go into place as smoothly as I would have liked.

In these temperatures, anything wet freezes quite quickly. Like poop. Or condensation. And when ice forms in, say, the hinges of the ramp, it doesn't want to close properly. It was fine when we left, so I suspect it was either moisture from the poop that happened immediately upon getting on the trailer, or just condensation from him being on there. My dad is the kind of person who is always prepared and had a Leatherman tool that had a very efficient saw type of knife that was able to chip away at the ice and we were able to put the trailer up with no issues. 

Stitch was pretty good about getting on. I wouldn't say he jumped on, but he didn't go backwards at all. There was a little bit of tap dancing while I shut everything up but he travelled well. The side roads were packed snow and bumpy, but the highways were clear and not busy. I fully expected that he was going to be a sweaty mess when we arrived but to my surprise he was nice and dry.

He went straight into his quarantine pen. There are horses visible on two sides, but they are separated by a road. He seemed to settle in fairly quickly. There was some calling and a little bit of trotting, and I had to put a halter on him to change his blanket, but he tucked into his hay right away and finished the alfalfa cubes I had put in the trailer for him that he didn't eat on the drive. 

This place takes biosecurity very serioulsy. I can't go into the barn after being out with my horse, and I'm not allowed to move his stuff into the barn until he's been cleared.  That's going to suck over the next few days as I'm going to be out in the evenings and the temperature is going to plummet. It'll be quick trips to check on his blankets and give him his pellets and not much else. The cold is supposed to end just as his quarantine is supposed to end. 

So, there's nothing exciting happening (hopefully) for a few more days, but the move is done and I can stop stressing about it.