Got up and about around noon. Dave and I started by feeding the animals near the house, then put chains on the Chevy. Hooked up the trailer. Loaded in Flicka and Cami (time to wean Flicka and Cami would really prefer to be with the other adults). Drove them over to the far pasture and backed the trailer down the Cabin Road just past the gate. Fed in Ryder's pasture so those horses would not crowd the gate, then unloaded Flicka and Cami into that pasture.
Shut the gate at the bridge and the blue gate to Mill Creek to keep things contained. Then backed the trailer up as close to the middle-20 gait as we could. Let Celica, the last pony, slip out. Needed to get her in the trailer to take to her new home, but knew she would be hard to get near - rarely been touched. Worked for an hour trying to get her into the trailer with food, but she was not willing. She is a horse who will charge you rather than run away if threatened, so its hard to corral her. Finally let Nefertari and the two babies with Nefertari out. Led Nefertari in and tied her in the trailer, letting the two babies jump in behind. Now Celica felt safe enough to jump in and we shut the door. Fed the middle-20 (only Sox and donkeys left) and got on the way.
Went down the road on the Arlee side. Rough road. Good thing for chains. Took chains off at bottom and drove about 1/2 hour to deliver Celica. Very pleased with her home. Think that is a great match for her.
On way home we made a mistake. Decided not to chain up - was cold and I had not brought my coat. Didn't want to mess with it. Bad decision. Got stuck 1/2 way up. Tried to put chains on then, but couldn't get them hooked right because of how the truck was positioned. Broke one chain as we tried to use them unhooked.
Had to unload trailer to make it light enough to pull out. Worked at first, but soon couldn't go any further with weight in the trailer. Then we got the trailer suck for real and it wouldn't budge. Decided I had to go home for the Dodge (which is chained up on all four right now). We were five miles from home.
I pulled Nefertari out of trailer and let the babies loose (they'll follow wherever she goes). She is an Arab (usually quite spooky) and has not been ridden in 2 years (except for 1/2 an hour by me a few months ago to evaluate her training). Had no idea if she had ever ridden in the dark or the snow. Saddled and bridled her and climbed on. Set out to ride her five miles, through the dark woods, to get me home, babies following.
She was amazing. Rarely so impressed with a horse. Never once balked. Not afraid of the flashlight wobbling all over, casting shadows. Never got tense or even nervous. Did everything I asked of her as if we had done this every night of her life.
Flashlight died about 1 mile in, but we could just make out enough of the road by the dim glow of the moon through the clouds. At one point, we came to a cattle guard the horses couldn't cross. Asked her to leave the road and go up an embankment, through drifted snow and into the woods to find the gate I knew was there somewhere. Wound her through the woods, unable to see anything, until we found the road again. But the babies didn't follow. They were standing at the cattle guard crying that they couldn't come across when we reached the road again. We had to go back through the woods and to the road, and down the embankment to get them. Led them with us that time.
Took about an hour and a half to get home. I sang at the top of my lungs, all my favorite songs. Mostly I did this to ward away any mountain lions (have seen some in our area this winter and didn't want to surprise any) but also to keep a focus. It was dark enough that we couldn't see very well and it was easy to become disoriented. Also, easy to start focusing on shadows and dark objects all around, or on noises in the woods. Didn't want to do that - was afraid Nefertari would get scared if I got nervous. So I sang and we both stayed calm and focused. Worked great.
Got home and put Nefertari in big barn with youngsters. Gave her a bunch of hay and a big bucket of grain and told her she was the best horse in the world. Put the babies in and got in the Dodge and headed back to Dave.
We had to get a tow strap hooked from the Dodge to the Chevy/trailer. Used the Dodge to pull the Chevy and trailer all the way home. Got home about 11pm and dropped into bed.
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