The Horses Are Coming, the Horses Are Coming

It's kind of like Derby - there's no place I'd rather be that right here, right now. Zoe and I (the former napping right here in the shedrow) are sitting at our barn waiting for 8 of our 14 horses to arrive from Kentucky - They've been on the road for more than 24 hours and I'm sure there's some exhaustion on the part of the two grooms, Alejandro and Carlos, who are with them. Part of our job today will be helping those two guys as much as possible, so they can rest.

And, the horses, imagine being a juvenile athlete designed to run and roam, but being pent up for more than a day - there'll be lots of energy, nervous and exercise-needy, when these 8 arrive (Street is coming in Sunday - worked 5/8ths of a mile in 57 and 2/5 seconds yesterday, the last 1/8th in 10 seconds!!! - wow!! He galloped out in 1:09, very fast considering he was slowing down on purpose at the end. He shold be loaded for bear for the Jim Dandy, though I imagine he's a little endorphine-sleepy today!).

But, the setting - it is just flat lovely here - I can hear the wind somewhere between a whisper and a rush blowing through the ancient trees which surround us here at Clare Court. After two cloudy, rainy days, we have blue upstairs and some soft, willowy clouds. I feel like I'm at a picnic with Zoe and my friend Kate, who's one of our riders. I would be perfectly content to sit here all day, write a little, drink some coffee, nap a little, take a little stroll, watch the horses work. The peace of the place creates peace in a guy too.

But, there'll be much work to be done n just a little bit. You're never actually quite sure when the horses will arrive, but here comes a van now (not us). We'll need to get the horses off the van and settled in their stalls, where they have some alfalfa awaiting them as a tasty treat (alfalfa smells like heaven itself must - so healthy and rich and of-the-land).

And there's the unpacking - feed tubs, water bucks, saddles, bridles, halters, webbings (the "doors" to the stalls), fans, the guys' stuff, more buckets, the list is quite long.

We'll be here for a long while today.

Once the horses are settled and the unpacking is done, we'll start getting ready for feed time in the afternoon. I'll be here all day to watch the horses and to update Ian, Carl's co-trainer (they're in a unique, as far as I know, partnership) about how they're doing.

Well, the batteries dying on the laptop and more vans are pulling in.

I'll try to post an update later to tell everyone how the day went.

If Zoe gets any more laid back, people may think she's in a coma. What a gal - she's really taken right to the bucolic nature of both the barn and where we're staying. Happy hound. Now, if we can just get the horses to relax like that, all will be good.