mini-adventure

Last weekend we took the boys on a mini-adventure…it was probably a good thing I didn’t know we were taking one ahead of time. A change in the weather pattern found us with a cool, crisp breeze that morning – the kind that gets the horses all wound up over nothing. Add a trailer, and hungry horses – and what the heck, lets go for a short walk first to get them listening?! But hey, the walk worked and got them to focus.
Trailer loading went well, feed had never tasted better. Doors closed, lets take ‘em for a ride…something they have done only once - last Labor Day to be exact, when we brought our boys home. We didn’t go far, destination was…..our house - not exactly a location frequented by horses. I was impressed; Koda & Nemo were handling everything so well.
Did you know our mini-adventure was going to include our dogs? Me neither. We have two ½ Australian Sheppard and ½ Labrador (read as wound-up) brothers, Mack and Sam, with complete opposite personalities. We let our dogs out of their kennel, but kept Sam on a leash (even though he met the horses once before) it was a good thing, the “giants dogs” arrived on his property and he didn’t know what to make of it…“can’t they just stay down on the scary farm”? Before you think we are completely crazy, know that our horses are frequently exposed to two other dogs that live on the farm. Mack had never seen a horse, but did really well with them. After running circles and exchanging nose-to-nose greetings, Mack didn’t want to leave his new horse friends, or us - so he came with us when we took the horses back to the farm.
Wish I had a better conclusion to this adventure, but just when we thought all was a success - Koda had his second trailer meltdown (yes, I’m counting) while backing out of the trailer, down at the farm. It really wasn’t his fault (human error) he panicked, and ended up with a couple minor leg scraps. Nemo however regained his composure, and exited like a champ. Of course we felt terrible, but ended on a positive note. Koda reloaded several times. Shortly after, Mack escaped from the truck and ran around the pasture before joined Koda and Brad in the trailer…maybe he thinks he’s a mini-pony? Note to self; work with Koda on “pulling-back panic-mode” before going on the next mini-adventure!