How It's Going

 First of all thank you everyone for your comments. I agree that I have great horses and, even more important, an amazing support system.  I thought I was pretty good post trailering disaster, but ended up having a delayed reaction a couple days later. Nothing serious but it kinda knocked me back a bit. It didn't help that we were hit with a massive 3 day snow storm and Ed was away. 

It was a lot of snow. I cleared one side of my driveway (it has two entrances to the road) so I could get out. It took me hours and then it all blew back in. Fortunately, we hired a guy to plow for us while Ed is away but he had to do his regular customers first.  And we were lucky! Parts of our province got 150cms of snow. People were trapped in their houses. 

SM sent me this photo of Quaid watching
a horse show on his 2nd day there. I think it
was a roping competition (cows were 
involved anyway). 

Interestingly, Quaid also had a reaction. The next morning he had hives that lasted about a day and then disappeared. Nikki had reached out and told me about them and asked what I wanted to do. I didn't want to give him Dex so said to wait and I could run down some antihistamine if he needed it. After that conversation I wondered if it was a reaction to the smoke in his trailer and/or stress. Do horses get stress hives? Is that a thing? Frankly, I'm afraid to google it. 

Quaid also struggled with eating when he arrived. I don't know if it was stress or that there was just so much going on that he couldn't focus. Nikki called me again and we discussed some things to try. What I think helped the most was putting him near the other horses. He was in a stall that he couldn't see others at first. 

Which all makes it sound like he's struggling, when he really is not. They have been working with him and keep sharing how well he's doing and how relaxed over everything. Nikki even messaged me 'If they only all came as well prepared as Quaid". 

Here's a video of her working around him with the rope: 

You can see that he is completely unbothered by the experience. To me it looks like he's saying 'forget the pole, see if you can get me next!'  

I'm so happy with my decision to send him there. They are very communicative and are looking after him well. 

I wasn't expecting Quaid to have so much trouble settling in, but I did expect Carmen to struggle. 

Turns out I was wrong on both counts. She has taken to her current situation with total aplomb. Tanya told me that 'she rolled in like owned the place'. 

She even appears to have a boyfriend. Her neighbour is this lovable Fjord named Marshall. He's very laid back and those two have really hit it off. He even lets her share his hay net. 

I mean how can you stand the cuteness? 
It's a dinner date! 

Carmen has a large stall that opens into a nice little paddock. She has her own hay but doesn't mind sharing Marshall's. I'm already semi-planning to sneak him on the trailer with her when we leave (shhh don't tell Stephanie). 

I am enjoying having access to the indoor. It's quite nice. The first couple days I lunged and free-lunged her to get a feel for what she thought of it. The far end has a lot of 'stuff' and she was definitely wary. I immediately made that end the 'rest end' and now she loves going down there. 

She's fascinated with these little hobby horses

It's neat to have mirrors as well. I am trying to get used to watching myself. I've ridden her about 3 times, each time going a little longer and asking for a little more. Nothing to get too excited about, just getting back into shape. 

Carmen is intrigued by the mirrors but not worried. She's seen mirrors before of course. 

But after our first ride I halted and dismounted with us facing them. I took off her bridle- which is the usual routine. I normally take it off and she follows me to put her halter on. But this time she just stood there starting at herself. I waited and waited and finally had to go get her. She can be so adorable at time. 

Carmen: I'm looking pretty good

So Carmen is settling in like a seasoned horse. Which she is, of course. I know that intellectually, but I still always feel like I have to manage her carefully. Maybe someday I'll get over that. 

I expected it to be weird to not have horses home. And it really is. I miss them like crazy. But February will fly by and then they will be home. 

And then the fun can really begin.