I got up this morning at 4am. I got dressed, made myself a thermos of hot tea and set off for the barn. I am not a morning person and I was not doing this for fun. Biasini was leaving for Florida today. He was to be picked up at 6am. He could not go on an empty stomach nor could he go having just eaten so I had to get to the barn and give him his breakfast with enough time for it to settle before he got onto trailer.
I arrived at the barn at 4:45 am. I had a small flashlight and when I opened the barn door and stepped into the dark aisleway. Biasini’s neighbour Feng startled and looked at me with a “What the heck are you doing here now?” look. Biasini, on the other hand, looked at me with a “It’s about time you got here” look. He knew this was the day.
Biasini was the first to get his breakfast with some added carrots and apples that were a gift from our coach Belinda Trussell.
I then went through the barn and fed all the other horses and guess what? None of them complained about breakfast being too early! Barn Manager Carl had left their feed and hay outside their doors so I just had to put it into each horses stall. I received many knickers of appreciation.
Next I got Biasini dressed for his trip; a cotton sheet and on top a stable blanket. He can have the stable blanket taken off as they get down to warmer weather. On his front feet he has Soft Ride boots. I do not wrap his legs as he does not tolerate hind leg wraps well and I do not want him kicking the whole way to Florida. He was ready to go.
I looked outside to see if the trailer was coming. It was dark as dark can be even though we have the ground covered in white snow.
Here is a photo I took yesterday of the same view in the daylight.
Right on time, at 6am, the trailer arrived and Biasini walked right on with the driver leading him.
He has a nice little stall for the ride to the main depot where he will be transferred to the big rig with other horses for the 30-36 hour trip to South Florida.
The horses will all have small stalls and water buckets. I sent Biasini with a haynet packed full so he will not starve on the trip.
I know Biasini travels well but I will not completely relax until I get the call from my Florida coach, Lou Denizard, to tell me he has arrived safely.
Leave a Reply to violaetceteraCancel reply