She's here safe and sound

Yesterday was a very long and slightly too eventful day!

Becky and I didn't actually get to Pauline's till 3pm partly due to an accident on A1.
We all said hello to little B, Had a coffee and a chat, sorted all the paperwork out and about 4pm went to start loading.

Finally got her on and in and away at 6.45...ah somebody wasn't keen to leave home just yet thank you very much!

She wasn't scared in the slightest, just didn't see any reason why she should go on the box.

We weren't going to get confrontational - it just doesn't work with horses like that, so after trying food, bum leverage and lots of praise for the teeniest forward motion we walked her on hoof by hoof (oh boy does my back hurt this morning!!!) got her on, and as we slowly brought the partition over and it touched her bum she freaked, went a bit haywire and scattering us like nine pins leapt off the box ......oh joy!!

Back to square one and now we have a filly who really doesn't want to play ball, now pumped full of adrenalin and scared as well as feeling quite stubborn and getting a bit antsy with it but patience and perseverance paid off and once I'd got her to the top of the ramp hoof by blummin hoof, with Pauline at the rear stopping her going backwards and Becky keeping a good steady hold of the front she actually did the last bit herself which was a great sign and really encouraging. All the help from everyone was really appreciated, a great team effort...and in all the drama I've forgotten everyone's names..sorry!!!!

This time we got the partition done, and the side gates too with nothing more than a bit of nervous eye rolling but once the ramp started going up she panicked again, I was in with her and just hung on and kept calm, talking to her .......she was not getting out again at this point!

As soon as we got everything shut up we just had to get on with it and go as she was very jumpy and scared ....not a nice way to say goodbye to your baby, I'm so sorry it was so stressful Pauline :-(

The first 10 minutes were some of the scariest I've ever had, she was shaking and scrabbling and sweating and bouncing up and down trying to get over the breast bar, but as soon as we got on bigger roads she started to settle and an hour in she was already nibbling hay and calming down properly. I stayed with her for a couple of hours in the back just chatting away and stroking her, trying to make amends for the scary experience, once she was settled I hopped out into the warmth of the car

We took it very slowly on the way back, stopping every hour just to check her and she remained calm and settled which was great

Got to the yard at 11.40pm and she unloaded ok, little bit hesitant, but then she decided she'd had enough of all this malarky and planted the anchor again and wouldn't go in the barn...so I turned her the other way and walked down the yard around the other side of the barn and got her into Dan's box (her temporary home for the night as Fi, Hanley, Captain, Bel-Ami, Holly and Peace were all in there and the girls in her barn were all out)
Got her all tucked up and settled in, left her saying hello to Bel-Ami next door.

She'd had an ok night was quite chilled and settled in the stable when I got up there this morning at 7.20, looked a bit dehydrated still, but the grass was very wet this morning so I knew she'd get more water that way

I remade her aquaintance, had a nice itchy scratchy grooming session, did her feet then popped a headcollar and longline on to take her round the yard and show her where and what everything was and she was a very good girl. Everytime she stopped I'd let her have a sniff and a look and ask her to walk on and with a teeny bit of pressure she did, yay!!

Only had a minor blip going in to the field when she was a bit bargy going through the gate...which scared her a bit, so did it a few times backwards and forwards being nice and calm till she settled and respected my space.

Walked her round the perimiter and had a little trot in hand....Oh Wow, she really does dance, lovely movement with lots of suspension and no pulling or silliness, she was just there in my hand...bodes well for the showring!

I let her off once I thought she was safe and calm and she trotted off to meet her new neighbour Button, one little squeal and they settled down side by side next to the fence to graze

Pauline - She is amazing and so are you, I know how hard this has been, but I promise you that your little Special One is in safe hands