The Adventure Continues.........Moving In

The Adventure Begins

Having been to the US All Arabian National Horse Show before I had an idea what to expect about the moving in process. I already knew that bedding needed to be purchased and any additional feed we might need. I had sent in my request form including payment with my entries so those things could be delivered and waiting at the stalls when we arrived.

The best laid plans can go awry and this was one of those times. Even though I'd clearly marked my form that I'd be stabled with Jesse Saldana neither the bedding I'd ordered nor the grass hay had been delivered. Jesse had received all of the bags of shavings that he'd ordered however, and thankfully he shared because neither of us knew that the feed office was open around the clock. We thought we were stuck with things as they were until morning.

The stabling at the Tulsa Expo Square is all portable from what I can tell. The stalls are 12 by 12 which is not the norm for portables. These walls are solid only half way up. The upper portion is a 2 by 4 inch mesh. That is also not the norm for portable stabling.

I don't think I've ever been to a show before where the horses could actually touch each other through the mesh. The first thoughts in my head were all those owners over the years telling me why their stallions could not be in portables. I was pretty sure most of them wouldn't have thought much about the fact the horses could see each other like this, let alone smush their little noses together.

It tickled me just a bit that my stallions were up to this new concept in stabling. With as much contact with other horses as my stallions get, neither Rhet or Legs would have trouble dealing with horses this close. On the contrary, I expected each would actually appreciate getting to know their neighbors so up close and personal.

Of course, because these thoughts were the first thing to cross my mind, my horses (just like kids) had to make liars out of me. When I first put Legs into his stall he couldn't think about anything else but Gypcy across the aisle away from his protection and the gelding behind him. Legs was sure that gelding was after his girl.

The only real draw back to these stalls was they were set up on concrete. Trying to keep a horse safe on concrete has its own unique challenges. It seems no matter how thick you bed them in shavings, the horses manage to find the slick floor underneath. I didn't want a repeat performance of Dandy's accident year's before.

The next challenge in getting the horses bedded down for the night was locating water. There appeared to be no hoses anywhere in sight. We did find faucets on the outer supports of the building but the first one of those had no pressure what so ever. We did find on with better pressure but had to resort to bucketing water to the horses as least for this night.

By the time I'd finished this task, Legs had figured out the gelding behind him was not a threat to Gypcy. And Rhet, the only neighbor he was interested in was Legs. He was constantly sticking his nose up to the mesh trying to get chummy with Legs.

Luckily I still had some hay left from my trip since my feed order hadn't arrived. I hauled in enough feed for the night, blanketed the horses and then headed off to the horse trailer. It was to be my home for the next week so I had some cleaning to do before it would be livable.

After the horse trailer was thoroughly cleaned out, I spread out a small blue tarp on the floor. On top of that I put the cheap carpet I'd brought. Then on top of that went my air mattress and sleeping bag. I backed the horse trailer up to a far corned of the parking lot and dove into bed.

Jesse said they'd be back about eight in the morning. I set my alarm. Called home to check in and pulled the covers over my head. It was nearly midnight and morning was going to come much sooner than my poor body needed.


To be continued.....................

Tulsa One Day at a Time

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