Henry is Here

 

Henry is Here

Nearly 2 weeks after purchasing him, Henry arrived.  He had to be gelded and healed, first.  The man I bought him from, Joe, was bringing him on a Friday during rush hour, and there was an accident on the freeway, so he was running late.  To further complicate things, his GPS said that the address to the stables didn't exist.  I had to give him verbal directions.  Unfortunately, he was nearly there and missed an important turn.  I was fielding phone call after phone call trying to guide him back.  

Kevin was waiting with me, of course.  Ellen was at work, but John, her boyfriend, was there taking pictures to chronicle the big event.  I was just sitting on a post at the end of the driveway--waiting.  It seemed to take forever!  I kept leaving messages on Ellen's phone to give her updates.

Finally, I could make out a horse trailer coming down the street.  I started waving so Joe would know where to turn, and I breathed a big sigh of relief.  Henry was here.

I had nearly 2 weeks of questioning my decision.  Was he as nice a looking horse as I remembered?  We didn't get any good photographs when we were there, so there was nothing to reassure me that I made the right decision.  I made the decision rather hastily, too.  Not since I fell in love with Cruiser all those years ago, did I decide to buy a horse in less than 30 seconds.

As he stepped off the trailer, in less than 30 seconds, I was reassured that I did make the right decision.  He is a very well put together, nicely balanced horse.  He still looks very young, but much taller and more mature looking than Trifecta was at that age.  I will be getting out the measuring stick and the weight tape to see where he is starting out.

He was worried about stepping into the barn because there was a puddle right in front of it.  He just stopped, and I let him take a look at it for a couple seconds and then asked him to follow me in--and he did.  He seems like such a sensible young man.

I brought him to his new stall.  He is going to be right next to Starry.  That stall has been empty too long, and I feel that Starry needed a companion.  Starry is such a sociable guy--and also the reason we are calling our new horse Henry instead of Star.

As we let him settle down, I showed Joe our horses.  He thought Starry was huge--and he is.  He commented on Dante's wonderful bones structure--and it is so true.  He is built like a Morgan tank.  He instantly saw Cole's only Arabian feature--his pretty head, and he fell in love with Trifecta--as everyone does.  Trifecta, who hasn't met a person he didn't like, was instantly cuddling with him.  I figured I had to get Joe away from him before he grabbed him and loaded him up on the trailer.

Henry was settled enough to nibble on his hay, so it was time to send Joe on his way back to Pennsylvania.  We stayed much longer to keep an eye on him and pet and talk to him.  When I walked away from his stall to go see Cole, he neighed for me.  The first thing I thought was, "Oh no, not another one."  I go through this with Cole all the time and Trifecta fairly often.  Life at the barn would be so much simpler if my horses didn't like my company.  

Kevin and I left to go to his house for a few hours.  I stopped back to check on him on my way back home, and there was no power!  I had to look at him with my cellphone, which startled him a bit, but I was able to see enough to know he would make it through the night all right.  Oddly, when I got home, I turned out the lights to find I had no power, too.  We did have a storm, but I didn't think it was that much of a storm.  I was very tired, so it gave me a good reason to go right to bed.

The following day, Ellen was able to welcome him to his new home.  He was still nervous, but as the morning progressed, he improved.  Poor guy had a bad bout of diarrhea; probably from the stress and maybe from the different hay.  He cried a lot when we left him, and he was really upset as he watched us ride our other horses down the driveway away from him.  

By the next day, he had normal manure and didn't cry half as much.  We took him for a walk to show him around, and he was very curious about his surroundings but not frightened at all.  When he was turned out, this time he left the gate, looked around and did some trotting.  He really, really liked it when I groomed him.  I think grooming may be a direct way into his heart.

Our plan for the time being is to just let him get used to his new home and his new people.  I won't be riding him until he is 3, and since he just turned 2, there certainly isn't any reason to rush.  The long-term plan is to give him to Ellen when the time is right, though what she really wants is for me to give her Cole.  (Yeah, right, like that will ever happen.)  Judging from the look in her eyes, if she can't have Cole, she will be very happy with Little Henry.