Clydesdales on Parade!

The girls came home yesterday!

Yippee!

Mary Constance helped us load, and we (my younger daughter & I) hauled them home without incident……………….well, we did get the horse trailer stuck in our front driveway………………….but it was far enough in and we were barely able to shut the gate behind it…………………..so we just left it there and counted it as a win.

Phew!  So much mud everywhere.

When we got to Mary Constance’s in the morning, she led us through and around her front yard and stable parking area to the driest areas.

We got in and we got out without mishap……………….and (of course) four-wheel-drive.

No breakdowns and no flat tires on the Interstate highway trip back home………….always a worry after a trailer and tires have been sitting idle in the sun for a period of time…

I’ve heard horror stories of sun-rotted tire blow-outs, and wasps nests that were discovered too late after the horses were already loaded up (and on the George Washington Bridge)…………….I’m not making this up.

 

 

So…………..sinking in our front yard is just A-Okay with me…

 

 

 

Claire & Chantilly stepped off the trailer and into their new home.

 

They certainly had a long, extended trip getting here from Alabama.

But they are here now……………….

 

 

 

 

………………….and the stallions are just soooooooo pleased…

 

 

 

 

So pleased to add more girls to their harem………….

…I’m not sure they noticed?…

 

 

 

I feel very strongly that both of the girls realize and know that this is their home now.

There’s a contentment that I’m picking up on.  They are poking around the front yard……..checking things out……..looking over their surroundings.

It’s not the same as evaluating the terrain for survival or escape…………..there’s more of a casual perusal to the way they are surveying their new turf.

 

Claire laid down several times.  Just getting a load off.

Probably because her hooves hurt.

Mary Constance said that she lays down quite often…………..no thrashing or rolling………….just laying down and resting…

 

I’m glad she’s relaxed enough to feel comfortable and lay down here.

That makes me feel good.

This wet weather, however, is not helping her hoof sensitivity at all.

I don’t know what the future holds for Claire with her bad feet……………but, I’ll work hard on their treatment and see what can be accomplished with a little sweat and grunt-work on my part and a lot of caring…

She deserves a shot at a better life…

She hasn’t been treated well in the past…

 

*****(In case you are wondering what’s on their faces~~~those are fly-masks with UV-protection.  Clydesdales have a lot of white pigmentation on their faces and Florida sun can be a health-issue for them otherwise~~~and well, sun block lotion washes off too easily.)