One More Sleep

In approximately 12 hours, we'll be loading up the horses and headed to warmer pastures.

If you've read my book, Tales from the Trails (a little shameless self-promotion), then you've "met" Bucky. He's a real-deal cowboy who is doing what he loves with his wife and son by his side. Long before the movie UnBranded came out, Bucky decided to ride his green horse from the Arizona border up to his "summer job" in Allenspark, so he loaded up two horses - one to ride, and one to pack - and set out. This was long before GPS and cell phone coverage everywhere. He didn't have a "support crew". He'd call and check in every few days on his trip, and he always had a hell of a story when he'd call.

He and his wife are two of the best Barn Bosses I've ever worked for, so when he suggested I take the horses down to their place, I jumped all over it. I know there are a lot of people who look down on trail "nags", but I have to tell you, those nags are some of the best trained horses I know. They might not know a lot of fancy dressage moves, but they are solid mounts. The opportunity that Bucky and Mrs. Bucky are giving the horses can't be beat.

Our paperwork is all in a row, the hay nets are full and ready to be hung in the trailer and the horses are ... intrigued. They all got very excited today when I started prepping the trailer. They got even more excited when I went into their pen to fill the hay bags, and Skeeter was beside herself when I took the halters off of the fence.

Where are we goin', Mom?

Yikes! These had to come into the mudroom to thaw.

I hope they are as excited tomorrow about the trailer as they were this morning, otherwise it can be a really stressful start to the trip. I don't foresee any problems whatsoever, and any problems that might come up will be solved with a honey/oat granola bar.

Though the horses don't know where they are going, I'm sure they'll be glad to go some place where they don't look like this in the mornings:

Miss Pearl

Miss Skeeter

When you get a chance, check out their temporary new home (YES, they are coming back home to us in May) at Blue Sky Ranches.