Trailer Toys

Its here! Its finally here!!! I was finally able to sell my trailer to buy the new one!!!!!!!!!!! Well, new to me anyways!

Last night I went to pick up my shiny new toy in Russell at the Garage. My dad was all excited, telling me how awesome it was and how well it pulled and everything. He is proud of it to! Which is funny. It is SUCH a fancy trailer to me though! Its a 1995 Sundowner, two horse, extra wide, extra tall, gooseneck ramp load. In short, completely amazing. It used to be red... but now it is a pinkish colour due to fading, but my dad thinks we can buff it back up to the shiny red the interior still has.

So I hauled my precious new toy home, it was great, easy to pull, my truck had NO problems! Have I mentioned I LOVE my truck??? I got to poke fun at my dad a little last night, because before finding my truck he tried to foist a little Ford Ranger on me - I declined on premise of it being a Ford [Dad is a big NO FORDS guy, so it was odd that he wanted me to get this one anyways] and that it was a standard anyways [which I couldnt drive and was scared to learn].... well... a week later he calls me up and says I found you a Dakota! Lists all the everything thats perfect about it [power everything, black, sport, V8, can pull any trailer ever] and then drops the bomb of... But its a standard... I never missed a beat and said I would LEARN! I am SO glad today that I did. My truck is one of the best things I own now. I always wanted a Dakota, since I was small - even named my horse after the truck - and now I have one, one with burly enough engine to pull my fairly kick ass awesome trailer to boot!! Whoo! Karma definatley loves me!

Back to the trailer!! Obviously the first thing I did was haul it to Aunty's to show her! They werent home though, so I just got to be excited alone and fetch Mo. Instead of getting Mo first then Indy, which had been my plan, Indy came cantering up all happy and friendly, so I was mighty pleased at that. Since she moved to the big feild she has been... evasive... and that is just no fun. So I brought Indy and Ivy in for their dinner and went back out to get Mo, who I couldnt see but then found in the very farthest corner away, bordering the road.

She looked up at me when I got close, but essentially gave me the "screw you" look and went back to eating. I dont blame her, our last session wasnt the best. When I was right at her though she looked up and asked for hugs a la usual Mo, so that was a good sign. Being the lazy me that I am, I didnt want to walk alllllll the way back across the substantial pasture to get back to the barn, so I sidled Mo up to the fence, and in Chelseas rubber boots [had come straight from the garage which I went to from work] and my previously clean work pants I rode Mo bareback to the barn. We practiced some nice butt-sticking trot, so that was cool.

When we got out to the trailer Mo didnt even really look at it. She wanted GRASS!!! So I had to be more interesting that the inanimate green stuff and cause her to sniff the trailer. We played put-your-nose-on-it for a bit until she gave me the "my nose is on it, I am not afriad... can I eat now?!?!?" look and I took that as a good time to open the doors! All my clambering on fenders to latch the top doors open [extra tall trailer + extra small me = needing things to stand on often ] didnt phase Mo at all. She just grazed and snickered at me while I scrambled around. Even letting down the ramp didnt bother her! WHoo!!!!

And then the test... I opened one of the butt bars for a space for her, and asked her to put a foot on the ramp. Annnnd... Mo looks at me like I am daft and stands on the ramp, no problem what so ever. HA! Goodness I love that horse. ANYTHING I throw at her shes like " Well, its probably fun?" And then her "can I eat it?" self came out and she put her head down to the flat ramp and tried to take a big bite out of it. I had to laugh at that. It was quite slow and deliberate, a taste testing if you will. After that we did some squeezing across the ramp, and Mo just thought it was a fun bridge or pedestal thing like we had at Stella's. We played with going on and off the ramp for a while, then I turned it around and we played with BACKING on and off the ramp!

THAT WAS COOL!! I always wanted to try that, but its a little difficult with a step up, which is what my old trailer was. So we backed up and down the ramp, every good try rewarded with a grass break. I moved the divider to is layed to one side and we played with backing into and out of the trailer! HOLY COW THAT WAS COOL!!! Mo was super good, really thinking hard and she did great!! She would lift one foot up and ask me where to put it! How neat it that?!?!

When she got her zone four and five into the trailer backwards, I let her come out and asked her in forwards and she walked right in like she did it every day. She did her snuffle around being curious routine and then just stood there. She backed out by her tail compeltely calm and wonderful. [!!!!!!!!! is whats going through my head at that time, smiling like a fool]

After she went all the way in forwards we went back to backing in and WENT ALL THE WAY IN BACKWARDS! On the first DAY! I was just beyond thrilled. And Mo seemed thrilled to because it was a new toy! She likes new things, just as much as I do! When she went in all the way backwards once I called it a day. I hadnt actually intended to get her on the trailer [hadnt expected her to want to go on!] in our first session, but I am THRILLED that she just thought it was a new toy and had no fear about it!

I let Mo graze while I put Indy and Ivy out [who had both taken a nap] and then put all the doors back up and closed, all the while Mo not being afraid or anything and then put Mo back in the feild with a big hug and a big handful of crunch. She seemed really happy!

And thats how it was *in my best newscaster voice* our first trailer loading session on the new trailer went better than I ever could have imagined! Now heres hoping Tripp will be as accomodating!!

:-)
S