Thursday, October 28, 2010

Remi Fit Explained

Cheryl told me that she told y'all about Remi pups hissy, so I feel compelled to tell you that I found the reason for it. After much examination of the trailer and its contents I found the culprit...

You see the trailer that we designed to hold two large draft horses in two separate stalls has long ago been become almost too small for the big galoot. We had to move the center divider and tie it off to the side in order to make one stall as he is not just tall, but he is extremely long, as would be in proportion to his height. We've have had to order special shafts for his carriage about 14 inches longer than any the Amish have ever made. (Being female owned and trained they couldn't imagine we really needed something that BIG and found a phone to call and verify the measurement.)
The divider, which also holds some of his harness parts still, had come a little loose and a couple of leather straps were able to swing loose. Remi apparently took offense to having his belly tickled by them and that caused the hissy. I found the offending straps on the floor under his bedding. They were suitably stomped, with broken buckles and chrome destroyed.
As I am ordering new harness parts, fixing dents in the trailer, and repairing the fence that he pushed over to eat the tree, I think I am now truly becoming a Jack(Jill) of all trades. All for the love of a horse. But, ya know what? HE'S WORTH IT.

PS. If you have ever wondered what is the difference between a 13 hand tall horse and a 20 hand tall horse this photo may give you some perspective. Yes, 13 hands is small, average would be about 14.2 but this just happened at the blacksmiths and I thought you might like to see.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Busy Busy!

Many apologies for the long delay in writing a new post. Believe it or not, we have been in high gear getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. There's lots to do with getting the advertising out and making all the arrangements, so at the end of the day, the ole fingers and the brain have been extremely weary.

That being said, I will tell you that the last few weeks have been filled with other jobs and Remi action. A couple of weeks ago we went to do a Sweet Sixteen surprise ride. Remi was being such a good boy and despite a few equipment setbacks, we were very successful in arriving on time to pick up the birthday girl at her house and transport her to a secret destination.

She was really amazed at Remington's size and loved every minute of the ride. Of course, he drew a lot of attention on the way there and we had plenty of camera phones popping out of car windows snapping pictures of the big boy. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and lots of people were out driving around, so traffic was pretty heavy. But, as usual, that didn't faze Remington one bit. He was ever the sweet and perfect boy.

After we dropped off the birthday girl, we made our way back to the trailer. Instead of staying on a very busy street, we took a shortcut through the parking lot of a close by shopping center. We immediately had a car on both sides of us, driving slowly along and taking pictures, shouting "how beautiful" and asking what was the occasion. There were lots of people coming out of the grocery store "oohing" and "aahing" and the shopping carts didn't bother the big boy either. We both were rather enjoying the attention he was getting and it didn't stop there.

We got back to the trailer and up drives a car with a family inside. The woman asked if she could come and meet Remi and I said "sure". She had never been that close to a Clydesdale, much less one as big as Remi. It was nice to share the boy with others and get a smile. And Remi, stood there and enjoyed the attention as well.

He had been such a good boy, from the bath to the job and we were very proud of him. However, as many of you know, Remi has an attitude, and on the way home, it reared it's head. Trainer Mom has told me of a few instances when Remi has thrown a fit inside the trailer. I have never been witness to these fits and after this last one, I don't ever want to be again. We don't know what started it but it wasn't fun whatsoever.

We were almost home and were stopped at a light, when all of a sudden, Remi went to kicking and stomping inside the trailer. He was throwing such a walleyed fit that it was not only rocking the trailer, but the truck as well. And, there was nothing we could do at the time, because we had to wait out the light and had nowhere to pull over.

Once the light turned green, he settled down and was calm the rest of the way home. When we unloaded him from the trailer, he acted as if everything was normal and we just took him down to the barn and gave him some hay. For him, all was well with the world now that he had food and his buddy Donk by his side.

I do have to say that the inside of the trailer now has more dents and dings and I am very thankful that he didn't hurt himself. You gotta know that 3000 pounds of upset in a confined area can turn out very ugly. Fortunately for him and for us, it didn't.

So, no matter how smoothly the day seems to be going, or how well the big guy is behaving, we are always on alert for everything. It took a while for us to calm down, but we eventually did and since there were no injuries, it all ended well. Whew, it was not the thrill ride I wanted, that's for sure.

Big or small, short or tall, you always need to be alert to the possibility of something going haywire. Fortunately Remi's good nature outweighs his hissy fits, so kudo's to the big boy for being good the majority of the time.

Starting the day after Thanksgiving, Remi will once again be pulling a carriage and his HUV (Horse-Drawn Utility Vehicle) through Highland Park for the holiday light tours. If any of you in the area are interested in riding with the big boy, you can get information at http://carriagetours.net/christmas.html.

We're not reminding him about it right now though, so mum's the word. We'll keep it a secret until we go to load him on the trailer. That way, he won't have the time to plot and plan :) And don't worry, as long as you're not a horse trailer, you will be just fine :)

Stay Tuned, Stay Happy and Stay with Us!