Horse Blog

We had a fun little jaunt down to Panama City today to pick up a load of insulation. On the way we got to stop at the dentist (good news though, no big dental work required!), and since it was a beautiful day (though chilly) we had a nice time on the road. Here he is - with the trailer mostly loaded - Pretty creative use of a horse trailer, don’cha think!

In late 2004, O’Toole received several requests for custom-made aluminum cabinets to be installed in enclosed trailers and garages. Customer satisfaction and word of mouth helped grow this portion of the business, and the company will now focus mainly on the manufacture of custom cabinets for garages or hobby trailers used for vehicle, snowmobile, or horse trailers.

Finally, there were the oddball cars. So funny, weird or unusual that they warranted including here. The Gumball 3000 is "an eight-day, 3000-mile drive across three continents with a goal of uniting nations through a common passion for music, fashion, film and the motorcar". We saw a Range Rover decorated in full Gumball livery as if it had been a support vehicle. The Rolls was hysterical – the ultimate utility vehicle if you live in Kensington. And the warning on the police horse trailer really says it all.

I then pulled out all my brochures from the RV show we went to with some friends in February. I wanted an “expandable” camper. That’s a cross between a pop-up camper and a hard-sided camper. I studied the floor plans for StarCraft, which is the biggest maker of these things and settled on a 21-foot model with two beds and a slide out. The floor plan put the beds on opposite sides of the camper and the dinette and sofa in the slide out. The result: plenty of floor space — the one thing that was really lacking in the horse trailer.

We closed on Friday and started moving in that night. I spent the weekend moving all of our crap with the help of Carly’s family. Being that it is Kerrville, Texas what do you think we used to move all of our stuff? Yep, a horse trailer…complete with remnants of barn yard animal feces. The smell was delightful. The in-laws and Carly’s sister and nephew were a huge help though and I am super grateful and appreciative of their help.

On the way home he was talking about seriously buying and investing some money into a place out of town and keeping the house that we have for the kids and renting it out to make the payment. He wants to be out where the people aren’t right in our back yard and our dogs and horses have the room that they really need without having to rent pasture anymore. Not that the horses are in a bad place but it’s a hassle to always have to find room for them and move them all the time. He also is talking to me about buying his sisters truck so that I have a way to haul them around without having to borrow from my sis her truck all the time. We have a small pickup truck, but it’s just not big enough to haul a horse trailer and I hate to borrow one. It’s a pain and it makes me dependant on someone else all the time. Just not worth it.

In the past, they parked the horse trailers on our street to collect the horses at the end of the parade, but this time they had the trailers at the St. Luke’s parking lot up the street. So I just got one soggy-horse picture.

…..and Pebbles is NOT. All this time I have been telling folks she is a burro, but actually Pebbles is a MULE. Not a burro. But half burro. Which makes me half-assed? I love her no matter what she is, but you have to know that due to growing up in Bishop, Ca. the self-described Mule Capital of the World, I am of course delighted to have a mule on the property. And I am still going to get that “hauling ass” bumper sticker for the horse trailer.

Also, Loner had heard a few weeks ago from a gal in Athens who had three goats who needed a home. They're all nannies, and they're Boer goats. Loner kept thinking that they would be just a little bigger than Sheba (a Nubian). No way. When Ryan got here with his horse trailer and persuuaded the first goat to come out, Loner said, "Man! She's big!" Ryan's response? "Ma'am, you ain't seen nothing yet." We got Nellie (as in Whoa, Nellie!) and Jenny (the mom) and another daughter whose name eludes me for the moment. Each one is at least eighty pounds, with two of them easily topping 100.

Hurricane Rita has altered our path slightly; driving an old RV and a loaded horse trailer in tornado warnings and heavy rain seemed like a bad idea. So rather than driving straight to the Humane Society of Louisiana’s temporary site in Tylertown, Miss., (our planned destination) we’ll head to the eastern Mississippi coast first, hoping to dodge Rita’s worst while offering supplies, equipment and elbow grease to the smaller rescue groups working in towns like Gulfport, Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis.

Gary bought a horse trailer last Friday.. did I tell you? He needs my "big" truck to pull it of course, so he's getting the truck's trailer wiring and a suitable plug taken care of this week. Perhaps he can go on more rides with friends now, which he'd enjoy.

On Saturday, July 2, someone driving an older, white truck, pulling a four-horse trailer, dumped the horse, which was still alive, off alongside the roadway nine-tenths of a mile beyond the pavement on Van Duessen Road. They left on Butte Road.

Mike and I went out the next day and finished fixing the fence. Which meant hiking up the tallest mountain on the place carrying our normal fence fixing equipment as well as a couple new posts and the post driver. Don came by to continue working on the new garage and later Jen brought a couple of the fell ponies by in the afternoon. She wanted to get one of her geldings used to riding in a horse trailer so she brought him. Since he’s not used to being in a trailer she brought the geldings dad along to keep him company.

Down the road to Spring Mountain State park we went. Arriving at the park there were none of the signs one might expect guiding participants as to where to go. We made assumptions and headed for where the horse trailers were. Although no signs announced the fact, we were also supposed to assume we needed to register on-site even with our pre-registration.

I’ve got a conspiracy theory. Everynight for the past week I’ve gone for walks near the beach at night and I have seen a huge truck with one of those horse trailers; but I can’t tell whether it’s horses or not and it appears every night so far. It’s some sort of smuggling operation or something, who needs to transport so many horses every single day. Or it might be the NDP’s secret campaign to actually win the elections somehow (Har). Anyway it doesnt matter who wins, the winner is either gonna be liberals or...

Thule last Wednesday completed purchase of the Swedish horse trailer manufacturer Star Industrier AB. Star Trailers has annual net sales of approximately $5.8 million and manufactures about 1,500 trailers a year of which 500 are horse trailers.