A New Home
On the night of March 2nd, I tossed and turned throughout the night. Tomorrow was the day I was moving my Athena from the rescue, to a barn less than a mile from my house no less! After looking at several barns, I found Sherry Steward and her barn and I was so very impressed with her and the facilities. I couldn’t wait to move Athena there so she could finally be a “normal” horse!
We pulled up the rescue and I quickly walked to Athena. I was so excited for her!! I pulled the halter on her and lead her out of the barn towards the trailer. I was a tad worried because I had only seen Athena trailered one time before this and I wasn’t sure how she would do. After about a minute of encouragement, Athena stepped right on into the trailer. I was SO proud of her!
Sherry drove carefully back to her barn. As we pulled in, I could hear Athena whinny to the other horses. I am pretty bias but she sounded so beautiful. I was all smiles as we backed her out of the trailer and lead her to her new stall.
She adjusted to the high life pretty fast. 😉 We let her stay in her stall for the night and relax.
The next day Athena got her feet trimmed. It took awhile but the farrier was wonderful and patient with her. It was clear we needed to work on picking up her feet. After her feet were done, I was able to turn her out into the pasture for the first time. If you are new to our story, I found Athena in a terrible pen with no food or water with horse skeletons and garbage strung throughout her pasture. You can read about it HERE. After we brought her to the rescue to be vetted, she injured herself and was put on medical rest for four months. You can read all about that story HERE. Athena had not had a good pasture with room to run or grass in years, but that was all about to change.
As I unbuckled the lead rope I wondered how she would react. I let her go and stepped back to watch her prance off towards the middle of the field.
Athena was so cute! She didn’t know to graze or to trot and move around! She would prance around, take a bite, prance around, then take a bite. I was laughing with her! She came up to me a few times and I petted her and gave her some love.
Out of nowhere Athena then started galloping throughout her pasture. It was amazing! Just a few short months before this, I was told this would never happen. I was so proud and ecstatic to see Athena like this! Look how good she felt!
She still needed to pack on some weight, but she looked SO HAPPY! I started to tear up a bit thinking about where she was back in October and now she has this lovely home, with her own warm stall and fresh grass to graze on. Athena has come so far!!
I sat there for over an hour watching Athena play and explore her new pasture. She was so beautiful and happy. I have never seen a horse that happy to be out in a green pasture in my life. She came back up to me and I said my goodbyes for the day. She stood by the gate watching as I walked away.
Athena was finally home. ♥