Walker's New Home

I'm pretty sure Walker could adjust in a hurricane.  I was worried that he would be a little nervous or freaked out by a new location and new people and horses, especially since I wasn't there to meet him (rant to come), but from the moment he arrived, he pranced in like the big stud on campus and calmly made the place his own.

I think I will chew this because that
will make the new barn owner really like me

As usual, he put on a great show for all the new kids who came over to meet him.  He stuck his head out of the stall, let them love him all over, and they were particularly impressed with how friendly he was.  Well, kiddies, don't be fooled by that face.  I promise you that if you leave the door open unattended (or even attended), he will eventually make a break for it and you will chase him down the highway.

Anyway, today turned out to be quite hectic and left me a little cranky with my old barn owner.  She told me on Monday that she was thinking about bringing him at 4:00 PM on either Wednesday or Thursday.  When I checked with her on Tuesday, she said that she was leaning towards Thursday.  I don't know about everyone else, but I'm a planner and I'm a very busy person, and nothing drives me crazier than plans that aren't concrete.  Besides, I wanted to be able to tell my new barn owner so he could, you know, have a stall ready.

She then texts me this morning at about 8:00 AM and tells me she's bringing him today.  That's fine.  I manage to get a hold of the new barn owner and all is well.  I remind her to bring Walker's special food (fat and fibre) which she graciously gave me for free because her horse won't eat it.  At about 10:00 AM, I get a text saying that the woman covering for her trainer this morning fed ALL of the leftover fat and fibre (which would have been probably the majority of the bag) to the 35 horses in the barn mistakenly thinking it was normal food.  Not only was this wildly dangerous since most of those horses aren't on that type of food and were getting it in the quantity of their normal food, but that meant that there was no more for Walker.  Great.

By 4:00 PM, I'm considering skipping out of work early so that I can rush home, grab some supper, and be prepared for when Walker arrives at the barn.  After all, I've only met the new barn owner once, and I have never met his barn manager.  I text my old barn owner and ask her to please text me when she leaves the city.  Her response: "Sorry he is there now."

Umm.  What?

Thanks a billion.

So Walker was pretty much dropped off in a strange barn with no one there that he knew, and then she proceeded to tell the barn manager all about him - his turnout, his feed, etc.  Well, frankly, I don't think that's her place since I could very easily have said I wanted to change those things.  So then I had to get a hold of my new barn owner and go through a rundown of everything I actually wanted.

AND it turns out that at the new barn, Walker will be getting sweet feed instead of the pelleted performance feed that he was getting before (anyone have any experience with that, by the way?) and the hay is higher in nutrients as well (perhaps, it's haylage - I never really got a straight answer out of him on that).  The point is that the food is all higher in nutrients than he was getting so my new barn owner, god bless him, wants to transition Walker over slowly and was asking me if my old barn owner brought some of his old feed with him.  Well, I hope so, but I still haven't heard from her so god knows.

So needless to say, the whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm just glad that Walker is such a trooper about everything.  Frankly, nothing bothers him and his stomach is a rock so I doubt he will be bothered by all the new food.  But he is a horse coming off a sickness after all.