If we had been driving in the country we may have seen a sign like the one below. As we don’t get out of the office much, instead it turned out to be a simple phone call that would start the adventure.
A whole herd of ponies available from a farm in Indiana. Just come and get them. They are all in good shape and in the $100 to $300 range with various amounts of training. You know we had to go after hearing such a plea. Christmas was only a few weeks away.
The sun sets as we arrive and after a quick look at Rose’s walls of ribbons and trophies Laura and I start the actual round-up. I back the truck and trailer to the front door of her barn when the friendliest guy named Bob drops what he was doing and helps us. After locating the ponies we begin with the Palomino who is pregnant. She calmly walks down the aisle and slowly walks into the trailer with just a carrot and a tug. Next is the young Bay stud who needs only a little push to hop in a trailer with a good looking Palomino. The crabby Roan mare is brought to the trailer and we quickly get her inside with minimal hassle also.
Eventually we move the trailer about fifty feet away and find Hurley doesn’t even want to leave the barn! Who could blame him? To him he was in heaven. Private stall, his own hay and grain, clean bedding at night and lots of other new horses to talk to. I wouldn’t want to leave either. But leave he must, and soon.
Hurley would not leave through the wide open front door as this led straight to the trailer. We take him out the back and through some gates around to the front. This worked well as he got within ten feet of the trailer before stopping me fast. The ground was covered in well packed snow giving us no traction to push or pull. We turned him around, walked him all over, around the trailer, let him look at it, sniff it, what ever we could think of to convince Hurley he should get in the trailer with his friends and hit the road. Nothing doing, this pony was staying.
After considering leaving the guy behind we decide it’s not an option - too costly. Another trip to get him later would be prohibitive. Letting the other three out and getting him in first was a distinct possibility. This had a down side of us ending up loading seven ponies instead of four, which further puts the odds against us. He must go in the trailer.
Bob comes up with a ramp from another barn (actually an old New Acre sign made from a full sheet of ¾ inch ply), and we drop it into place. Bob also grabs three or four lead ropes and ties them together and one end to the trailer. We get Hurley close and then wrap the ropes around his butt and combine a push, pull and shove to convince Hurley he should be happy to go with the others. After some tense moments he actually puts a hoof on the ply and he begins up the ramp. The three of us all but pick him up and put him in the trailer before he is safely aboard. In the end he takes up nearly two hours of sleep from me.
After some educated guesses we end up in town and fuel up the truck and ourselves (pizza) for the trip back. We find the highway and turn west. As the ponies are to end up in Freeport we trek straight for Chicago first. When passing the skyscrapers we are sure to point them out to the ponies as they may not ever see them again. They are thrilled of course. Next I exit the highway and drop Laura off at home. Lakeview has not seen many ponies since the turn of the century, and theis ponies have never seen so much traffic. Leaving Chicago I head for the other side of the state, and Pony Paradise.
Arriving in at Donna’s at about midnight, with snow flurries and bitter wind biting my fingers I get the rig in place at the gate to their pasture. She has told me to release them that night and we would deal with them the next day. This raises it’s own problems the next day, but that’s another story (let's just say that the two purebred mares on the property suddenly decided to come in season with the arrival of two 12-hand, dirty, neglected, unvetted Welsh stallion ponies -- whoopsie!).
The ponies came out of the trailer in reverse order, first the Palomino, then quickly everyone else as they scatter. I close up and park the trailer next and then park Donna’s brand new (only 1600 easy miles) Explorer in the drive, dirty. It is loaded and looks great in daylight with it’s beautiful dark dark purple and tan colors. Zzz follows close behind for me as this Pony Wrangler is done for the day at about 1am.
We have named the Palomino, Amberina. We are told about march she should foal. She is the senior of the bunch (about 20) and has had some training in the distant past. She should come around nicely.
The Bay was named Noble by Laura. Somewhere in Freeport is a street named Noble and I know it’s no coincidence. He has since been gelded to keep him off the mares and calm with the kids. He’s about four years old. Hopefully he will become a pony clubber just like his owner (Elaine).
The Roan will be called Maybe as in, maybe she'll be the best, maybe she'll be the worst. She may not last long on this farm if she doesn’t cool out. Donna will take her right to the auction. She has one of the best confirmations of the bunch however, and just maybe become an excellent Roan Mare Pony.
The plan for Christmas Eve at this point is to get Laura’s four year old, Elaine, to look out the door and see her pony (Noble) in the snow with a red bow, tied up to the hitching post.
Let you know how THAT tuns out!Cut to north central Indiana, November 26, 1996 at 4pm - we are arriving at the farm where the ponies that Laura has chosen await. They are at Rose’s Miller's New Acre Farm in a cozy horse barn with about six or eight other horses. It’s about 20 degrees outside and there's a 10-20 MPH wind on top of that. We have arrived with Donna’s brand new Ford Explorer V8 that I drove off the lot the day before and a stock trailer.
Last but not least is the Creamela stud. Laura has named him Hurley since then, and she has taken a shine on the little guy. He would not get in the trailer for anything. Fully dark and cold outside by now, the other three are getting a little restless. One person keeping the others in the front and not let them out into the barn, one person standing by in back to help push while another pulled the stubborn mule into the trailer. He was not going. Numerous attempts to entice, bribe, persuade, sweet talk, cuss, swear, scare, whip, and of course push, would not convince Hurley to lift his legs into the trailer.
We start home at 6:15pm. Frazzled and cold, Laura and I are numb, but the Ford is warm. Before leaving I notice the trailer lights have gone out. This was it’s own hassle when I wired in the trailer connector the day before. The running light fuse has blown with the increased load and all I can do is try the spare; this works briefly. At about this point navigator Laura lets a turn go by and we are lost in Indiana on a back road with no gas, no real map, and no lights on the trailer. I decided the only choice would be a larger fuse on the circuit and do it. This gives me trailer lights for the rest of the trip but no rear running lights on the Explorer for some reason.
And so the little ponies are now still doing well, with a few improvements around the barn of course. Some hay, and a load of grain, the rehanging of a gate, the dividing of the horse pen, mounting some feeders, shuffle some sheep, burn some brush, mounting some hooks, cleaning some stalls, numerous trips to Farm & Fleet, etc. etc. etc.
Of course you all remember Hurley, he has become one of the herd there and will hopefully grow some hair in spring. He’s looking pretty mangy and scared but he will be fine. He was gelded with Noble. I think Hurley was the only one who knew he shouldn’t get in the trailer for this very reason.
