Lilly Comes Home!!!! 
10-11-2020

The day has finally arrived!!!! Lilly is leaving Pennsylvania and traveling 1,567 miles to Wyoming! I am so excited. Even after the delay the day has finally arrived. I can not believe that it is finally here. I realized that it didn't feel real until that moment when the transporter picked her up from All the King's Horses. It became so real! 

Here is the order of events:

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Christy from Ride the Line Equine Transport contacted Rebecca from All the King's Horses and myself that there would be a delay in transportation. She was originally supposed to be picked up the next day, October 8. The new pick up date would be Sunday October 11th. So she has to hang out with a grumpy mare. She was suppose to hang out with another weanling BUT he also had a transportation delay so he was not moved to the farm. She still had company though so she would not be alone. Her company was a grumpy mare on stall rest. Rebecca did not want to keep them together in a small stall because the mare would not want to share her food. 

When Rebecca was brushing Lilly one last time she noticed that she had a cut on her leg that was healed. She does not know how she got it or when she got it. But she wanted to show me so I didn't think it happened during transit. My poor Lilly likes to bang herself up. Good thing I worked so hard to make her first aid kit all ready!

Sunday, October 11, 2020 

9:00 am - Michelle from Ride the Line is going to pick up Lilly with the smaller trailer from All the King's Horses and bring her back to their farm while they clean and sanitize the larger trailer they will use to transport her to Wyoming. 

9:20 am - They are on the road back to the farm. Lilly was antsy so Michelle got moving quickly. 

10:07 am - Christy sent me a picture of Lilly looking out the window of the trailer. She is now loaded on the big trailer and her journey starts! Christy reports that "She is a doll. She unloaded and loaded perfectly." 

9:29 pm - They are sleeping at a farm in Illinois. They unloaded all the horses so they could relax and not be on the trailers. She sent me another picture of Lilly after she unloaded her. I ask Christy how she is doing. Christy reports "She's doing great! She seems very laid back. She unloaded very calmly and went right to eating her hay!"

 

Monday, October 12

7:48 am - I texted Christy to see how Lilly was doing and what time they were leaving and where they were going to stop. She said, "Doing great! She marched right onto the trailer again this morning!" She also said that they would be stopping in Nebraska

8:23 am Christy let me and Andi (Lady who runs "On a String" the boarding place Lilly will be staying at) that they got on the road. They will be traveling from Illinois to Nebraska today. They drive about 11 hours so I figured they would be stopping somewhere near Sidney, Nebraska.

12:20 pm Christy sent me a picture of Lilly. She is doing well. She said, "Hi mom!" and she said, "Great! She is eating plenty of hay and I already refilled her water!" 

8:38 pm Christy sent me another picture of Lilly via the closed circuit camera in the trailer eating her hay. She also let me know, "She loves her hay bag lol we will see you tomorrow at approximately 7:30am! We have a couple hours to go tonight" 

10:00 pm - I could not sleep. I tossed and turned thinking of all the things I hadn't prepared for the next day. I tried to shut off my mind and really go back to sleep - but it finally worked at about 11:30. Dang I am going to be exhausted tomorrow. 

Tuesday, October 13

2:00 am - Today is the day. I got up at 2:00 like I always do to teach. I did not have a 2:30 class so I was able to pack the basket of my bike. I put in Lilly's HUGE slow feeder. I will leave that at On a String. I also put in her grooming bag and her food bucket. I will be bringing those back and forth. I filled her food bucket before I went to bed last night. It was a much more difficult process than I imagined. I discovered that I did not have the correct batteries to change the batteries in the luggage scale that I bought to weight her food - sucks! So now I have to figure out a better way to weigh her food everyday. But I got everything weighed and I ground up the pills to help her lungs be protected from the smoke and mixed it with applesauce and put it into a syringe. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be as well. But accomplished that. So now I am getting ready for classes and updating the blog so that her journey and my journey is recorded. I had a lot of self doubt yesterday night as I was preparing her food. I had a lot of emotions. This is all very real now and I do not want to mess this up. I have to remember that I do not have to do everything in one day. I just need to calm down and just connect with her. It is okay if I do not bring the entire first aid kit with me the first day. It is okay that I was not 100% prepared to measure out her food. I found a work around and solved the problem. I have to remember that it is not going to be perfect - but perfectly imperfect and that as long as I always strive to do my very best - my very best is good enough. So that is where I am this morning. Still a little nervous - mostly excited. I have put the clothes I am going to wear on - UNDER the shirt I normally teach in - so I can get out of the house faster. During my last class of the day I will put on my socks (can not wear socks while teaching because I will have fire feet). I will also jump into my pants (they are still wet from being washed yesterday night). Right now, I have to focus on teaching for the next 4 hours than jump on my bike and rush over to meet the transport and Lilly. Wish me luck!!!

3:19 am - I am waiting in a student no show - it is very strange my student, Robinson, rarely if ever has a student no show. So it gave me time to find the map for today as well as start more blog posts. It also gave me time to send a message to Christy asking that she lets me know when they are 45 min away. That way I know if I have to rush or if I can take more time. The first 2 days of travel they did not leave until after 8 - but she is saying ETA is 7:30. Since they are at least 1 hour away, I do not know how on time (ie at 7:30) they will be. I have a lot of nervous excited energy. I need to remember to calm my energy down. Just Breathe.....

5:45 am Breathe.....Christy told me, "She's a great traveler. She doesn't seem to be scared or unsure." She also let me know that the new ETA would be 8:45. "Good morning! We should be there about 8:45 😀 we are a touch later than planned this morning." 

7:38 am  Breathe.....I checked on the ETA again and it was still the same. So I made a plan to leave the house by 8 so meet them there. It usually takes me less than 30 min to get to on a string. I will be taking Lilly's daily food bucket, the slow supplement feeder, and her grooming bag. 

7:55 am Breathe.....get ready and leave for On the String

8:35 am Breathe.....I arrive at On A String. It took me a little longer than usual because the wind was SO strong and it was blowing me even more because the slow feeder was in the way in the basket of my bike. Holy Moly it was slow going. I was nervous the WHOLE time I would be late. But I wasn't! This is why I always say it is better to be early!

8:42 am Breathe.....I see them down at the bottom of the "driveway" about .78 miles away. They past the turn so I texted them that they past it. 

8:44 am Breathe.....Lilly arrives!