The week passed very very slowly for Abi as she counted down the days to Saturday when she, Amanda and I were off to the other side of the country to pick up apparently the only available horse in the world. We started well, everyone up in time and raring to go, only for Amanda to ring and say that the gearbox on her van was bust - eek! Luckily it seems that everyone in the horse world is very kind, and one of the girls at Milligan's offered up her box instead. So poor Amanda had to hot foot it to Wivey to collect said box, and we met back at her house, only an hour and a half later than planned, to start or road trip.
The Sat Nav said it was a 2 hour and 58 min journey. Of course the Sat Nav thought we would be doing the speed limit all the way...which we weren't. Luckily we had all day and we had snacks, so we sat back and trundled all the way to Leighton Buzzard in someone else's van, chatting happily. Despite the dreadful weather forecast it was bight sunshine and so it was a pretty easy drive. We stopped once, grabbed lunch and then hit the lanes where upon it felt like we were never going to get there. The roads got ever smaller and while I'm sure if you were in a car it was the best route - in a horsebox maybe not! Finally after 30 miles of narrow roads we arrived - a small field in the middle of nowhere.
It was clear after about 3 hours of being in the van that she would have to only have 3 legs for us not to be taking her home. The vet report hadn't been so great (footsore after having had her shoes off a few weeks) so we had some minor concerns but it had been a long journey and she looked ok so we chatted to Hannah for half an hour or so before grabbing her 'wardrobe' and loading her up. She loaded really well but then had a bit of a paddy at the realisation that she was leaving her field friends and started to kick the box. We then went into overdrive , bundled up the doors and drove off with half a tonne of very unsettled horse in the back, down all those country lanes again.
The journey home was long but uneventful right until the last few miles when the heavens opened and the road conditions completely deteriorated. Just before Bridgwater Services in torrential rain and flooding surfaces a car in the outside lane aquaplaned in front of us, hit the central reservation and spun round, spraying water and car bits everywhere. Amanda was brilliant - pulled over to the hard shoulder without panicking and so missed all the debris (and the car that then pulled in front of us, nearly hitting our bonnet). We called 999, reported it and explained with a horse in the van we couldn't stop, and slowly carried on. Thank goodness we hadn't been going faster or been closer to the accident.
We came off the motorway and did the last few miles as the skies cleared and after about 11 hours on the road, finally arrived at Nula's new home. We settled her and and went back to our respective homes, via flooded roads and police diversions!
This morning Abi was up bright and early and the whole day has been given over to Nula. She's been groomed, walked and nurtured. Everyone has been to see her and all agree she seems very lovely. She is very food oriented but that means give her a hay net and she's stand and do anything. I hope all this bodes well. Abi finally came home about 7:30pm and started to plan tomorrow. If noting else it's giving her focus! All that and Izzy loves her too - let's hope bringing her back to condition is a summer project for both of them!
 |
| Betty and Bertie 'helping' me cut and collect thistles |
Comments
Post a Comment