Panama's new home

Panama arrived yesterday at about 3:30pm. Despite his rough time loading up the night before, he unloaded pretty easily. He didn't want to step on the ramp, so he balked in the doorway of the trailer, and the driver had to pull on him pretty hard in order to get him to walk down it. However, once he was down he was as gentle as a lamb (which is good, because I think the stable owner was starting to think I had a crazy-aggressive horse).

All in all, everything went pretty well. The only major setback was that Panama had never been inside a stable before, so he refused to go in the normal way; the stable owner had to lead him in through the gate on his run. After the owner left me and Panama alone, I was able to get him inside the stall using a little coaxing -- and a lot of carrots.



Panama's wound does look pretty nasty. You can probably see it in the picture above; I'll post a picture of the other side below, too. Because he was wrapped up in the fence, the cut spirals all the way around his leg.



On top of it all, he now has an incision on his nose, too -- he went through a fence the other night when the in-laws were trying to load him up, in an attempt to return to the pasture. I don't think you can quite see it in this picture, but it's under the nose strap of his halter.



I spent several hours total at the stables yesterday. I was there for about an hour after Panama arrived; after picking up Michael from work (we're down to one car right now) and eating dinner, both Michael and I went back and stayed for another hour or two. I brushed him, and the poor thing was so tired from his long trailer ride that he just stood there in a stupor afterward -- I had to lead him by his halter to get him to move again.

This morning after taking Michael to work, I went back and visited with Panama. He whinnied as I was walking up, and seemed quite pleased to see me (he was out in the run, so I called to him). I brushed him again, although this time he was a little edgy -- the birds that hang out in the rafters make him nervous, as he is not used to that at all.

I went to the stables a total of two times this morning, with a few errands (buying horse treats, antiseptic spray, and a toolbox to keep his brushes and stuff in) in between. Later this evening, Michael and I are going to go up there together to wash and treat the cuts on his leg and nose. With Panama being a little nervous still, I want someone's help the first time I do this!

I didn't really get anything done yesterday, and so far half the day has gone without me accomplishing anything. I think it is probably going to take a week or so to settle into a routine; it'll be especially difficult until Panama's wounds heal, as they need attention twice a day right now. Once that is no longer the case, my plan is to go to the stable first thing every morning, in order to minimize the interruption to my day.

What makes me sad -- and what I am determined not to be like -- is how seldom some of the horses' owners come. The horse in the stall next to Panama has his lead rope and halter on a wooden shelf, and there are cobwebs all over it -- that is how infrequently his owners come to visit! There are several saddles in the shed, and all of them are coated with several millimeters of undisturbed dust.



I can't imagine not wanting to spend time with Panama, and I hope I never get to the point where I just don't care about my horse anymore.