Friday night, after an agonizingly long wait, we welcomed the newest member of the White Bird family. Ulysses was a school horse in NJ, but he developed arthritis in one knee. Because he was no longer able to do his job, he also lost his home. Ulysses has been on our waiting list for a long time. Thanks to the dedicated and kindhearted people who acted as his safety net, he was kept out of harm's way until we could take him. But getting him here was an ordeal.
For the last several months, I have been corresponding with his caretakers to coordinate his move. Once the decision was made to move him and a date set, we relaxed and looked forward to the big day. Of course, we relaxed. That's because we were on the receiving end and not the ones doing all the work- you know, rushing around to find a good hauler, getting his health certificate, writing up his bio, researching his medical history, etc. Monday was his scheduled arrival date, but even before then, we were aware that there were problems with his transport. According to his haulers, this trip went down in their history as the absolute worst on record.
It began with truck brakes that were making a strange noise. The haulers stopped and had them repaired, but soon discovered that while the brakes were quieter, they were no longer working. Another delay. Once the brakes were repaired, they picked up a horse from another location. There were a few things that might have cued them that all was not well with this horse, but of course twenty-twenty hindsight is wonderful that way. The owner was not present when the horse was loaded, he simply left him in a stall with the paperwork. Ten minutes into the trip, the horse went crazy, ultimately knocking a hole through the roof of the truck (this is not a small truck), kicking out a back window, and jumping over the partition. When the owner was contacted, he told them they were on their own, as he "never wanted to see the &^%$!! again. Nice. It is very likely that the horse had been sedated and that the sedation was wearing off. The haulers were forced to unload the horse at a highway rest stop at one point (a dangerous step of last resort), to get him under control. He was finally delivered to a rescue in WI. If anyone reading this is from that rescue, guys, we feel for you.
Once the Demon-Horse-From-Hell was unloaded, the haulers breathed a bit easier. They proceeded on their way to pick up Ulysses and his traveling companions. It was about that time that their tire blew out, ruining the rim. So we, Ulysses, his caretakers, and the haulers, waited for the delivery of the wheel. By Thursday, we were told they were back on the road. Ulysses was finally picked up Thursday evening, to everyone's huge relief.
Meanwhile, back on the truck, one of the passengers began to panic and was threatening to kick through the front of her stall. The haulers were very grateful to Ulysses for calming her down, something he apparently has a talent for. We were in contact with the haulers by phone throughout Friday (I'd like to point out that we were a long way from the relaxed state we started out in). In the course of our conversations, they told us that we were going to "just love this horse." Originally anticipating his arrival in the morning, we finally saw the headlights in the driveway at 10:30PM. It had been a long day (heck, a long week!) for everyone. The haulers dropped Ulysses off, then literally flew out of here because the filly that he had been babysitting went ballistic the second he walked off the trailer. They accidentally left their check here, too. We sure hope the rest of their trip went better than it started. At that point, they had been on the road for 2 weeks, total.
We unloaded a very tired, achy horse who had just had one long ride (about 27 hours), but who still had plenty of curiosity about his new home. We put him in a nice, thickly bedded stall and the first thing he did was drop down and roll in it. You could almost hear him say "Aaahhhh!!!." He was glad to be out of that truck! And we were equally glad to have him here. We discovered the next day how smart he is. Ulysses has an arthritic knee and we know the trip was hard on him. The next morning as Tom was feeding him, he looked dead at Tom and held up his leg as if to say "This hurts! Can you fix this?"
When we made the decision to take Ulysses, we felt that this horse, who had taught so many to ride, deserved a decent retirement and a new job as "pasture ornament." Because White Bird is based on urgent need, one of the requirements for horses entering the rescue is that they have nowhere else to go. But sometimes, we can't reach them quickly enough. Ulysses is one of the lucky ones because of the people who cared enough to go to bat for him. A big White Bird "thank you" to Jennifer, Kathy and the Board of FOLSS, who worked so hard to keep this horse safe. Well done!
We are finding Ulysses to be lively, sociable and curious about his new home. He genuinely likes people. We have been told that he was once thought to be a little stubborn under saddle. We just cannot believe this- a stubborn Appaloosa? Yes, we are kidding. These horses are famous for having opinions on just about everything and we are sure that Ulysses has them, too. I guess I didn't mention that the Demon horse on the truck was also an Appy. But the haulers were right. Already, we just love this horse. By the way, Griffinsburg, your check's in the mail.
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