After considerable communication with different people I decided that the Saline County Fairgrounds would be the best place to meet Cox Transport and pick up Magic. The horse motels did not want to deal with guests in the middle of the night. Cox got there about 2am. Cox Equine Transport did a good job. Magic had been in thier trailer 12 hours when he unloaded. Magic did stumble / fell exiting their trailer. My trailer was snowbound on my mountain and I borrowed a friend’s two horse trailer with a permanent divider. The Cox drivers were helping me load. Magic was reluctant to load (understandably in my view), the drivers were eager to get it done and get back on the road. As they increased the pressure, it looked to me as though the methods they were using were not working and would only lead to more pressure. I told them I thought I could take a little time and get Magic loaded by myself and for them to go on and get back on the road. They took the opportunity and left. I was wrong, I was not able to to get him to load into that trailer. Magic is a very nice horse but he did not want to get into that trailer. It was 3AM, 22 degrees, and Magic and I were alone in the Saline County Fairgrounds. I told him that he needed, had to, get in the trailer so he could get to his new home, a nice place, before the weather got bad. Magic said “With all due respect, I am not getting in that trailer.” And we worked on it for a long time, 12 hours. I am happy with my decision though, he did not get hurt, neither did any body else, and he did not learn any bad habits. I was able, with lots of help from my friends and some strangers, to have larger trailer come get him and deliver him to a very nice stable, Diamond TR Ranch, where he has a new, secure stall. We did miss the window of weather that would allow the trip to my farm. We have 14 to 16 inches of new snow this morning. I will go get him when the roads are clear.
I am very happy with Magic. We worked through several difficult situations. He is level headed and showed considerable confidence in a new and strange setting. He is handsome and a big 15 3. I think he is the horse I have been looking for!
As an example of how crazy horse people are: The neighborhood around the fairgrounds employed concetina wire to discourage after hours visits. It crossed my mind in the dark of night that I might be vunerable to robery and things that go boom in the night. I thought, “that pistol would be nice to have handy right now.” Then remembering that I was responsible for Magic, I thought, “Well if a robber came up and I shot him, that would probably spook the horse. So it is actually good that I do not have the pistol.”
