I got in trouble! Post EMM Update

HA HA!!! I got in trouble by Christina and Nine for not updating my blog yet. I better get on it!

We got home very late Monday night, and I left for Baton Rouge, LA for work on Tuesday morning - will be here 3 weeks. It sounds horrible to take off again so quickly, but the work weeks are 7 days, and the days are long so there is a lot of overtime to be had. It comes at a perfect time. Not only do I have a horse to pay for (YAY! Tripp is home where he belongs!) but we had two tire blow outs on the way home!

Yeah, no joke! The first one was south of Purcell, OK, so I ran to Purcell to get a new one. The other one was on the Kansas Turnpike, and thankfully we were close to a town, so I got one....15 minutes before the business closed! I don't know what happened. All I do know is tires and wiring were supposed to be okay before we left. Those two things were my main concern. Thankfully all turned out okay. I will get the other two replaced when I get back.

Okay, where do I begin? How about Sunday, Mustang Adoption Day. This is the day I had my melt down. Okay, that is what I call it, but Brian doesn't think it was a real melt down. He thinks it was just an emotional day and it made me a little weirded out about things. :-)

Our hip# was 208, so we were in the ring early on. The well trained black horse that went before us only went for $300, or close to it, so I was thinking that I would get Tripp for a cheaper price. WRONG! I timed it, and from the minute I walked into the ring, until the bidding stopped, was 1 minute 3 seconds! We got Tripp at the $1,500 mark. I don't normally talk money, but the prices will be posted eventually anyways, so I will this time. There were two other people bidding against us, and I started panicking at $800. It was just going way too fast! When we got him, I was so happy, but also a mess! I never did find out who the other person was who bid against us, but I heard that one of the groups was a 4-H Ranch for girls. When they found out we were trying to bring him home, they quit bidding. How cool is that? Tripp and I have been together for only 3 months, and this 4-H Ranch thinks I did well enough with him to trust him with kids! That was one of the biggest compliments I could have received!

It was after we got Tripp, and I left the ring and took him back to his stall, then went back for some more of the auction, that I had my melt down. I didn't understand why some great horses were going for so little, and I didn't understand why some of the bidding was stopped early on so trainers could take their horses home, etc. It was not completely about the money - it was just about not knowing why things were going the way they were. Heck, I still don't know. This event showed me how naive I really am. I mean wow, this was HUGE! And to be involved with something so big as a first time deal...well, it was wonderful but overwhelming!

I was surprised how many horses were not getting bids, so the MHF and another fellow from Mustangs Forever or something like that (I will need to figure out who he is so I can correct this if needed) helped out by donating the adoption fee, and a lot of the trainers took their horses home. Some to keep, and some to put more time on them and find them a good home.

I met so many great people. Some were naive like myself, and some were more grounded with what was going on around them. I felt like a little kid seeing things for the first time....something was happening all around us, and there just was not enough time to take it all in! You know how a little kid will get tired and fight it tooth and nail because they don't want to miss anything? That is how I felt! :-)

Rebecca and Bu, Christina and Nine, Ashley and Captain, Robert and Artista, Arvell and Prince, Nikolas and Apple Jack, Lynn and Jimbo, James and Kelly Verret, Roeliff Annon, the other Karen and Eli, Greg Reynolds and Bluegrass Steele...I know I must be forgetting someone. These are just a few of the people we met and visited with a lot. Rebecca had her posse with her - and they adopted me too. :-) Thank you to everyone who made this experience great, and thank you for your support!

I especially want to thank Kris and Nikolas Kokal's Mom and Dad, Stephanie and Andre' for my pep talk! Of course I can't have a melt down in private - I have to do it in front of someone! Isn't that the way it works? At least they were my stall neighbors and bitless bridle compadre's! Andre' and his wife Stephanie told me that I need to believe in myself and what I did with Tripp, and I need to do something about it! This was a sign, and I need to recognize it as one.

Sooooo....once I get back home I am going to vamp an area for additional mustangs. I plan on being involved in the TIP program - advertising to get future mustang adopters, and I will begin to start gentling and/or starting mustangs for other people. You see, I have a hard time letting go, and Andre' and Stephanie reminded me that it will be me picking the adopters, so it isn't like they are going to an unknown place. I am not saying it will be easy - but I think I can do this!
And they are right - I did good with Tripp, but I really didn't believe in myself. So I will be working on that too!

Sunday also brought the announcement that there were still some yearlings left over that needed homes. It was on Saturday that Brian was talking about getting a yearling and he looked around a little bit, but held back. But once the announcement was made that the MHF was taking care of the adoption fee on the last few, Brian went looking. He found a nice little bay gelding. We never did find his trainer, so don't know anything about him other than Brian loves him, and Stephanie Kokal had him picked out as her 2nd choice. She is a natural hoofcare person, so her opinion about Joker mattered a lot to us. We don't have an eye for 'flaws' that others see.

This yearlings name was Lucky Seven, but Brian didn't think that name fit him. Personally I think an animal should keep his/her name, because that is the only thing that is theirs. Brian wanted to speak to the trainer to find out if there as a nick-name. Then in order to stay with the theme, he dubbed him Joker. Now this little guy has earned his name from what I hear. Brian says he has been messing with things like crazy at home!
On the way home he was sticking his nose out of the trailer and letting the wind flap his lips! It was the funniest darn thing! I need to ask Brian if the video turned out. If so, I will have him post it.

One thing that I am sure the MHF has heard by now is I believe that the trainers should have been allowed to have first option at adopting their horses. We all tried to follow the rules, and we did what we signed up for. Almost 50% of the people didn't show up for various reasons, some legit and some not. If they wanted to keep their horses they paid the $125 adoption fee and forfeited the $500 reimbursement, which in my opinion should have been forfeited anyways due to the date listed in the rules (unless it was an emergency). I am not saying I should have brought Tripp home for $125, but I sure would have given up my expense reimbursement in addition to that without blinking twice. Just a thought.
We all knew what we signed up for, and even tho it was hard for different reasons, we did what we were supposed to do.

As a whole what was my experience like? There was a small part of the picture that was not what I expected, and a HUGE part of the picture that was AMAZING!!!! Will I do it again? YES! If they let me. But this time I will prepare myself mentally to prepare a horse for a new adopter. I am very lucky and got to bring Tripp home. He was a lot of firsts for me....so it is time to share another wonderful mustang with someone else. Will it be hard? You bet! Will I cry? Of course! But that is okay.....

That is all I can think of now. As I am in Baton Rouge, LA and I don't have access to my pictures, there are not any again. Bummer!

If I think of something else along the way, I will post again!!!

Until later....Karen and Tripp!!!!! YAY!!!! TRIPP TRIPP TRIPP!!!!!