Day ONE - Arrival

After only 6 or less hours of sleep, I pulled myself out of bed on Monday, August 25, and made coffee and got myself ready for the big day. I was going to go pick up Possum from summer camp.

The inside of the barn at the camp.

We have one week of hot, sticky weather, and that works in my favor. I put on my new hiking sneakers, a tank top and my PFU baseball cap and Don drove me down to the camp. The three camp councilor girls left to care for the camp horses were still at breakfast, so Don and I went down to the paddock and said hi to the nine ponies left. They were waiting for their breakfast, too. Possum was happy to see us, I think!

Don at the camp barn. A beautiful structure!

The girls came back to the barn, and we loaded the jeep up with Possum's tack, a big bag of grain pellets, and a milk crate filled with the left over horse shampoo's and coat sprays, as well as another bottle of fly spray. Possum was led up to the barn entrance way and fed his grain ration. Don drove off, and the girls walked me to the trail that would lead us to the back of the farm across the street from Aunt Nancy's farm house.

Possum only stopped for a minute, just as we were leaving the barn area. He knew. But, he is so brave and such a trooper.. and away he and I walked, into the cool woods. A few minutes later, we were walking up into the bright fields behind the farm, which is owned by the same people who own the summer camp. Nobody was around.

We got onto Hio Ridge and walked by Aunt Nancy's house and down towards the intersection. A few trucks and cars went by, but not as many as if we had walked down Rt. 117. When we got to the busy intersection, we lucked out.. there was not a car or truck around. We crossed over to Hancock Pond and ran into Don in the Jeep. He turned around and followed us for a little while, but he saw we were okay and went on back home. When Possum and I got to the bottom of the big hill, he stopped and looked at me. Really? He said. I told him I wasn't looking forward to walking up that big hill either.. We did it with only one or two breaks.

As we approached Donna's barn, we ran into little Jonothan and Mark playing in the road, awaiting our arrival. We stopped so each boy could pet Possum on the nose. Donna and Luanne were out in the field working with Big Mack and keeping him distracted. Possum was a hesitant to continue past the barn, but I convinced him to keep walking with me. He knew were he was, and he knew his hang spot was just down the road.

The first few minutes in the paddock.

A few hours later.. Like he had never left!

Don had already turned on the electric fence in our newly expanded paddock, and Possum and I walked the new fence line together, and then I took off his lead line. He pranced around a bit, whinnying here and there, but he seemed very familiar and comfortable right off the bat. I hung around with him for a few hours while he settled in. It was clear he was much more comfortable this time around. I ran down town for an hour and when I came back he was still cool. Around 3:30, I tied him to a tie in the stall and groomed him. He was excellent, and seemed to enjoy it. A little while later, after another dose of fly spray, I took him out for a short hand walk in the back yard. He walked around going, oh yes, I remember this and oh, this is new.. I didn't keep him out too long, though.

I gave him his pellets around 4:45, and at 8 I closed him into the stall until a little before midnight. I was worried about him gorging himself on too much of the green grass. He did great! I had just settled into bed a little after midnight, when I realized I had forgotten to plug the electric fence back on! I ran down into the barn with my bathrobe and slippers, plugged in, and shone the flashlight out into the paddock. There was Possum, munching off of a pile of hay I had left in the middle of the paddock. I'm quite sure he was perfectly content.

After dinner in the field.