Dublin Goes For a Ride

Dublin has been getting a nice hiatus while I've been dealing with work overload, bad back, nasty cold, and heel pain that had me not walking for 2 days. Not to mention my mother bouncing in and out of the hospital with various (non-life-threatening) issues. But it seems like things are, thankfully, getting back on track again.

Dublin may be enjoying his break, but I think he is really getting genuinely bored. He needs to get out and find some adventure. To do that, he needs to be trailered.

We've loaded him in the trailer and made sure he can back out nicely. He's getting to be an old hand at it by now. So today we upped the ante, loaded him up, put Cowboy with him in the back trailer compartment for company, and headed out to see what happened.

I don't know everything about Dublin's history, but I suspect that every time he's been out for a trailer ride, he's wound up in a new home. Sometimes at the track, sometimes at a new rescue situation, last time he wound up here. Which, hopefully, he was eventually happy about. But a trailer ride for Dublin has always meant something unsettling was about to happen.

Laura and I crossed our fingers that he has become so secure that this would be a non-issue, especially with Cowboy along for company.

Alas, it was not to be. Dublin loaded up happily enough and stood quietly while the dividers were closed and Cowboy joined him in the trailer. But, the minute the rig started moving, the meltdown started. Kicking, pawing, and as far as we could tell, running in place. We weren't sure if he was worried about where he was going or if he thought he was headed back to the track and thought he should get back in condition right away.

We had hoped to take him through town and then loop back, but given the activity level in the trailer, we modified the plan and just took him around the block. The kicking waxed and waned during the 10 minutes we were out but it was never totally calm back in the trailer.

After parking the rig back in the driveway, we went back to find a frantic, dripping wet black horse tossing his head maniacally and still kicking the trailer. Cowboy, who was looking startled to say the least, unloaded nicely if a bit quickly (get me out of here!). Dublin, thankfully, was starting to settle down and I was able to unhook the dividers without incident and actually was able to back him out of the trailer from the front compartment.

Once out, he got to walk around a bit, confirm that he had indeed come home again, and got to eat some grass before getting his shipping boots off and getting turned out again with Cowboy.

So now we know that he is not ready to be thrown in the trailer and go for a ride just yet. We figure a couple more rides around the block will reassure him that he is not heading down the road to some new adventure. Then, at some point, we can hit the trail and pony him on one of our rides. One step closer!