>> Was the vacation about adopting a horse or was that incidental?
I don't know how to answer that. We've vacationed in that area many times over the past 15-20 years, and we used to see the horses in the neighborhood where we rented the house. Then, they built fences to discourage them from coming down into the main tourist areas, although a few crafty ones figured out how to wade out in the sound and come around the fence. One early morning about 8-10 years ago, Cary started out to go run on the beach and he came back to the bedroom and told me the horses were in the front yard! There was a stallion with a herd of about 12 horses, mares, foals and yearlings. They were just out for a stroll down our street. Unfortunately, many horses got killed by cars over the past 15-20 years, so that particular stallion had to be placed in a domestic situation, since he wouldn't stay north of the fence. It was so sad, because I remember seeing him when he was very young, with a single mare and one foal, and his herd had grown so well over the years. Anyway, I heard they were adopting a few out, so I inquired a while back. I kind of thought maybe I'd see about getting a pregnant mare, or a mare and a foal, or a weanling/yearling. I got an e-mail about three weeks ago asking if I had a facility for a stallion. Gulp. I had a perfectly good stallion that I gelded last year, so why would I want a stallion? It seemed that they didn't have any takers for a stallion, and they'd had to remove an injured one who was going to need care for a while. I listened and asked a bunch of questions. It's a seven hour trip out there for us, so we can't just run out there as a day-trip. Cary has been extremely busy with work, and hasn't had time to take any vacation...then, suddenly, out of the blue, there was a delay in one of his projects that meant he could take a week off. He called me from work and asked if I wanted to go back to the Outer Banks - we hadn't been in 5 years, when we used to go every year. So, really oddly, I called the rental agency, and the house we always rented, normally a popular house because of the access to the Currituck Sound was vacant that week. Cary suggested we do our old "vacation thing" and I could meet Bart. So, it's just odd how it worked out. I think some things are meant to be. > BTW--how do you get away on vacation when you have so many horses? I keep my horses out 24x7, with lots of water tanks with automatic waterers. There's very little work involved for a week in the spring. My friend Shirley feeds the dogs, cats and birds, but mostly she just has to check that the waterers are working for the horses and that none of the horses look sick. Thunder was the only one who had to have extra feed for the week, so it's not as big a deal as you might expect. This week was different though. As luck would have it, after we paid the non-refundable rent on the beach house, we found out that was the only week that Terry could do the Tivar-Trausti switch out. Thank god for Shirley. My animals all think she's part of our family. Karen Thomas, NC
