A day off today to take Xacra and Golfinho to the vets for her AI. We tried loading in the field at first and although Xacra walked straight in, Golfinho took to galloping around yelling in his tiny foal voice, causing mum to panic as he hove out of view at speed. It soon became obvious that a change of tack was called for, so once again we took the gate into the corral off its hinges, rolled out the telegraph pole from its spot under the picadeiro fence and reveresed the trailer tight up to the entrance. We left them for a while to have a sniff, during which pleasant interlude the gate fell on Knickers' head and very nearly brained her, then got Xacra back on board and kept her calm while Golfinho faffed around and Knickers encouraged him back towards the trailer. Within a few minutes he appeared at the ramp and with mum's encouragement clambered on like a good boy, just as the heavens opened and down it came.
Pheel arrived just as we were mooching down the drive ready to go, to do a quick inspection of the hard standing at the back of the boys' paddocks and discuss next steps. It was only as we were on our way to the vets that I realised that while I was nodding and smiling while he spoke, I actually had no recollection at all of what he'd actually said, so resolved to call him once we got home.
The journey to the vets was straightforward and made better by the fact that this time I wasn't going to make the mistake of driving up the wrong street, the narrow one with the cars parked along one side; the one that requires very careful reversing down while anxious car owners look on. The vet came to take Alfama and Gualter for her final scan before leaving, and we unloaded Xacra and Golfinho in the car park and put them in the paddock. Golfinho trotted off through the long grass in a very high-kneed fashion, every inch the mini Luso. Sweet. Meanwhile Gualter was looking MAHOOSIVE! The car park was awash with lorries and trailers, which meant that a number of random people were on hand to coo over him and remark upon how lovely he is :proud mum: Alfama loaded straight away and after a bit of hesitation and the help of two assistants each with an arm around his bum, Gualter loaded in a few moments as well. Splendid.
The trip home was uneventful and once restored to their paddock the two of them spent a pleasant half hour charging around and catching up with all the news. Very glad to have them home.
At this rate we'll be collecting Tigre as well as Xacra & Golfinho on Saturday, and then our reasonably sized collection of Lusos will be restored to their rightful place at the homestead.
Meanwhile, the pixies had been and flattened the last load of stone in Q's winter paddock, leaving the unavoidable conclusion that one further load was going to be needed. So if anyone out there is wondering how many lorry loads of stone are required to make two lots of hard standing for small all weather turnout areas, the answer appears to be 4. The mind boggles at how much rubber will be required to finish it off.
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