It wasn't meant to be....

Today I was supposed to go out to Kim's place and pick up Ebony and CJ to get CJ (Laramie's little sister) ready for the 5-Star.

The operative words are supposed to....

First, Sophie woke me up at 5 to go potty, so I let her out, she comes back in after doing her business and we go back to sleep. The next thing I know it's 6:30 and I hear a large crash (never did find out what that was as nothing is out of place in the house). I call for Sophie and she doesn't come. Finally she comes into the bedroom but she tries twice to jump onto the bed and can't. When she first misses I laughed, thinking she just missed her mark, but then I got worried.

I looked down and she acted like she was in trouble. I talk to her, tell her it's ok, she's not in trouble, but she still acts that way. I call her only to find she can't use her back legs! My heart skipped--this can't be happening! I poke and prod and move her and can't find anything wrong--she has plenty of strength and it doesn't appear to be a spinal issue at all. I carry her into my office and do an internet search, let Kim know we might not be coming, etc. I watch Sophie closely. She doesn't seem to be in pain, she just wont' use her back legs. I bring up the vet's number and get ready to call. I decide I'd better get dressed first, so I bring Sophie into the bedroom and carefully place her on the floor. I go into the bathroom and brush my teeth and when I come back in she's on the bed!

OK, I figure, she can jump on the bed, then maybe we need to feel this thing out. I carry her outside and bring Laramie and JJ in and feed them. Soon Sophie is walking around ok. Long story short, she ends up being just fine. Weird!!

So, I go text Kim and let her know we're coming after all. However, I go into the garage and find this:

OK, no problem. I change it out and put the (very dirty) spare on.

Take a quick shower, hook up the trailer and we're finally on the road!

So we stop in Adrian and make sure the rest of the tires are sufficiently inflated, grab a drink and then head off towards Clinton. We pass Clinton, all is well, through Windsor and....

PLEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wobble, wobble, wobble.....

Yep, blew a tire on the trailer. I was an idiot and didn't buy a spare before we left and of course the best way to blow a tire is to not carry a spare (cite: Murphy's Law).

So we hobble 35 miles back to Clinton to the only place open on a Sunday (Wally World) and wait almost an hour.

Sophie was still doing great, like our scare this morning never even happened.

Charlie is the best and waited so patiently.

So we turned around and went back home. It wasn't working. It got too late. I certainly didn't want something like this happening with a trailer full of horses late at night, so I gave up to fight again another day.

In all this frustration, though, it's important to remember the day could have been so much worse. I definitely remembered this as we passed by my vet's in Adrian on the way home. I could have been in there with Sophie, dealing with a paralysis or something. No matter what happened today, I am so thankful we are all healthy and safe.

By the way, check out how Sophie travels. Poor Charlie.

The funniest thing happened when we got home, though. I decided to clean out the area for the final stall in the barn and organize all my stuff. Well, I had a tarp folded up in the lean-to and I got it out to clean it and put it in the garage. There were of course mice hiding in it. Sophie was messing with one, and I felt like since she didn't kill it it was cruel what she was doing, so I "saved" him. Well, in trying to keep her away from him he crawled up my pant leg!!

Rascally little guy!

A little later Laramie was rubbing her tail again (she is incessant--I have tried EVERYTHING!). So this time I put some MTG on it and JJ decides he's going to try to undo HER gate:

Yeah, he can put his head between the bars!!! He can get it out, too, which is even funnier. I hope he doesn't get it stuck one day.

This was supposed to be Ebony and CJ's stall. Oh well, it will still be here for them whenever they arrive.