Transport...

Some have voiced concern about Storm and his transport. I have to say, he looks fine for a horse that went 2500 miles across country in the summer, that before that had a hard 6 or more months.... I used http://www.ddhorsetransport.com/ and Angel and David Vierra were wonderful. I had posted to various horse transport bid sites to get as reasonable bid as I could, to get him from Tennessee to Ca. Due to his owner being in financial difficulties, I had to wrangle up some 'Friends of Storm' (Thanks Barb! You are a most responsible breeder, trying to help your former horse as much as possible! All breeders/horse owners should follow your example of following up on horses one has bred/owned and trying to keep them out of situations that are not good for them...I think horses would have wonderful lives then!) to help with the shipping and still, we couldn't afford a ton (I had one bid at 2600$!! Holy Cow! That must be a gold-padded trailer!), but wanted him to make the trip safely nonetheless. I got lots of bids, but only 3 we could even begin to afford. After emailing and talking on the phone with the three, I settled on D&D. They really sounded great and like they knew what they were doing and I had a good feeling that Storm would be fine with them. They offered a great bid, but didn't compromise safety of the horse for that price.
Storm was going to come out here in a shipment with some horses moving from Ohio to Oregon. The Vierra's were going to pick him up on the 23rd of June, and they made it back to their ranch in central CA late on the 27th. They had no problems working with a stallion and took great care of him, stopping every 3-4 hrs, offering water, feeding when hay ran out, cleaning the trailer, whatever was needed. If I called therm on route I either got a long and fun conversation, or they called me back (leaving detailed mssgs if I was not there) as soon as they got my mssg. There was a small hangup with the owner of the Or horses (Storm would go up I-5 to Redding, where Terri picked him up, with the Or horses going to their home) as they were not in Or as soon as expected. So the Vierra's put Storm and those horses up at their place for a week (once they heard from the Or ppl, they wisely decided dealing with 4th of July weekend traffic would not be fun for them or the horses), we decided to meet in Redding on the 6th. At the last minute I told them my friend Terri would pick him up, as my truck was hiccuping, and there was no problem with that CiP either. They were very flexible and wonderful to work with! They took great care of him during his week at their place, and didn't even charge me board (THANKS!), including it in the shipping fee.
Storm arrived at my place a little thinner than in his former life in OR, but not really that thin weight-wise...it is more a loss of muscle condition along the spine and hindquarters, that I have seen on plenty of horses that have had injuries or been sick and had to have "stall rest" and couldn't move around much or be ridden...the back kinda atrophies and the butt, and the muscles drop low on the spine, giving it a "poor" look. But he had fat on the ribs (can't see ribs and have to push his side in a little to feel them) and tailhead and his neck looked fine, etc... so he really didn't seem malnourished to me or anything. So rest assured all y'all, he is feeling and looking fine. And with some gradual conditioning work on the ground, then in the saddle, his muscles will fill out again and he'll look great! And I would ship any of my horses with D&D any time in the future!