Bad day, good horse
con_txt is a week away, and I have no time for anything, but I'm taking a moment anyway because I had kind of a horrific experience yesterday and I'm still a bit frazzled...
When those incredibly, wildly violent tornado-y thunderstorms came through Virginia yesterday, I was on the road, towing a horse trailer, taking Griggs home from the special farrier, which is about 50 miles and an hour and a half from my barn. I'd only recently left the farrier - and it was bright when I left; the forecast called for sporadic storms, but they were nowhere in sight or I'd have stayed there until they had passed!
When the storm hit, we were still on small rural roads, hadn't yet reached larger roads or the highway, which seems like it should have been a good thing - I was going very slowly, almost no traffic - but for the fact that I was on...well, a small, narrow, rural road, with trees on both sides and branches almost completely shading and overhanging the road. Which was not, as it turns out, a good place to be. I have never been in such a violent storm. I was going 5mph and I couldn't see 6 inches in front of me. The water was horizontal. Tree leaves and debris and branches - entire limbs - were flying through the air. Thunder was cracking. It was like...I don't know what it was like. Chaos. Wild.
I was reluctant to stop completely, because I was in such danger where I was - so I crept along until I saw a gravel road/driveway leading into a huge field, and I turned down that, so at least I'd be in a clear area out from under the trees. I positioned myself so that I was facing directly into the wind, and with the weight of the truck and trailer and Griggs, I was reasonably steady - though I read later that in the exact area I was in, wind gusts were reported repeatedly in the 60-75mph range!! And then I just waited. I was worried about Griggs, but I couldn't really safely get out and check on him, and since I couldn't feel him moving around or thumping, I figured he was okay.
When the storm finally settled, about fifteen minutes later - it was still raining, but the wind and thunder had ended - I checked quickly on Mr. G (who was basically fine, just wet - I'd had the trailer windows open, because it was close to 90 degrees!), then made a big turn in the field and got back on the road. But of course, there were trees down everywhere. There were others on the road - we formed a little convoy, and whenever there were trees or branches down we got out and dragged them off, until finally we hit a huge, multiple-trunked tree that entirely blocked the road and was way too big to move. Luckily, by then I was out of the woods in a farm area, and a bunch of people came out with their tractors and chainsaws; eventually the fire department showed up, too. I had to wait about an hour while they removed the tree - stood around chatting with the locals and the others who were stuck. Driving a pick-up and towing a horse gets you a free pass in an area like that *g*, and Griggs was a trouper - he was obviously a little anxious, but I opened the trailer door and let him stick his head out, gave him some horse cookies, people came and patted him, and he stood quietly through the whole thing - what a good boy.
After that I made it back to the barn with no further incident - it was raining slightly and there was occasional thunder and lightening, but no violent storms. The trip took twice as long as usual, though, and then it took me forever to get home from the barn - lots of power out, stoplights out, trees down, debris in the roads.
What an utterly harrowing day. I'm still exhausted.
I also found out yesterday that friend N's preliminary-level event horse has torn both proximal suspensory ligaments - which is very bad; these are important ligaments. He'll have to have surgery and then a long rehab period...he has about a 70% chance of making it back to his former level. It makes me sick even to think about it...it's just so easy to lose so much so quickly.
Anyway, back to the grind...
When those incredibly, wildly violent tornado-y thunderstorms came through Virginia yesterday, I was on the road, towing a horse trailer, taking Griggs home from the special farrier, which is about 50 miles and an hour and a half from my barn. I'd only recently left the farrier - and it was bright when I left; the forecast called for sporadic storms, but they were nowhere in sight or I'd have stayed there until they had passed!
When the storm hit, we were still on small rural roads, hadn't yet reached larger roads or the highway, which seems like it should have been a good thing - I was going very slowly, almost no traffic - but for the fact that I was on...well, a small, narrow, rural road, with trees on both sides and branches almost completely shading and overhanging the road. Which was not, as it turns out, a good place to be. I have never been in such a violent storm. I was going 5mph and I couldn't see 6 inches in front of me. The water was horizontal. Tree leaves and debris and branches - entire limbs - were flying through the air. Thunder was cracking. It was like...I don't know what it was like. Chaos. Wild.
I was reluctant to stop completely, because I was in such danger where I was - so I crept along until I saw a gravel road/driveway leading into a huge field, and I turned down that, so at least I'd be in a clear area out from under the trees. I positioned myself so that I was facing directly into the wind, and with the weight of the truck and trailer and Griggs, I was reasonably steady - though I read later that in the exact area I was in, wind gusts were reported repeatedly in the 60-75mph range!! And then I just waited. I was worried about Griggs, but I couldn't really safely get out and check on him, and since I couldn't feel him moving around or thumping, I figured he was okay.
When the storm finally settled, about fifteen minutes later - it was still raining, but the wind and thunder had ended - I checked quickly on Mr. G (who was basically fine, just wet - I'd had the trailer windows open, because it was close to 90 degrees!), then made a big turn in the field and got back on the road. But of course, there were trees down everywhere. There were others on the road - we formed a little convoy, and whenever there were trees or branches down we got out and dragged them off, until finally we hit a huge, multiple-trunked tree that entirely blocked the road and was way too big to move. Luckily, by then I was out of the woods in a farm area, and a bunch of people came out with their tractors and chainsaws; eventually the fire department showed up, too. I had to wait about an hour while they removed the tree - stood around chatting with the locals and the others who were stuck. Driving a pick-up and towing a horse gets you a free pass in an area like that *g*, and Griggs was a trouper - he was obviously a little anxious, but I opened the trailer door and let him stick his head out, gave him some horse cookies, people came and patted him, and he stood quietly through the whole thing - what a good boy.
After that I made it back to the barn with no further incident - it was raining slightly and there was occasional thunder and lightening, but no violent storms. The trip took twice as long as usual, though, and then it took me forever to get home from the barn - lots of power out, stoplights out, trees down, debris in the roads.
What an utterly harrowing day. I'm still exhausted.
I also found out yesterday that friend N's preliminary-level event horse has torn both proximal suspensory ligaments - which is very bad; these are important ligaments. He'll have to have surgery and then a long rehab period...he has about a 70% chance of making it back to his former level. It makes me sick even to think about it...it's just so easy to lose so much so quickly.
Anyway, back to the grind...