And the trip itself has only been half of it. Investing in the plane tickets has made me paranoid about his health, each day picking over him like he’s a piece of fine fragile china about to break. His feed has been monitored down to the last piece of grain and hay; he has been receiving daily vitamin supplements to do everything from increasing his hydration levels to calming his anxiety. He also has his psyllium supplements, too, to clear the sand out of his intestines, as they pick up tidbits of dirt as they eat off the ground, and it accumulates over time, potentially blocking the system, something that can kill a horse very easily. Each set of blood tests has been about all those diseases that could kill him: blood parasites, infectious anemia, plasmosis something-or-other, etc, etc. The insurance company wants to know his replacement cost, should he die. (The customs agents hope he lives, though, as they want to know his value to charge a duty…)
If I could wrap sheepskin around the whole beast to keep him from breaking I would. But unfortunately it would make him collapse ( and yes, die...) of heat exhaustion. So I've settled for padding the halter/head collar he'll have to wear for ten days, to keep it from chafing his preciously thin Arab skin...
*
Today I spent half the day running about town to arrange his air conditioned horse box ride to the airport, to collect more alfalfa, to buy him molasses for his water on the airplane (which is not a grocery store standard in the Middle East, so it required three grocery stores to find it…). At the office I was printing copies of his import permits, entering emergency numbers into my phone, updating his website (to find those mares…) and emailing the driver that will pick up from quarantine and whisk him across country to Colorado.
Its not like they lose them en route, and I'm going to be with him
most of the time, but the paranoid mother joined here with the desire
not to lose the new sheepskin covered leather halter...which can indeed
disappear en route.
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So, in the end, what about packing and shipping my own belongings? Cleaning up my own office papers? And how about that manicure and spa session? My own colon cleanser? Some calming supplements? Please, I wish someone thought I was going to die riding an airplane!
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