A Muddy Trek
This weekend Ivanhoe left for New Jersey. For a while there it was looking like he might have to trot all the way on his own four feet, but with some luck, our tractor, and a lot of help from our friends, we got the trailer out to the state highway with Ivanhoe in it.
Naturally this difficulty was the direct result of the rain we have been enjoying in Appomattox for the past few weeks. Our April showers started in March and have continued into April; the May flowers are already in bloom! With heavy rain comes flooding and once again the Appomattox River came up and cut us off from the rest of the world
Joselyn and Jessie were able to get in driving a big 4 x 4 pickup but, after consulting with Norman Mullins, we decided that it would be foolhardy and dangerous to attempt to go back that way with Ivanhoe in the trailer. Instead, Norman cleared the trees from our secret back exit to be used only in case of dire emergency, and determined that it was safe for a trailer pulled by a tractor.
He also loaned us his draw bar, what a great invention this is, by the way, every farm should have one! It is on The Weyr shopping list as of today. With the draw bar on back of our tractor we were able to hook up the trailer, load Ivanhoe, and begin our amazing adventure in the rainy woods.
Jo and Jessie followed in the truck and I drove the tractor the mile down to the end of the road then we struck off through a pasture paralleling a tract of plantation pine. It wasn’t so much of an adventure for me, more of a damp and chilly drive but the girls were convinced we would shortly fall off the edge of the earth and never be heard from again. I have to admit, it really did seem like a very long trek and I know the way.
Part of the problem was the mud, of course, and one especially tight bit that never seems to really dry out properly. It is absolutely no fun at all to get stuck on a muddy hill while pulling a loaded horse trailer. I know, it happened to me today and I was not a bit comfortable. But if I was uncomfortable, Ivanhoe was even more so, especially when we asked him to back out of his snug, safe, dry trailer into a thick red gumbo of mud. He is a dainty horse and prefers to keep his feet dry if possible. Finally he heaved a huge sigh and obediently backed off the trailer into the mud.
Joselyn led him up to the top of the hill and I backed down a little to get a good running start. A spray of mud, some loud sucking noises, and we lumbered right on up that hill to the clearing.
Then there was the matter of the pickup, still down the muddy track. An important lesson was learned today. Never try to drive up hill out of the mud in low-range 4-wheel drive. You get lots of engine noise, lovely rooster tails of mud behind, but no progress uphill at all. After dropping back into regular 4-wheel drive and backing all the way back down the hill, it was a cinch to walk that truck right on out of the gumbo.
Now that everyone was liberally anointed with red Virginia mud, we had an easy trip out to the state highway. Ivanhoe was more than grateful to be allowed back inside his cozy trailer, especially when given a pan full of alfalfa cubes. We switched the trailer off the tractor to the back of the truck and Joselyn, Jessie, and Ivanhoe took off for home, leaving red muddy tracks on the black top to mark their passing.
I retraced our tracks back to The Weyr, a warm fire, and a bit of much-needed relaxation. Hopefully this will be the last event of this sort. All the visitor horses have now gone home and we should not need to do the mud run again anytime soon!
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