More Stories from the Field... -----Original Message----- From: old cowboy Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 8:13 PM To: Info Pegasus Subject: 2H Bison Trailer WENDY--We got home at 7 pm.-everything went ok thanks to your great service- had a great time at Soak City- good directions. Please thank your mechanics (they were great)-also thank Dan and I want to thank you very much - you were super. please foward this to all-please see that Dan gets it-I will defintely say good things about Pegasus - - Thanks again, Irv and Carol. -------------------------------------------------------- From: Cathy Coleman Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 12:31 PM To: Wendi Fedele Subject: More Trailer Stories From Renaissance Winds Farm...... Hi Wendi! Sorry about the delay in getting you these "stories" about how much fun we've been having with this trailer, but I knew you'd get a kick out of these: After finally looking at our new trailer long enough and enjoying the fact that it was as clean as it was ever going to be those first few days after Frank brought it home, I decided it was time to see what some of our horses thought about it. My first "victim" was my three year old Saddlebred gelding, Shoii, who is most curious about most things. So I took all the panels out to make it nice, open and airy inside, pulled out the ramp, and went and got my ever-curious horse. He had been trailered before, but had never seen a ramp, so when we walked up, he cocked his head a little, studied for a moment, and then "WHAM!...WHAM!...WHAM!....", tests the ramp with his front foot ( a horse can never be too certain, you know!), and then before I knew what happened, Shoii was in the trailer. I stood there in amazement while he looked back at me, as if to say, "What?...". Then he decided to check out the inside, so after walking around and poking his nose onto everything, he decided that it was time for a nap. So he lays down....in the trailer. This is no small pip-squeak of a horse, mind you. A solid 16H horse stretched out on the floor of a trailer looks pretty darn impressive. Fifteen minutes later, as I'm scratching my head in amazement and wishing for all the WORLD that I'd grabbed my camera, Shoii decides that "nap-time" is over. He gets up, checks the inside again for anything new that might have "sprouted" while he was sleeping, and decides that it's time to go back and tell everyone about his big adventure. Walked off the trailer like he'd done it a hundred times. And now, I can't walk him by it, otherwise he's back in there again. I thought that I'd keep the ramp pushed in and THAT would keep him out. What I discovered was that not only can he walk up a ramp- he can also JUMP IN. Shortly after that, we recieved a call from a lady in Arizona who was interested in one of our two year old fillies. She flew out, fell in love with Penny and bought her. Our next challenge was to get her shipped out there to her new owner, which was shortly arranged for about two months from the time she came to see us. In our conversation, we talked about the fact that although Penny was familiar with going on and off a trailer, she had never been cross-tied, and I assumed that she was going to be headed to Arizona in a box-stall. Well, one week before she was scheduled to leave, I decided to call the shipper and make sure things were all in order. It was then that I learned that Penny was to be traveling, CROSS-TIED, in a stall and a half. I was in a panic. Had we done any cross-tying? No. So the next thing to do was to get her ready. Since our trailer was so versatile in being able to convert from box stalls, to a variety of straight-load stall sizes, I took my panels and set them up as a stall and a half, the same way she would be traveling. Every day for that next week, Penny and I went into the trailer, backed into her space, had the ties placed on her halter.... and had snacks. Apples, carrots, grain, peppermints. Anything I could think of to make her being tied and standing there fun and interesting. She was perfectly happy to be in there and never once complained. So "The Day" finally rolled around, and we got the call from the shipper saying they were going to pick Penny up. At 3:00 AM. In all my preparations, never ONCE did the thought occur to me to practice loading AT NIGHT. I thought we surely must be doomed, and said an early prayer. Well, 3am rolled around, and in pulled the 75' rig, Penny's "Bus." Out came the ramps, on came the lights, and with the truck rumbling in idle and horses "talking," I thought, "Well, here we go....." Well, little Miss Penny marched right up that ramp, backed into her space, looked around, said "hi" to her neighbor, grabbed a mouthful of hay and off she went. If it hadn't been for our trailer being so flexible, I'm most certain that event would have been a bad memory for her for a very long time. Time for babies!!! Our foaling season arrived and all the little babies were busy trying to learn how to use their new little legs. A family that had purchased one of our mares had brought one of their mares to us to foal, and then breed back to our stallion. Everything went without a hitch, and little "Silly Lily" was born. When it was getting close to time for her and her mother to go back home, I started teaching little 3 month old Lily about the trailer, as it was important to me that she be confident in her first experience with this. So on we go, me and her mother. Lily ran around the trailer several times before figuring out that her mom was inside that big box! Once she saw her in there, Lily put one foot on the ramp, whacking it a couple of times for good measure. Then she tentatively climbed right in, and joined her mom for some grain. Pretty soon, she was wandering around inside, sniffing everything. Are your panels vanilla flavored? Because Lily LICKED the entire inside of the trailer. After about 25 minutes, I thought, "Well, she's had enough- time to go back to the pasture...." Me and mom walk off the trailer. Lily stayed behind, poking her head out the entrance without one single thought of coming out. She licked the doorway. Walked around. Banged her feet on anything she could to make noise. But coming out WAS NOT on her agenda. THIRTY MINUTES later, we are still waiting, as Lily looks at us from her "playhouse" on wheels. And again.... no camera. Although time consuming, this was the best lesson for trailer loading for this young little horse. And although she finally decided to join us, it was the same scenario EVERYTIME we practiced with that silly little baby. It's so nice to have such a versatile trailer and to be able to help our horses have good experiences with something that so many horses are taught to dread. Our horses LOVE to be on this trailer! Thank you again. I am certain that I will continue to have more of these experiences with this wonderful trailer from your company. And I've learned now to keep my camera with me at all times, because it's without question that there just may be some really good pictures to be taken that no one would believe otherwise! Take Care! Cathy Coleman...Renaissance Winds Farm