You may remember our post about Cinnamon that we put up in early April. We were very thankful that we had a few people offer to take her, but the first person was a wonderful woman who wanted Cinnamon as a companion for her mare, who was also lame and had barbed wire scars across her legs from her previous owner.
This Sunday I took Cinnamon up to her new home in Arcadia/Monrovia (right on the border). Cinnamon’s owner was unable to come out on Sunday, and I didn’t have anyone from Hanaeleh available to help me load her up, so I was pretty concerned about how the entire day was going to go. That being said, I hitched up the trailer that morning and headed down to Santiago Equestrian Center with a great deal of trepidation about loading up a horse I didn’t know on my own.
There were only a few people about, and no one said anything to me, or questioned why I was there, or why I was getting out a horse that, until that day, didn’t belong to me. Unchallenged, I walked up to Cinnamon’s stall, where the paperwork releasing ownership to me was taped to the gutter right above her gate.
“Well,” I said, “You’re mine now, then,” and instead of being overjoyed, she gave me a look and walked to the back of her stall. “That’s a good thing,” I told her, as I followed her in and put on her traveling halter. She didn’t seem impressed, but walked willingly out with me towards the trailer.
“I don’t have anyone to help me,” I reminded her, “and I would really love this to go well. You know, the easy way. We all like the easy way, right?” She didn’t answer, but seemed game to walk towards the trailer. “Let’s have this be a good thing, ” I told her, as we walked to the back of the open trailer. “There’s hay in there,” I reminded her, as we approached.
I held my breath as I walked into the trailer, and, thankfully, Cinnamon didn’t balk, but walked right in with me. Thank God, one issue down. She was calm and began munching the hay as I closed up the trailer, and we rolled out of the stable.
Everything went well on the trip, until we hit a batch of traffic for about 15 minutes; I felt badly for Cinnamon, as it was beginning to get warm, and we were going all of five miles an hour, but we finally were able to get off of the freeway and drove up to her new home.
She was met by her new owner Janet, along with her friend Remi and Remi’s grandchildren, who all made signs for Cinnamon, welcoming her to her new home. The feeling of love was like night and day from where she came from; an owner who could not be bothered to see her off, to a new owner whose friends made welcome signs for her. It was heartening, to say the least.
Cinnamon was turned out into a pen, where she was introduced to a goat (she wasn’t really impressed with him), and a stallion in a nearby pen (she was impressed for about five minutes, then decided he wasn’t worth her time). She settled in very well, and loved the grain and attention that Janet, Remi and the grandchildren were giving her. Cinnamon will eventually be turned out with Janet’s other older mare, where they can compare battle wounds and tell stories about their youth to one another.
We are very thankful for Cinnamon’s new family, and hope that they have many wonderful years together!
Welcoming Cinnamon to her new home!
Janet and Cinnamon
Cinnamon, Remi and the grandkids
Everyone was so excited to see Cinnamon!
Cinnamon settles in.
Cinnamon looks at the welcome picture that was drawn for her.