Day 61: Dream Barns - 12km

Marc-Antoine's in Saint-Sophie to Katagyna's in St-Andre de Mirabel

We had a beautiful breakfast of fresh fruits and homemade waffles with Marc-Antoines parents. They were so good! We also made a smoothie with their blender, which I knew Jewel especially loved.

We set out on the road just after 8, on a nice quiet street. The sun was up and the day was just beginning to warm. My spirits were up after almost a week off. I felt ready for the day and the long walk ahead, excited even. I felt I could see the day, and the trip, with fresh eyes.

Things started to change when we turned onto the 158, a busy 2-lane highway. After even 2 minutes of trucks speeding by, people not slowing or moving over, my mood changed. I grew stressed and agitated.

10 minutes later, this white truck pulls up in front of me. Two guys get out.. I was unsure what they were going to say. The younger man told me he had heard about us, and offered us a place to rest at his stable, it was only 5 minutes (drive) up the road. So he put on his flashers, and they led us to the barn.

We were so happy we came. Right away, Kathleen met us and said we were more than welcome to stay. They have 40 boarders here, but had no problem making room for us. We met Katagyna, her daughter who owns/runs the barn with her boyfriend Julien. They gave us a paddock, and she even helped Ora right away. She poulticed her back leg where her hock and ankle were swollen, and did a front poultice where the nail had gone in Ora's foot.

I guess I didn't mention these in the previous blogs. While staying at Les Pieds Sur Terre, Ora and Lux were hobbled on the lawn. Ora was hopping around, trying to catch up with Lux when I saw she was limping funny. I was so worried i thought she broke her ankle, but she had a little square piece of wood stuck to her hoof. When I picked up her hoof, there were 2 nails in it.

I undid her hobbles and tried to rip it out. I remember thinking that in first aid we learned that you are never supposed to remove the impaled object.. but in this case, that made no sense. It took my Dad grabbing a hoof pick and wedging it to pry the thing out of her foot. Her hoof bled a bit. We immediately treated it with Hydrogen Peroxide, and Hibitane, then wrapped it so no dirt could get in. Marc-Antoine also helped us clean it. But at JK Corbeil, they called their ferrier and he was there in 30 minutes. He picked out the area around the hole, and an abscess came out. He told us how to soak it, and use iodine and she's had poultice on her feet since.

We met another nice man from Alberta, Pierre, who really loved our trip and gave us a lot of advice about travelling through Canada.

Above, second to the left is the farrier that came to help us out!

Later they treated us and a bunch of boarders to ice cream! Oh, and I forgot to mention the pizza we had earlier that day too.

Mouth full of ice cream^

Katagyna and her adorable 1 year old daughter, Anastasia, with their god-daughter.

Jewel and Pierre, a horse chiropractor, discussing plans. He checked over both the horses and said that they were all good!

I had some really good conversations with Kathleen. She said "Horsemanship is helping other people out." I never thought about it like that before. I always thought it just meant you and your horse "but if you love horses you love all horses, not just your own". She said. And she was right. Katagyna showed that in how she helped to take care of Ora. Thinking back to all the incredible horseman/woman that have helped us along this journey. Its also about human relationships. How we treat animals and how we treat people. There's definitely a level of listening, openness and learning that goes on with animals, and I see that transferred to people as well.

Julien, owner of JK Corbeil was always smiling and ready to help us out with whatever we needed.

I love this! #familygoals. The mother was on a horse too with her sun strapped in behind her. They were originally made for motorcycles but you can get them for horses too. They say even at a gallop the kids don't fall off, and the parent has both hands free to control the horse!

We had such a wonderful half day off at this barn. It was buzzing with people right into the night. I guess because of the holiday, it was like a busy store! Horses and cars and people and kids and dogs all coming and going. A group all went for a trail ride, kids included. Everyone was so positive and excited about our trip, it was so nice to hear everyones enthusiasms, and was definitely a boost Jewel and I needed after our rainy week in the woods. Although it was good to have time off, I think we felt restless and unsettled. Now we've had a little more time to relax, and more importantly, the horses have had some really good care.