The end of a chapter

So just to finish off the story for the curious – Lexi has been sold.   Her new owner seems to be pretty much exactly what I would’ve been looking for if I’d thought through the “having to sell her, who do you want to buy her” process.   New owner lives in NH, has a small riding school, has ridden prelim level, and her previous horse is retired on her farm living out his life (she sent me pics, he’s in great condition).   One of the things I really liked was before she and I were in communication, she sent Christina pics of her farm and asked that they be past on to me.  Such a little silly thing, but no matter how much you try to be logical about the whole situation, emotion still creeps in.

It was, possibly, the fastest sale I’ve ever been involved in.   Friday I found out how long it’d be till I could ride seriously.  It took me till Sunday to commit to selling her – at which point I told Curtis and Christina.   Curtis and I spoke on Monday to discuss pricing, positioning, etc.  By Tuesday, they had cleaned her up and taken pics as well as putting together a video.

Seriously, she was not much less scruffy than this when I sent her to them ;)

Either Tuesday night or Wednesday am they started posting the sales links (I saw it mid-day Wed).   The first person came to see her on Wednesday.   Then Curtis called me Wednesday evening – apparently there was a fair amount of interest in my girl (of course!  How could there not be?   Although admittedly she was also priced to sell quickly).  They had one person already in, one lined up for Thurs, two for Fri, and one for Sun.  BUT, a lady had called from the states offering a significant non-refundable deposit to hold her till Sat.

Hmmmm okay.  So we accepted that and when it cleared we cancelled all the in-between people.  At least one of the Fri people was a pro, so I was reasonably certain they’d at least return if it didn’t work out.  The Wed people also were interested in a second try but we pushed them off until after the weekend.

So then on Thursday, the potential buyer had her vetted – which she passed with flying colours.  Thurs evening I got a call that they were just going to buy her.   Without even coming on Saturday to try her.   Apparently the new owner’s passport was expired, so she decided to purchase her based on the video and conversations with the vet and with Curtis and Christina and her parents would come pick her up.

Now this was right before Thanksgiving weekend – they discovered they wouldn’t be able to take her across the boarder on the long weekend, so would come get her on Tues.   She wired funds on Friday – but of course, long weekend…

Both Curtis and Christina asked me if I wanted to come and say goodbye.  I’m not good at goodbye, and was having a harder time with her going than I’d expected to.  So I opted not.  But part of me was sad about that too – I was afraid I’d regret it, esp as I wouldn’t get to see her again given where she’d be going…    But then Curtis offered to make the barn be empty when I came – which just epitomizes how awesome they’ve been to deal with about everything.  So I took them up on that, and Chris and I stopped in on the way home from Thanksgiving at the cottage.  Chris kindly vanished somewhere while I groomed my pony for the last time and fed her a bag of carrots.  I took her for a bit of a walk and enjoyed the sunshine with her.   Still makes me teary.  And then I left her, happy in her stall, and away we went.

Tues the parents came and watched her be ridden with intent to drive home on Wed.  By Tues @ lunch the funds hadn’t cleared yet so I wasn’t sure that’d happen, but by Tues evening we were good to go.  Wed morning I got a text that she’d loaded well (no surprise) and they were off.   That evening I got a message from her new person that she’d arrived safely.   And a couple days later, that she’d enjoyed their first ride (complete with pics).

So there you have it.   Lexi is rehomed with her new person in what seems to be a great home.  And I am now horseless.  And admittedly not dealing with that entirely well.  But such is life.   Logically, it was the best possible solution to a less fun situation.  Emotionally?   I need a new hobby – fast.