What About Bob?

Debbie and I transported Bob to Phoenix today.  Bob has been lame for several weeks and we finally got the Army to provide funding for him to be seen at the Arizona Equine Medical and Surgical Centre which provides the best care that we can get.  They have seen many of our horses over the years and they are truly excellent.  Unfortunately, it takes three hours to transport horses there from Fort Huachuca. 

 

The trip was going well until about two hours into the trip when a trucker signaled to me that there was something wrong with the trailer.  I pulled over and discovered that we had blown one of the tires.  The tire tread was completely gone and all that was left was the shredded sidewalls.  Fortunately, we had stopped along I-10 next to a horse ranch with a little bit of grass along the fence.  I untied Bob and led him out of the trailer.  Or at least tried to.  When Bob saw all the oncoming traffic he tried to squeeze as far to the left of the trailer as possible.  It wouldn't have normally been a problem, but I was wedged between him and the left side of the trailer.  I got real skinny as he exited the back of the trailer.  Once he was out, Debbie let him graze on the grass and look at the horses in the ranch. 

 

Meanwhile, I tried to get the blown tire off the trailer.  Unfortunately, so much of the tire was gone that when I tried to crack the lugs, the wheel spun around.  I had to pull the shredded tire rim up onto a tire ramp to hold it in place while the lug nuts were loosened.  About that time, a fella pulling his own horse trailer stopped and offered to assist.  Between the two of us we managed to get the spare on and then loaded Bob back in.

 

The man who stopped was a nice gentlemen from Texas who happened to be an equine dentist.  His name was Joe Yasinosky and he claimed he'd worked on everyone's horse from "George Strait to George Bush."  He was a genuinely nice man and when he heard Debbie's British accent, inquired as to what part of Texas she was from. 

 

We eventually got Bob to Phoenix and left him in the hands of the wonderful people at AZ Equine.  We will be back to get him on Friday and hopefully they will have figured out what is wrong with him and hopefully we will have a new spare tire by then.