Dante is here, and he is lovely. More important than lovely—he is a real sweetheart. I got to the barn a couple hours after he did. Of course, Ellen was there when he arrived. The horse trailer wasn’t able to pull into the driveway due to its size and the fact that the street is all torn up and only one lane right now. He was unloaded right on the road, and she had to lead him through the construction zone. He didn’t bat and eye. Good thing—the construction will be there at least another month.

Unlike Cole, on his first day, Dante did walk through the barn door. He settled down and ate some hay. Unfortunately, he does have a cough. Ellen thinks it was from being in a dusty trailer for 7 hours, but she is having the vet out today to check him to make sure it doesn’t escalate.

When I got there, she brought him out to show him to me. Such a pretty boy. She wanted to walk him around a bit to stretch his legs after the long trailer ride, so I suggested they join me with Cruiser on his physical therapy walk. We just walk around the property, so this was also a good way for Dante to learn about his surroundings. I brought Cruise out, and oh was he excited! He wanted so much to sniff noses. Of course, we didn’t—not just because Dante has a cough, but mostly because Cruiser will consistently squeal a strike when he sniffs the nose of a new horse. We did let Dante sniff Cruiser’s rump, and they were happy with that.

Cruiser took the lead to show the way. Dante was fine with it. We walked around the loop three times. Now, here is what impressed me the most about Dante. He was in a new place after a stressful day. Whenever he saw something that made him worried, he would look at it and then immediately look at Ellen to see if everything was okay. Then, he would drop his head and relax. It’s not like he did this once or twice. He did this at least a dozen times. Overall, he was more relaxed than Cruise because Cruise was so interested in Dante—he was keyed up. He kept trying to turn around to visit him.

This morning, Ellen took him on another walk about. This time, he had more energy—probably because he got to rest after yesterday’s ordeal. Since he was still coughing, she decided to call the vet.

I’m not riding Cole tonight to give him a chance to get used to his shoes, so I will have some extra time. I will also take Dante on a walk about. Tomorrow, we plan to take him on a walk down the hill to the river. we are supposed to get a lot of rain, so we may not be able to cross with anyone—but having a new horse to play with will make up for it.