I haven't felt such a sense of calm in a long, long time. Everything seems at peace this morning at the Lovestead. The new kid on the block has come home. She's outside in the barnyard with her pal Lefty.

Heather is a sweet but cunning filly. Our trainer friend Monty, who worked with her during a four-day transition before coming to North Idaho, calls her a "good thinker" and a "sensible" horse. Since she left her home Wednesday, she's been tied up, clipped, caught, fed, walked and taught general basics.

I mentioned "caught" because that's something Heather makes her human friends work to achieve. She acts timid and thinks if she wheels her rear-end around, that may prove discouraging. The nice thing is she doesn't kick.

I noticed this routine when we first arrived at Spokane Equestrian Center to pick her up yesterday morning. Another nice aspect is that Heather loves to be loved. I figured that out right away too. The trick with this little gal is to avoid fast moves, talk quietly, tell her she's a good girl and go about whatever your business is at the moment.

I put a blanket on our new filly for the first time yesterday. It took Bill holding her and talking to her and me moving carefully with each strap and talking to her, but it didn't take long. We then led her outside to meet Lefty. The two are almost identical size, even though Lefty is more than three months older. Lefty's just a runt but a pretty run.

With everything set to go in the trailer, I loaded Lefty in the front space. Then, I took Heather and talked quietly to her as she sniffed out the scary situation ahead. Bill handed me some treats and encouraged her too. She put a foot in the trailer twice and heard the big bang twice, backing out.

Another trainer named Karen was there near the trailer working with a shovel. I knew she was aware that she may be called upon to help. I told her we didn't want to rush Heather but maybe it was time to give her a nudge. Karen walked over to the trailer, clucked a couple of times and Heather took the big plunge upward.

All was well. The two new friends rode home as if they take trailer rides every day. It was Heather's second ever.

We unloaded them and turned them loose in the barnyard. Heather wasted no time prancing around the barnyard. Only problem was I hadn't taken off her blanket, and she wasn't particularly thrilled with the feeling of it slapping against her hide, so she made dirty faces at it a couple of times.

Barbara and Laurie showed up with their trailer to take Coquie home. I went to the barn for a can of grain. Fortunately, I had not taken Heather's halter off. She made us earn her acceptance as we followed her around the barnyard for about five minutes. Then, she suddenly turned toward me and decided that grain bucket sounde pretty enticing.

I pulled out a handful, reached over her direction, she sniffed my hand, and I grabbed her halter. Mission accomplished.

She was a bit flighty while Laurie removed her blanket, but that's pretty understandable for an adolescent experiencing so many new things so fast.

Last night marked the beginning of the winter barn routine---horses in for the night. After attending the Daarstad's open house, I returned home to prepare the barn. All three side doors had become pretty well encased in the summer dirt. So, with Lefty taking up virtually all my space and his too, I spent half an hour digging away the dirt with the horse on top.

I also had considerable digging to do at the cedar shavings bale. Eventually all stalls were bedded, buckets had grain and flakes of hay were piled in corners. I went to the pasture for Lily and opened the door for Lefty. One side door to the barn remained open for Heather.

It took her a while to take another big step into another scary enclosure, but she did. I closed the gate behind her, and she settled in to eating. Bill and I walked back to the house, pretty satisfied that the day with our newbie horse who's definitely a "good thinker" had gone very well.

Maybe that's why it's so calm this morning. I'm not complaining.