1. When you’re worried about losing the barn and the town, the stuff in the tack room suddenly matters a lot less. Horses had a ride out. Cats were the next level of concern. I threw a bunch of tack in my truck as an afterthought, when I had time to kill waiting for the trailer, and I kept coming back to “this is all replaceable.” Yes, it would suck, but it’s just stuff. I did regret not grabbing my tie-dye pad, though, as I can’t find a replacement for that anywhere. That goes on the list for next time.
2. Horses loaded, no questions asked, straight into the trailer at the barn, and to my knowledge unloaded politely at the evac barn. Horses loaded back up for the way home, no questions asked, though they threw a bit of a fit when we paused to pick up a friend’s horse for the third slot. Fetti was the worst offender, pawing and throwing her weight around when we stopped. Not impressed. Polly unloaded at a strange barn so that we could load the Giant Draft Gelding into the middle slot, then politely hopped right back into the third slot. Good mare.
3. Fetti stressed hard at the evac barn. She felt responsible for the other horses. She dropped weight and she called whenever any of the others went out of sight. Hindsight: ulcer meds would have been kind, and I should stock calming supplements/ulcergard/something for flood season.
4. Both mares tolerated being in a 12×12 pen for a few weeks with daily pasture turnouts when I was there. They only escaped out once, and after that I tied their gates shut with the halters and lead ropes. It’s not a situation I’d choose for them, and I had a few strangers at the evac barn offer pasture if we were to stay much longer, so points for Haffie cuteness?
5. Polly stuck close to Fetti when exploring around the “pasture”. Neither tested the fences. Good ponies.
6. Post-evacuation, I was heading to the barn AM/PM since our usual morning folks were still evacuated and dealing with their own family things. While I am capable of doing this and I’m grateful work was flexible, it’s not sustainable for me and I rejoiced in the break from the commute once they returned.
7. It was truly astonishing to see friends come out of the woodwork to check on us, several former trainers, coworkers, friends. I keep Facebook active primarily for pony updates these days and kept them coming constantly for a few weeks to keep folks informed.
8. Now that I have a truck with a tow hitch, I need to be comfortable hauling a trailer. Evacuations are the wrong time to learn and I’m grateful it didn’t come to that. It was questionable for a bit.

These are not the lessons I was hoping to get from this year, but so goes 2020. We’re all safe. I’m grateful.