At last - my darling Dinio arrived to the stable at 04.30 Saturday morning 11th of december. The evening before it was -14 degrees celsius but during the night the temp rise to -1.5 degrees celsius. A good omen I must say. Anyway - Dinio left the transporter in an excellent condition. Two lovely ears pointet towards me, was the first I saw of him. Then the head and then the rest of this lovely horse. Very gently he sat down his feet on the ground and then very slowly he walked to the stable.

I think he was a little bit excited over the snow. He tilted his head a little bit and looked down on the ground.

He entered his box and the first thing he did was to drink a lot of water. Then he laid down and rolled over a few times, standed up and gave his body a good shake.

Thereafter he started to feed on the hay. He saw a reflection of himself in the window and that excited him a bit but not for long. While Meg and Ryan, the two drivers still remained, I changed rugs on him. Now he has a fleece rug with neck and a thicker rug on top of that one on him.

I refilled the water bucket for him and about 06.30 I decided to go home for a few hours of sleep. I will return about 13.00 and then we will take a 30 minutes walk, give him a good brush and take some photos.

Finally!! He arrives tonight!! How I and my family have been waiting for this moment. Unfortunately they were delayed from Norway so he will arrive in the middle of the night. They phoned me from the office to ask if it was OK to deliver him so late. The other option was to deliver him on Sunday morning. But I answered that I wanted him delivered tonight. 

I also, finally, succeeded in finding a rug with a belly warmer. My darling mother bought it for Dinio as a Christmas present in advance. So during this late afternoon we drove to the store and bought it and then we drove up to the stable for the final preparations. Hay was already in place so my mother and I cleand up the water buckets, filled them up with fresh water and also prepared his night snack.

May the last travel from Strömstad to Stockholm go well.

(I have prepared a small gift for the drivers, Julmust, traditional christmas soda, an Alladin choclate box, and home baked christmas bread. I hope they will enjoy it). 

I have just talked to the drivers and they are now in Strömstad. There they are going to leave Dinio in a stable for a 24 hour rest and they will go on to Norway.

It's really cold now so they will put on two rugs on him for the night.

Tomorrow they will pick him up again and thereafter they will drive directly to me.

Anyway, everything was OK with him and I am of course very pleased to hear that.

I am a little bit disapointed, an hour ago the driver called me and told that they would arrive on Friday night at 10 o'clock. They have been delayed in Germany due to some problems with a horse and they had to stop and await for a veterinarian. Hmmmm, well what to doo? Anyway - I went to the stable this evening with the rest of my equipment, installed it and also checked on his box. They had prepared it very well and the box really invited you. I hope Dinio will feel in the same way when he enters it on Friday night.

I have also booked the vet for Wednesday next week for his vacination and resceduled the ferrier to Monday morning.

A talk with the manager of the stable and he informed me that Dinio will have to stay in quarentine for 14 days, this means that he will stay in an separate area during this time. Not so happy  for this, of course, but I think they have pregnant mares (or mare) in the stable so they are protecting them and the rest of the horses. So for now Dinio will have his own private stable. But after the 14-day-period he will join the other horses in the big stable. During day-time he will of course see the other horses.

So, finally I've got the message I've been waiting for - Dinio will arrive on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Tomorrow will be a busy day for me, must prepare for his arrival in many ways. Therefor I will take 3 vacation days this week so I can be with him as much as possible. I've also scheduled the ferrier for Friday this week and tomorrow I will call and schedule the vet for the completing vaccinations next week. I hope that the last journey from France to Sweden will go well.

Dinio arrived thursday night at Calais and he is still staying there, waiting for the connecting transport to Sweden. Talked to Natalie at the equestrian stable and everything is OK with him. Today the snow is gone and they have 5 degrees celcius. Dinio is feeding and drinking well and is kept warm. So now I can sleep this night too. Perhaps he will be home on wednesday......

My third call to the drivers of the horse transport. Today they are in France and now (at 16.30) they had just 2 hours left to the stable. Tomorrow they will travel to Callais, where Dinio will stay for a few days. Everything was "absolutely fabulous with him, nothing to worry about at all".  I also got some information about the facilities in Callais. It is a big equestrian center with staff that should take good care of him. I will contact Jenna at the London office to get the phone number to this facility and also to here when the connecting transport will arrive in Callais.

Today I called the driver a little bit earlier. Once again, everything is OK with Dinio. He is feeding and drinking well and I really think that they are very amazed about him. They promised to take good care of him and it was OK for me to place a call every day. He will reach north of France on wednesday night and will thereafter stay there for a few days, until the transport towards Sweden arrives from England.

I am crossing my fingers....

Tina