5. OCTOBER 7, 2021 Hobby Horse Overnight Stables. MITCHELL SD

Driving through South Dakota was interesting on so many different levels.  One very noticeable difference for me at the time was that over a third of the other customers we saw at truck stops were masked.  This was Fall 2019 Covid season. This was noticeable because we seldom saw people wearing masks in ID, MT or WY.  I was kinda surprised to see this in SD - I guess just because of the vast emptiness all around us. 

There were several windmill farms and a few homes/farms with huge arrays of solar collectors. And at least a dozen tourist attractions and historical sites I would have loved to stop and see.  While I would pass on the Corn Palace, (although I have seen it from the outside before) and we had stumbled upon the very interesting Porter Sculpture Park on a previous trip, I would have liked to stop by to see Dignity.  This 50-foot-tall statue celebrates the legacy of the Native Americans of the plains.  

The Minute Man Natural Historic Site is a reminder of the Cold War era, when the United States and Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at each other.  I remember our elementary school drill of getting under our desks as protection in the advent of a nuclear attack.   Downtown Rapid City has the Presidents Sculpture Park walk.  And there were numerous Native American museums, exhibits and other fascinating attractions I would have loved to stop for.  But we had priorities.

Eureka! We arrived at the Hobby Horse Overnight Stables! It a 100-acre overnight stables that has seen better days.  But there are several huge barns with lovely large box stalls, fenced runs, fenced outdoor fields, lots of RV spaces, rooms to rent in the basement of the house, several large indoor and outdoor rings.  There are a dozen porta potties scattered hither and yon.  It really must have been something in its’ heyday. We were the only people there.

The 86-year-old owner (with a broken foot she got when she fell off her brand-new mower) can no longer maintain the property. Many of the areas are sadly and horribly overgrown with immense weeds.  She really would like a manager to help whip this place back into shape.  It is an amazing property in a great location.  She even suggested that Bill and I might be interested in just staying here and taking over as managers.  Because she has always liked goats(!) Bill almost jumped at the idea, but I held him back. (That’s a joke!)

The next-door neighbor was a veterinarian.  We got an appointment to take Rogue Trout to see him.  Really well-organized veterinary service. Small animals enter through the vet clinic.  Large animals are driven into the adjoining huge, large animal clinic.  I really liked the vet - direct and very good at listening and explaining.  He really felt that Trout’s non-eating issues were stress related (so glad he agreed with me).  Advised that we walk him more (yup, been trying), that everything we had been doing was the right thing to do and to keep on keeping on doing it.  He felt that steroids would reduce any inflammation and improve his appetite and thirst.  He gave him a cortisone injection and provided us with some injectable steroids to give again the next night. The vet also gave Trout an antibiotic that is new to me.  It’s called Exceed and one dose lasts 7 days.  

He thought that Trout should be doing fine by the next day and we planned on just hanging here and heading out for Des Moines on Saturday. 

And the bill was much less than we expected:  Emergency visit, exam, three medications = $86. Feeling VERY much relieved!

We spent two nights here at Hobby Horse. We’d found Goat Nirvana! Lots of large pastures, all fenced in. We took chairs and books and sat in the field while the goats browsed and slept. Leo really liked being free outside. We noticed some large animals that were in the same field but many acres away from us. They seemed curious and slowly came nearer. We finally identified them as llamas. Very large llamas. Our goats and dog approached cautiously. The llamas approached cautiously. And then all the animals just settled down. We were probably the most interesting thing that had happened to the llamas that week. We were their entertainment, and they were ours.

Next stop Hidden Creek Ranch DES MOINES IA 360 miles away