Heaven Was Full Part I

Today I am thankful for almost year with Jake. Tomorrow will be Jake's anniversary on our farm. Given that we are celebrating an anniversary ,you kinda know how this unfolds. However I feel doubly blessed so this will be two blogs.
When I groom Jake I tell him God sent him here because heaven was full.
Jake is my "about 15 year old Belgian" or as they say in Maine "15 going on 20"
When Bob and I bought this farm we had one Draft horse and one Mini. With all the green pasture and fresh air Nickel ,the draft quickly outgrew his Mini companion. We started thinking about having a "team". With a team we could do more, pull a bigger wagon or sled trail ride together...We started to look at adding a second draft. Bob said "no more yearlings, they are allot of work".We decided to get an older Belgian,someone that could teach Nickel.We read an ad (we read hundreds).One for a 15 year old Belgian gelding. The ad partly read "flashy" Belgian, Amish Trained, Bomb proof rides and drives safe with farm animals and tractors...This Belgian was in Pennsylvania.We made a number of calls over a month.We were told Jake had both been a show horse and a work horse. The seller said she purchased Jake 8 months prior from an Amish man ,who felt he was not earning his keep. The vet went out and reported Jake was "a good horse but slightly under weight". We committed to purchase Jake. He was to arrive on Monday the week of Thanksgiving.On Monday he began his trek,stopped by an ice storm. When the trailer arrived on Tuesday , and the tail gate opened Bob asked where is the Belgian? He was the horse closest to the tail gate ,he was packed in (the meet wagon) side ways, his tail had chafed against the inside of the trailer. The manure was deep and no one had water.We unloaded Jake, he was covered with a winter blanket,torn and tied with a rope. The driver was quick to tell us he wanted the blanket back. We took Jake aside to remove the blanket. Bob questioned if the horse had been switched.Bob looked at me and said "what do you want to do with this".I could see in his kind eye it was "my horse" Jake. I called the seller and had some words.I said a prayer. I spoke with the driver, who told me he had one more farm stop before he headed up
North . (Canada still slaughters).
I paid the driver and he left. Bob walked Jake around the pasture, making a sour puss like he had been fed lemons. Read part II tomorrow on Jakes anniversary.