Camp DuBoff

Well, the drive was long on Saturday but it was uneventful, so that was good. We spent 45min. driving around Brunswick, looking for the church, but eventually found it. The wedding was small, with only 3 or 4 other friends there, and the rest was family. It was very traditional, with Pachelbel's Canon for the processional, traditional welcoming and vows, short and quick. The reception was outdoors at a state park. There was lots of good food, and the bride and groom seemed happy.

But it was still a very long drive. :-P

Currently we are house-sitting for some horse people that my family actually knew years ago when we did foster care for shelter dogs. They call their house "Camp DuBoff" because they have three horses, three sheep, four dogs, five cats, a large house, gardens, and a pool all set on 135 acres on the side of Mt. Anthony right outside of Bennington, VT. It's absolutely beautiful and we are really enjoying our stay here (which Shelli will be glad to hear - she told us, "We want you to enjoy yourselves because we want to use you again and again and again!" They've had problems in the past finding reliable house-sitters). They took the two younger dogs with them, so we only have the older two - "Brisco," a decrepit old Doberman who looks and moves something like an ROUS (from Princess Bride) and "Lucky," a smallish German Shepherd who is very sweet to us but has the bad habit of biting strangers in the behind if they seem scared of her (so don't run away if she starts barking!). Then there are the cats: Lucky (yes, same name for two animals), Sammy, Amy, Sueanne and Fat Emily (who is the fattest cat I've ever seen - she gets stuck if she tries to go through the cat door!). The horses are BJ, Domino and Austin - a Rocky Mountain Horse, Paint, and huge Belgian cross, respectively, and the sheep - Lilly the mama and BillyBob and AnJolie, the twins. The animals all get fed in the morning, and then we get to eat. ;) The dogs and horses also get fed in the evening, and the horses get a bedtime treat. We're having lots of fun. :)

Oh, and the very exciting news is that we sold Annie yesterday! I was prepared to be very sad when she sold, because I've enjoyed her so much, but she was bought by a family who just moved to a farm in VT and are new clients of Jamie's. They will board both their horses at the farm every winter, and Jamie will give them lessons at their farm in the summer. SO, we'll still get to have Annie at the barn every year and keep tabs on how she's doing, which will be so nice. Yay!

A Wedding!

Some of you may remember Beth, my maid of honor at our wedding last summer. Well, she is getting married tomorrow (Saturday) and Luke and I are driving to Maine for the wedding. If you think of it, please pray for her new marriage, as well as safety and alertness for us as we drive the 9 hours round trip.

I'm off to bed now, but will post another update about our fun upcoming week tomorrow evening or Sunday.

Sand is not as soft as it looks...

Well, I was bucked off today for the first time at the new farm (and the first time in almost five years!), so I joined the club. Jamie, Eric, Luke, and our friends Kate and Sandy have all come off in the new arena, so I was one of the only ones left. Still, we've been here for almost 12 weeks, at an average of 20 rides per week, means I made it almost 250 rides without coming off.

I was riding Sundae, the most advanced of the young ones I've started since coming here. He was lazy and easy-going when I warmed him up on the ground, and fine when I got on. Then we started walking down towards the end of the arena, he saw something, leaped sideways and then started bucking. I stayed on for the first four hops, but was already off-balance because of the leap. I came off and landed hard on my hip and shoulder, as well as somehow managing to fill my helmet with sand. I think I'll be washing it out of my hair for days! Sundae bucked three more times, then stopped and walked right over to me. I did a little more work on the ground, during which he was lazy again and showed no signs of wanting to buck at all. Then I got back on and we walked, trotted and cantered around the arena, and he was fine! So I don't know what his deal was!

At first I thought I had popped my shoulder out of joint, but although my arm has felt quite weak the rest of the day, it's fine. My hip is incredibly sore and I'll be limping around for a couple of days, but by the weekend I should be none the worse for wear. I can tell you one thing - he won't ever get me off again!

Other than that, things have been going well here. We only have one more week of Dorset left, and although it's been fun, we're all looking forward to coming home. We got a couple of new horses in - one boarder that will hopefully be here long-term. They seem to be a nice family with a (quite tall) 11-year-old girl and her new Thoroughbred gelding. There's also a very cute pony here for training this week. Next week we have 5 or 6 new training horses coming, most of whom will be here for a month. Jamie's trying to capitalize on the time left she has to ride, because by mid-September she'll have to stay on the ground.

We continue to love our church, and are really enjoying two other young couples who we've spent several evenings with and always hang around talking to after church.

We're still waiting on the house we're supposed to move into. Please pray that things will work out, as the owner and her foreman seem to keep stalling or just not doing anything about it. We're getting really tired of it all and are going to start looking for some other options once the show's over and I have a little more time.

Well, I'm going to grab some dinner, some ibuprofen, and some ice! Take care and let us know how y'all are doing.

Love,
Erin