A Summer Surprise

At 7:30 yesterday morning, as I was about to jump in the shower, my phone rang:

"Hello?"

Luke: "Hey, Jasmine had her foal last night, and Judy found it in the ditch this morning!"

"Oh no..."

"No, no, it's alive!"
"Really???"

"Yeah, it's a little colt. Judy carried it up to Jamie's house, and then they took it back down to Jasmine, I'm on my way to Rite Aid to get a couple things for them."

"Okay, I'll be there shortly!"

Sure enough, upon arriving at the barn, this is what I saw:

We knew Jasmine, the mom, was pregnant but didn't think she was due until Sept. or Oct. because she and the father are both wild and can't be handled. But she tricked us!

"Beamer" is an athletic little bugger, standing and walking much easier than Bailey did, probably because he's about 1/3 of the size Bailey was! Judy, one of the women who does morning chores at the barn, found him outside the pasture in the ditch by the driveway and at first thought he was a baby deer! We're guessing he stood shortly after birth, fell, rolled under the fence, tried to stand again and then toppled down into the ditch. He was shivering and mama was franticly calling for him, both were MUCH happier when reunited! However, Jasmine was nervous and kept moving, not letting him nurse for quite some time. Luke and Eric came and moved their shed, cleaned it, put rubber mats and shavings down, and then we carried Beamer in and Jasmine followed. They were both more relaxed in their "palace," with shade and fewer flies to bother them.

I stayed through the afternoon and ended up going in and standing on one side of the shed to block Jasmine so she had to stand still and let Beamer nurse. After doing that a couple of times she settled right in, and by late afternoon was nursing well all by himself. Yay!!! He's already quite the character - he took a 10 min. nap standing up yesterday, which is how adult horses sleep most often but I've never seen a foal able to do that at only 12 hrs. old! I was cleaning the stall out all around him and he didn't once flinch or even bat an eyelid.

He eventually woke up enough to nurse a little more and then lie down for a real nap. He loves to sleep with his knees tucked up under his chin, and I told Jamie he's practicing to be a jumper when he grows up. We'll see!

Jamie has always wanted a BMW and there's a (very nice) used one for sale in Hoosick Falls that she really wanted for her birthday (in mid-July) but knows she can't afford. So, she got a surprise equine Beamer for her birthday instead! Our lives are certainly never boring. :)

Our New Truck!

Luke's truck has been wonderful for many years. It has pulled many heavy loads and made many long trips over the years. It brought us all the way across the country from Montana to Boston with all our belongings in the back three years ago, moved us from Boston to Hoosick Falls, hauled horses to horse shows, demonstrations and trail rides and brought many loads of hay up to the barn. It was a great truck.

However, it also had a lot of miles on it and was starting to have various troubles. Batteries, u-joints, pinion seals, and a very expensive part about the size of a calculator called a power train cellunoid, among other things. Keeping it running was beginning to cost us a lot of money.

So, we decided to bite the bullet and buy a new truck! It was a hard but necessary decision and we are very, very happy and relieved now that everything is done. We went and test drove several trucks on Thurs., made a decision that night and finalized everything on Friday. At 5pm on Friday evening we drove away from the dealership in our beautiful 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Turbo Deisel (the best part ;)). Here are a couple of pictures from the dealer's website - we'll take more soon with Luke's signs on it, as they look very snappy!

Although it looks somewhat purple here, it's actually a deep maroon - "molten red" is the official color. :) It's so nice on the inside, I said to Luke today it still feels like I'm riding in a rental vehicle, not one that actually belongs to us! We are enjoying our new vehicle immensely.

Luke and Erin and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Well, I didn't wake up with gum in my hair, but I did wake up to the third day in a row of temperatures above 95 and high humidity as well. Let's just say high heat makes me feel sick and it affects Luke's brain in about the same way it affects my stomach... but off to work we both went, about 8:00am.

When we arrived at the barn Paladin had lost a shoe and the weekend had been crazy so the barn was a mess. The summer help we hired to work Sunday nights is not working out so well, so there were many things left undone and the things that had been done were not done well. Judy, our faithful morning person, was behind in chores from having to pick up the slack and already drenched in sweat from the heat, so I jumped in to help her and Luke agreed to come back later (after meeting with a vet about another horse) to put Paladin's shoe back on. Things out of place, a couple of horses with cuts and scrapes, mess everywhere... but we motored through and were finishing up by about 11:30am. There were some hay wagons parked in the arena and it was blazing hot outside so I decided to leave for a few hours, do horse laundry at the laundromat and go home for the worst of the heat, then return in the evening and ride. Estimated time of departure: 12:00pm.

Nope! Luke called and said he was on his way to put Paladin's shoe on and put hay out in the pastures, so I stayed to help. New ETD: 1:oopm. Just before Luke arrived, Eric (Jamie's husband) and some workers from the dairy farm arrived to stack the hay on the wagons in the hay barn, and they were using the tractor needed to put hay out in the pastures! So Luke decided to help them finish. I figured since I would be waiting, I might as well ride. By 2:00pm I had the horse groomed and saddled and my riding clothes on, and Luke was ready to do hay! So I help him, we agreed that he would come back in the evening when it was cooler to do Paladin's shoe, and he finally headed off to his "regular" Monday job of carpentry. I decided that since I was riding one horse I might as well get the few necessary horses done, so I'd have 3 to ride, head home for 5 hrs. or so and then return to do night check. New ETD: 4:30pm.

The horses were all very good, I happily packed my things, excited to be heading home to get out of the heat. Nope! The lock button on my ignition would not pop up. I fiddled and fiddled, but to no avail. I tried to call Luke, but only got his voicemail (his phone has not been holding a charge lately, so is often plugged into his truck where he can't hear it). I decided to wait for him to call when he finished work and started helping with evening chores since I was at the barn anyway.

6pm, still no return phone call so I called again, several times, without any luck. Fiddled some more. Yay, I got the button to pop up! Oh no, now it won't release back down for the key to turn and the car won't come out of reverse! More phone calls, still no answer. So, I decided to drag the arena since that needed to be done and I was there. Got halfway done, when the 4-wheeler started to run out of gas... run to the utility room, hmm, all the gas cans are empty! So now it's 7pm, the 4-wheeler is stuck in the middle of the arena, I'm stuck at the barn and still can't get ahold of Luke. I start cleaning stalls since I'm there anyway.

7:30pm, FINALLY the phone rings! It's Luke! "Are you still stuck?" "Yes." "Sorry, I didn't have my phone on me." No kidding.... =P Luke arrives and fiddles with the ignition. Checks the manual. Checks the repair handbook in the trunk. Takes everything around the ignition apart, but discovers you can't actually get to the ignition without putting the car up on a lift and getting underneath it (for those of you who are confused by this, the ignition on Saabs is in front of the middle console, in between the driver and passenger's front seats. You don't want to know what Luke thinks of this design...). So, we give up and go home, tired, hot, defeated. Luke is ready to break my car at this point. Actual time of departure: 8:30pm. Yep, my short day turned into over 12 hrs. at the barn in the heat.

10:30pm, we head back to the barn to do night check after Luke has done some online research. He manages, somehow, to get my car to start! Afraid to turn it off, we leave it running until we're done (I don't want to know how much gas that cost us...) and then head home, finally getting home for good at 11:30pm. I turn the car off but not all the way to the lock position and leave the keys in it overnight. Early this morning we drove it up to the Saab mechanic and left it there until he has a chance to work on it.

Luke vows he is buying me a new car as soon as possible, and he also vows that we will never own another Saab again. Too bad, I kind of like my quirky little car...

Looking back on the day now, it's almost comical - like a comedy of errors, or a "fortunately, unfortunately" day. I'm sure there are several lessons in there somewhere, probably at least one of them about patience.

Today it's supposed to be 100 here with severe thunderstorms this afternoon, chance of hail, winds up to 70mph and a tornado watch! No riding today! So I'm home cleaning house and remembering to be thankful for all the good gifts we have been given, even when they cause us frustration and angst.

Three Whole Years

Today we celebrated our third anniversary... boy has time flown by! It doesn't seem like it could've possibly been that long ago that we got married, although we have managed to cram an amazing amount of activity into the past three years. Here are just a very few pictures from the historic day ;)

Today we both worked until mid-afternoon at the jobs we love - riding and shoeing - and then took off to the Cheesecake Factory in Albany for a delicious dinner. We returned absolutely stuffed and happy, and are now headed to bed. So here's to another wonderful year ahead, full of the things we love and enjoyed today - hard yet satisfying and fulfilling work, sunny days, and fun times of refreshment and relaxation together. I love you more than ever sweetheart!

Our Yard

This morning I took some pictures of the beautiful crab apple trees in our back and front yards, and the beginnings of some gardens I put in last fall. I hope to continue the work this summer and have many more blooms next spring!

The tree in the back yard, with some of its blossoms:

The front tree - actually two that have grown together, creating a beautiful combination of white and pink blooms (and my peonies coming up underneath!):

The front garden by our driveway - asiatic and glory lilies in the back, astilbe in the middle, and chives and some little white and yellow ground cover in the front. Morning glories also climb up the railing in the summer!

The hasta plants I put in last fall in the side yard are starting to come up:Sadie keeps watch over the yard while I check the gardens and take pictures. :)

Fun with Sadie!

Don't we have a beautiful little girl? Sadie loves the barn, not only because she gets to pose for her beauty queen shots ;), but also because she gets to play with the jumps in the arena! Here are a few action shots of our flying pup doing her own version of agility:

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease!

...ears flapping in the breeze... :)

Look at that form!

"Yay, I LOVE to jump!"

"Geez mom, that was hard work - hold me up and get me some water!"

Spring Things

Well, it seems like posting is becoming a monthly occurence around here, which I guess is better than never! Although being busy is not a good excuse, it is at least true - since Luke and I hit the ground running here on April 1st I worked 28 out of the past 30 days (working the last two Sundays at horse shows) and Luke not only headed back to his part-time carpentry work and his own farrier practice but also took on several clients from a fellow farrier who pinched a nerve in his back and is still recuperating from surgery! April and May are definitely some of the busiest months around here, what with horses getting spring tune-ups to be show-ready by summer (both training-wise and shoeing-wise!), our annual HGF Open House which we had on Apr. 20th, spring cleaning both at the barn and at home and continuing with all the "regular" stuff like keeping food in the cupboards, routine maintenance on the vehicles and rotating clothes through the washer and dryer on a somewhat regular basis. :)

While our bodies are weary at the moment - Luke's from doing every type of carpentry work imaginable in addition to doing 6-8 horses in a day on his "days off," mine from jumping over 200 jumps the weekend of Apr. 19-20th and regularly working 4-7 horses per day - we are very happy to have mostly warm temperatures and mostly sunshine finally permeating our northern outpost. ;) We are looking at more rain this week but can't really complain since most of April was brilliantly sunny (several time the forcast was for "abundant sunshine!") and unseasonably warm.

This month we are also looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends. Luke is travelling out to Montana May 13-19 to visit his hometown and attend a friend's wedding, while I am headed to Boston on the 16th and 17th for Jonathan's graduation from Gordon. Afterwards the Pinckney clan will be returning to our home for a much anticipated 4 days of visiting before they head back down south. So in case we don't get around to posting on the blog, you'll know where we are. ;)

Enjoy the spring weather, wherever you are!

62 degrees colder!

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful vacation at my grandparents' second home in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was sunny all week, in the low-mid 70s, with temps even reaching low 80s on Friday. Now we are back in NY, and the low is supposed to be 18 tonight. I love New England... =P
The best part of going on vacation to a place you've been many times is you don't feel pressured to "do everything," because it's not a once-in-a-lifetime chance. We felt free to sleep in, laze around the house, watch movies, play golf on my grandfather's computer (yes, we did and I'm not ashamed because we had fun and laughed together while relaxing), and generally do whatever we felt like doing. We also enjoyed the usual "beach house" activities - lots of mini golf, dinners out, breakfast at the pier, go-carts at the NASCAR speedway, and, of course, hanging out on the beach. Sadie LOVED chasing her ball, running up and down the beach, jumping over the channels of water left at low tide, digging furiously in the sand, and happily greeting everyone who walked by! Here is a sampling of pictures from our activities:

Putting carefully...

This one is an action shot! Note the ball suspended in midair above the hole :)

Yay, we love sunshine and 70s!

Luke, intent on not letting the next guy get past...

... and Sadie, intent on not letting that darn seashell get away!

One of our favorite parts of the trip was seeing Cirque de Soleil at Broadway at the Beach - if you've never seen them, it's a MUST! Even Luke, who at first was skeptical, loved the show and thought they were incredible. Who else combines amazing acrobatic feats with cats dressed in elaborate costumes sitting stock still as they're pulled around the stage on a coach by a standard poodle???

Now we are back home, both sore from returning to work and a little tired from all the driving, but refreshed from our week away. We have resolved to not wait another 3 years before taking another vacation. :)

He's Here!!!

"Bailey" finally arrived at 10:30 last night, a huge foal with incredibly long, spindly legs. It took him longer than usual to stand and nurse because he couldn't figure out how to get those long legs organized! But he's walking and nursing on his own now and both mama and baby are doing well. Bella is an excellent mother, cleaning, encouraging and helping her baby every step of the way - we are so proud of her! His full name is "Bailintin" - an Irish name meaning "valiant," which he has already proved himself to be! He has three white socks like his dad, a beautiful dish face exactly like his mama's, and already looks like his big brother, Paladin. We are so excited to have the first HGF baby, this gorgeous little Irish stud colt.

Jamie's sister Jenny took LOTS of pictures and video last night, and I'll be posting them as soon as she has them up. For now, the webcam is on and we are all getting some well-needed rest after a long, exciting night.

Delayed and Waiting

Well, we were supposed to be in Myrtle Beach this week. But we weren't. Instead, we were here in NY waiting for Jamie's mare Bella to have her first foal. She is now 2 1/2 weeks overdue and all of us are exhausted from the late nights of waiting for this baby and the many false alarms she has given us. Luke and Sadie crashed last Sat. afternoon on the couch after a late Friday night checking Bella's webcam every hour because she seemed to be going into labor:

(I was still up checking the camera!) Poor Bella is cranky and uncomfortable. Her bags are just about bursting with milk, and they keep getting bigger every day - a good sign for us, but not very comfy for her! We are hoping for a colt, and Eric says that 95% of the time when cows are late it's a bull, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. This will be a half-sibling to my horse, Paladin, and the last foal their daddy, Mountain Pearl, bred in the US before he was shipped back to Ireland last April. So we have one special baby coming, whenever it decides to get here! We have long lists of Irish names that we are considering - if you know of any good ones, please leave them as comments or email them to me!

After living out of our suitcases for almost a week, waiting for the baby to be born so we could leave, we decided to officially postpone our trip to Myrtle Beach so that we could unpack and go grocery shopping, since we had eaten all the good food in the house in preparation for leaving. We are now planning to be gone the last week in March, so we can visit everyone in Charlotte for Easter and hopefully have some nice warm weather at the beach. We can't wait to see what Sadie thinks of the ocean!

Sadie pictures!

Sadie is all healed up now, and she has been providing a lot of entertainment lately. She is such a cuddler, and will do anything to be near us while we're hanging out at home. Here are some pictures from one night she was "desperate."

Lounging with Luke - she climbed on top because I was lying next to him, but got up to take the picture. :)

When I lay back down, Luke moved a little and Sadie was wedged in tight between him and to couch. She didn't seem to mind!

She was so please to be cuddling, she just conked out and started snoring!

Sadie's friend Schnapps comes up to the barn every Saturday while his owner's daughter has her lesson. They love to play in the tack room, and will roughouse for over 2 hours at a time! Needless to say, we love it because she comes home and immediately flops on her bed. :)

Sometimes they get a little tired and lie on the floor next to each other, growling and playing without having to stand up and hold their own weight... lazy bums! This picture is taken looking straight down on them from above.If we're at home in the mornings, Sadie loves to nap in the sunshine from the single living room window, and she'll move with the sunbeam. Right now though, she looks pretty content where she is!

Snowy Pictures!

It has been very warm here the past week, with record-breaking temperatures on Tues. and Wed. in the 60s! But the two weeks before that were very snowy with a couple of bitterly cold days (single digits, with wind chills in the negative teens). So here are some snowy New England pictures, taken on New Year's Eve, for those of you who don't get to enjoy "the awful white stuff," as Thomas once called it.

The view from our driveway.

Our house and my car buried in snow!

Heading down the barn driveway for a snowy trail ride. :)

Luke and Babe, a training mare, crossing a stream in the trail.

Apollo, another training horse, and me waiting for Luke and Babe!

We've been having lots of fun riding in the snow, and are looking forward to more snowfall next week. At least there are a few good things about cold weather!

Merry Christmas and Pray for Sadie

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a whirlwind fall, time feels like it has flown by (as always!). We pray that everyone is enjoying this wonderful season and remembering the great Gift which we celebrate.

We have a prayer request today. Last night our precious little Sadie went out as usual to do her business and Luke left her out a little longer than we usually do. When he went to call her, she was nowhere to be found. We looked as long as we could, drove up and down our road calling to her, but eventually had to leave for our Christmas Eve service without finding her. I was worried the whole service and as soon as it was over we rushed home. She was here waiting for us, overjoyed to see us when Luke noticed she was limping. She had a very bad cut/tear on the back of her wrist on her left front leg.

We immediately called the vet who said we should come in, so we took her to the hospital. They ended up putting her under anesthesia, exploring and flushing the wound, and stitching it up in a "T" shape. The vet said we were extrememly lucky (translate blessed!) because the laceration came withing a hair of several major tendons and one major artery in the leg - if it had hit the artery, she probably would have bled to death before we got home. Scary! They also took an x-ray to make sure the leg wasn't broken, which it isn't (praise God!). She also has a scrape and nasty bruise in the armpit area of her right front leg which they cleaned up. If only animals could talk so we would know what happened to her!

We arrived back home with her at 1am this morning. She slept restlessly all night, frequently whining quietly and sometimes crying out. At 5 I got up to console her - that was about the time they told us her pain meds would wear out, and she was not a happy camper. This morning Luke left to help with chores at the barn at 6:45 and I tried to coax her to eat so she could have her pain medicine (it has to be taken with food). I finally found the trick - some chicken I had bought for Luke! I never thought I would be cooking tiny pieces of chicken at 7am on Christmas morning and hand-feeding them to a dog, but this morning I felt like a hero when she gobbled them down after refusing everything else.

The pain meds have started to kick back in but, being a hound, she is a big crybaby about everything. They told us she would have to go outside within a couple hours because they gave her IV fluids during surgery, but so far she cries loudly every time she tries to stand and then gives up and lies back down. So that's our next hurdle. Here she is sleeping on her bed with her poor bandaged leg and the food and water she won't touch. You can also see the bruise on the inside of her bottom leg:

Please pray for our sweet little doggie! We are praying for quick healing and that she doesn't pull any stitches. Also that this pain med. really helps because it is so sad to hear her cry and she has the most pitiful look on her face ever! Right now I am off to attempt a trip outside again, and then to finish my cooking for Christmas dinner.

Luke's Latest Work

Luke has set up a photo album with some of the tack he's been working on lately. Logan got to be the model... boy is he a ham! :) Take a look!

http://cuerogear.shutterfly.com

Introducing... SADIE!

That's right, our family has grown again! Last Wednesday we adopted an absolutely adorable little hound mix named Sadie. She is super sweet and her favorite thing in the whole world is to cuddle. She is two years old, housetrained, and is now sleeping through the night (the first two nights were a little tough). She does have some separation anxiety and is always thrilled to see us in the morning or if we've been gone somewhere. So far she has only had one accident in the house (when we were gone) and chewed up one plastic bag (also while we were gone). She knows "sit" fairly well, has learned "on your bed" (the nighttime instruction!) and we are working on "come," "no," and "off." Here are some pictures of our beautiful little girl:

The side view - she's a little girl (only about 35lbs.)!

Isn't that face too cute?!

We sometimes let her up on the couch, and she loves to put her head on the pillows!

She loves attention and she loves Luke... she's good at giving kisses!

One of her favorite places - her bed in the corner of the kitchen.

She keeps us laughing, trying to bury a chew toy on her bed by pushing at the bed with her nose, stalking the coffee table after Luke pushed it with his foot and it made a noise, and getting so excited her whole body just wriggles and shakes when we get home!

She's also been sneezing and coughing quite a bit the past two days, so if anyone has any thoughts on why or helpful remedies, they'd be much appreciated! We have a physical scheduled in two weeks, but may try and move it up to get the hacking checked out. She's not perfect, but she sure is a cutie and we are enjoying being dog owners. :)

The Summer's (almost) Over!

Well, it's been a crazy summer and I feel like every time I sit down at the computer I think, "I should do a blog entry today," but it's always late and there are a thousand reasons not to. So today, I'm going to just blow through the summer so I don't have this huge backlog of stuff I need to write about hanging over me.

Perhaps one of the most fun things of the past 3 months is that Paladin went to his first horse show ever! He was wonderful and we had tons of fun... here are some pictures of my handsome boy in action!

Jumping his heart out (can you tell which way we're turning next?)...

Good boy!!!

Hangin' out with the gang - L to R, Jamie, me, Juliette, Melissa and Galen (that would be, horse-wise, Spike, Paladin, Arrow, Jestic and the big boy, Jazz!)

It was a great experience and we can't wait for little schooling shows to start again in the spring. And, speaking of shows, we are just two weeks away from our first show at HGF! We've been planning like crazy and still have a ways to go, but we are hosting an "Eclectic Horse Show Series" for the holidays, with one show in Oct., one in Nov., and one in Dec. Instead of the usual classes from just one discipline, like jumping or dressage, we are incorporating lots of disciplines into a fun show for everyone. We will have groundwork and round pen classes, dressage classes, jumping classes, and some other fun classes including a costume class in October and hopefully a pairs class in November!

While I've been crazy with this stuff at the barn, Luke has been working weekends at a dude ranch, leading trail rides! 1000 Acres Ranch is located near Lake George, almost an hour and a half from here, so Luke stays up there the weekends that he works. He's enjoyed the different experience, but is ready for it to be over (he has one more weekend to go).

One weekend while he was gone, I redid our entire bedroom! I pulled up old carpet, stripped old wallpaper, primed and painted and got the room set back up again before he returned as a complete surprise. I have lots of pictures step by step, so I'll have to post them sometime soon.

Well, I'm up to the barn to teach some lessons and hopefully ride my own horse today! I know I've said this before, but we promise to not let it be another 3 months before posting... eek.