Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyBuddy!!! Yes, it has been a while. Lots going on! We’ll bring you up to speed…

The biggest news is that Erika, our renter/boarder/helper/trainer, was in a very bad car accident last week. Thankfully, she is fine for the most part. Her truck was hit by another car and rolled over several times. All in all, Erika was VERY lucky. She is also a tough lady; most other people would likely have been hurt much worse. Erika was released from the hospital after a few days and we wish her a speedy recovery.

In Erika’s absence, Joe and Sarah have stepped up their chores, helping Susan out with laundry, cleaning, dishes and such in the house, as well as pitching in at the barn to cover chores there with Dad.  They are such good kids.
The horses are all doing well. Everyone has their thick, wooly winter coats, which came in handy with the all the cold, windy, snowy weather we’ve been having. Cookie and Frosty are now under lights every night.  Won’t be long and it will be breeding time, and then foaling time. Tomorrow I will be riding the geldings as we are having someone come look at them and ride them this week and we want to make sure they are ready. It is an 11 year old girl so the horses should be perfect for her.
The second biggest news is that we sold Moxy and Matilda. A very nice couple bought them together so she would have a horse to ride (Mattie) and he would have one to train (Moxy.) We met with them several times and are confident the two ladies are in excellent hands.
I’ve been working on several BarnCam installations at local farms, and last Friday was able to get the last Dairy Cam installed. It is in Watertown, a city near where Buddy Gail lives and so not too far away from here. It went well and the owner seems very happy with it. All of the snow started coming about half way though the day and so it was a tricky ride home. The snow was really heavy and it seemed like more than 6 inches when I was plowing last night. Heavy, wet, snow and in the morning all of the chains on the gaits were frozen. That is always a pain as it is a little more time consuming moving everyone around.
We’ve taken in some additional new boarders, so we are now up to nine in all. With our own 14 horses plus the cows, we decided to add some outside space. So we opened up the smaller enclosure in the back paddock and made two larger halves. Then we put a shelter in the middle. Now we could have as many as four horses sharing the back. We also put a new shelter in the bee pasture, so horses can stay out all the time there too.

We also have been tracking down Dixie. We got the cell phone number of the last owner who bought her at the World Show a few years ago and have been trying to get a return call.  I really hope we can find her and make sure she is in a good home. We will keep you posted.