The Adventures of Shauna and the Sheep

April...back to the NH!

April was the month of..... the LONG journey back, going from hot to cold and the arrival of the Finneran Family to New Hampshire to visit the favourite first born ;)

As mention in the last post, by the end of March our barn - Double Bridle Farm, at White Fences was pretty much a ghost town. Technically speaking the WEF (World Equestrian Festival ) ends on April 1st and with the way Easter fell this year it was a mass exitus from Florida for those travelling up North as getting a shipper Easter week proved difficult, but luckily for us we only had 6 horses travelling back with us to New Hampshire. The shipper, is like nothing I have ever seen before. Basically an HUGE industrial truck in which horses can stand like they would in a horse box, or they can have what is called a 'box stall' where they can move around a little but they can't turn etc. Bales of hay were required for our horses travelling back as they travelled a over 30 hours straight to our farm in New Hampshire. With this in mind, myself, the sheep, two Corgis (Cody and Ginger) and Ali (Foster Meadow's barn manager) left Florida a day before the horses left in order to be in New Hampshire before the horses got there, to ensure they (and us) had a bed to sleep in and no mice to wrestle with!

PACKING!!

The stallion Zagal waiting to board

Getting comfy

We started at 430 am, with all the supplies from the barn that are brought back up North, feed tubs, rugs, sheets tack etc etc and made our 16 hour journey to North Carolina where we stopped for the night. Again with an early start again the following morning we set sail once again on highways that I thought went on forever!! A good thing about these epically long trips is, that it is a great chance to call home multiply times because other then driving, your doing nothing else and their is only so much singing along to the radio one can do!!

Facing for North!

Half way stop - North Carolina

Maaaaaa-rian with her co-pilots Cody and Ginger

Long road home leaving the sunshine state of Florida and heading into RAIN

Finally we arrived in Foster Meadow's, New Hampshire - where more cleaning commenced! Going from a steady 30 degree plus environment to the 'cold' 11/12 degrees was rough on us as humans but ever worse for the horses, so the heavy rugs were brought out for a few days until they became accustomed to the new temp. Pam arrived a few days after we arrived and then left again for 2 weeks to go horse shopping in Denmark (more on that in another post!) So we were left with a barn to spring clean and only 6 horses to look after, so we had a little 2 week holiday also and during that time the Finneran gang arrived!!! I was so happy that they chose to come over my brother and sisters school Easter holidays, as it was an early birthday present for me to see them and a holiday for them!!

Mammy Finneran stocking up the American fridge with Irish goods

Myself, my sister Emma and Maaaaa-rian

Brother and sister meeting Peanut

Daddy Finneran and Kevin testing out the mini

While my family was visiting, I really got spoilt for my birthday (April is the birth month of champions - proven fact) Totaling 3 birthday cakes, one from my parents, one from my Foster Meadow family and one from my adopted family, the Potasky's who have really made my stay here so wonderful and made sure I am not as homesick as I should be!!

Cáca mílis #1

So that was the whirlwind that was April! Travelling over 1500 miles, on a constant sugar high,and going from a ton of horses to a easy 6 - as well as having guests over the month FLEW. Looking back I really should have rested more then as now I barely have time to eat never mind blog! Getting better at managing my time, but ye'll find out soon why I have been flat to the mat! Leaving ye with some of the spring cleaning and scenic Maaaaa-rian shots. Loving New Hampshire, the view is amazing everyday!