I'm grinning from ear to ear. :) :)

August 30th, we picked up Beike, my new Friesian mare, from the USDA importation facility in Newburgh, New York. She arrived in Newburgh on Saturday night, the 27th, after an uneventful flight on KLM airlines. I even watched her flight's progress on the internet...great fun!

Anyways... she arrived...passed all her blood tests, and was cleared for leaving the import facility this morning. Dad and I left Big Flats about 4:15AM and headed to Newburgh. It was a great trip...great fun talking with my Dad! We arrived at the import facility about 9:00 AM, and by golly, by 9:30 AM, we were back on the road heading towards Cornell University. After a couple of refueling (gas and tummies) stops, we arrived at Cornell just before 2PM, in time for Dr. Lowe to be able to collect the first of three samples (each taken on the 1st, 4th and 7th day of her stay at Cornell) to test for the presence (which we DON'T want) of the bacteria that causes Contagious Equine Metritis. CEM is a transmissible, exotic (meaning not native to the USA), venereal disease of horses caused by the bacterium Taylorella equigenitalis. CEM is a serious disease because it is highly contagious and exposure to the disease usually results in infertility. So this is why the USA is so very strict about this equine disease. Using the fluids that are swabbed from her girlie parts, cultures are grown. The CEM bug takes seven days to appear..so if it doesn't appear in any of the three samples (each grown for seven days), then she is declared "negative" and released to come home. If she tests positive...oh, I don't even want to think about how long she'll have to stay at Cornell. It takes MONTHS to clear the disease from a horse.

Anyways.... after Dr. Lowe took today's samples, they allowed me to groom her and ride her on the grounds. She was wonderful. She stood so still in her stall for grooming and tacking up. AND...when I approached her with the bridle...she even reached down and picked the bit up with her mouth HERSELF!.

I had a nice ride and just took it easy with her. I was tired, and I'm sure she must have been as well. I just wanted to make sure that she wasn't a spook (she wasn't AT ALL) and that she responded to very basic cues. After the short ride, I gave her a nice water rinse, and she stood right there, even for her face to be rinsed off. I left her in her roomy stall at Cornell, in which she had a nice long drink of water and was happily eating hay.

She made a BIG HIT with the Cornell folks, so I know she's going to get special treatment during her 14 day stay there. :) Can't wait to get her home, and let her teach me all that she knows.