River Bend Farm (RBF) 2018 Equine Skeleton Excavation
River Bend Farm (RBF), on the banks of the Saco River in Maine, was owned from 2005-2017 by Polly and Tom Merrill. A long time eventer, Polly trained, competed and loved a number of horses during these years. When their time came, she laid them to rest in a small, peaceful, tree-lined meadow on the Farm.
In November of 2017, the Merrills sold RBF to The Ecology School who will now be able to expand their existing programs and will break ground for building dormitories and classrooms this September.Knowing that I am searching for equine skeletons to study and be a part of a future Learning Center, Polly generously offered to let me exhume 2 of her event Thoroughbreds, as well as a Warmblood who competed at Grand Prix for several years before retiring at RBF. (P.S. Only one skeleton was exhumed this summer.)
The following posts will chronicle the RBF 2018 Dig. I invite you to come along for the ride!
July 29 - Aug 1, 2018: What we DID know was that all 3 horses were buried somewhere in this grassy area. What we DIDN'T know is the exact location [...]
10 August: After a week of rainy days, I returned to the dig site and continued unearthing the area where we found the distal bones of one of Mikey's legs. For some[...]
11-12 August (Part 1): We Struck "Goo"! With the distal bones of Mikey's front limbs safely on the table, we needed to open up the pit by removing more of[...]
11 - 12 August (Part 2): Decisions We took a lunch break and discussed/debated where to go from here, if anywhere. Admittedly, after a wonderful first-dig [...]
20 August: After a week of intermittent rain, the pit was dry enough to continue exhuming more of Mikey. George & his backhoe returned to remove [...]
26 - 27 September: RBF Dig is a Wrap! Ryan, Tiffany and I suffered through a half day of extreme GOO to pull out Mikey's scapulae and the rest of his thoracic vertebrae [...]
4 September: Polly and Mikey Reunited! One week after pulling the last bones out of the "goo", I had Mikey all cleaned up and ready to be reunited with his [...]
