What a great weekend I had! On Saturday my room mate Miranda from Minnesota came to visit me! I knew about the visit, her and her mother were vacationing in Maine and of course she had no choice but to visit me. It was great that she finally met my family and we all had a blast. Lots of memories, laughs, and good times. I'm going to miss her lots!
After they left I raced home, packed, and went up to camp. With my 8-5 Monday-Friday work schedule I won't be able to go camping as much as I want to so with my three day weekend I had to go up. I regret not bringing my tent, but I thought it would still get to the 30s at night in the mountain, but it wasn't. I arrived to the campgrounds and I couldn't help but smile. I breathed in the smell of red pine trees and all my stresses lifted and I felt free.
On Sunday I had planned to go kiyaking with my 'sister' Jordan, but she ended up not feeling well, so instead I went in a canoeing with her grandfather and his girlfriend. It was GREAT and it has really inspired me to do a canoeing trip this summer. Maybe take 3-4 days and just travel a planned route and have someone pick me and who ever goes with me up.
Unfortunately it all ended today but I did come home and cleaned up some brush that my Uncle helped me cut. Now that I'm older I really enjoy doing yard work. Not gardening, but mowing, weed wacking, and just miscellaneous things.
On some horse news, I called my old boss who lives down the road from me, and she is thinking about allowing me to ride 2-4 times a week in exchange of some labor! I really hopes this pulls through because I miss riding multiple times a week.
I really wish there was 30 hours in a day, and that I only worked 8-5, and also only needed a few hours of sleep. I would be able to do so much!
May 28, 2012
May 13, 2012
Busy Body
For right now, I have a feeling most of my posts will be quick blurps, as a forewarning.
So far I have been out straight and not much down time, which I love!
Friday we sheared roughly 75 alpacas! We started at 8:30 and ended around 8. It was a long day but since it wasn't hot, it was enjoyable. Also on Friday we had another cria, another boy! The shearer (Jay) was so excited because he had never seen a cria being born.
Saturday we sheared another 40 alpacas and I was in charge of giving them their ivomectin shots and giving them an oral dewormer. We started at 2 and ended at 9.
Today is Mother's Day so a big shout out to not just my Mother, Mem, and Aunt but to all the mothers or motherly women out there! Thank you for all you do :)
Tomorrow is my first day at work and I am so excited, and I can't wait to share my experiences.
Thanks for reading :)
So far I have been out straight and not much down time, which I love!
Friday we sheared roughly 75 alpacas! We started at 8:30 and ended around 8. It was a long day but since it wasn't hot, it was enjoyable. Also on Friday we had another cria, another boy! The shearer (Jay) was so excited because he had never seen a cria being born.
Saturday we sheared another 40 alpacas and I was in charge of giving them their ivomectin shots and giving them an oral dewormer. We started at 2 and ended at 9.
Today is Mother's Day so a big shout out to not just my Mother, Mem, and Aunt but to all the mothers or motherly women out there! Thank you for all you do :)
Tomorrow is my first day at work and I am so excited, and I can't wait to share my experiences.
Thanks for reading :)
May 10, 2012
Fast News
Beware readers the following is going to be super fast and not so descriptive news of up to date things.
1. IM HOME! Flight went awesome!
2. Went to the alpaca farm today, came home, and then went back because we had a baby boy born!! It was scary though because Noelani (the mom) had a torsion which is when the uterus rotates around and the severity can vary. On a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being the worst, Noelani was at a 7. According to the vet and Uncle they had to rotate Noelani 3 times while pressing on her uterus to get it back into correct position. The little boy was exhausted when he was finally born and we had our doubts if he was going to make it. What was worse is that when we tried to stand him up, he had no control over his back legs. But don't worry too much, we believe that during the torsion the blood flow to his lower legs got cut off and resulted in what we would relate to as a leg that fell asleep. Eventually he got his feeling back, was up and eating, and even attempting to run around! We weighed him and he was a porker! 17 lbs (an average baby weighs 15 lbs, and 20 lbs is considered a HUGE baby). I hope to get pictures soon but since i don't have a camera I'm not sure how soon 'soon' is.
3. Shearing day is tomorrow! Super excited hope I am able to get some before and after pictures, but again no promises.
Sorry for being so quick about all of this, I am gulping down supper at 10:19 and going to bed and will be at the farm starting at 7!
Thanks for reading!
1. IM HOME! Flight went awesome!
2. Went to the alpaca farm today, came home, and then went back because we had a baby boy born!! It was scary though because Noelani (the mom) had a torsion which is when the uterus rotates around and the severity can vary. On a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being the worst, Noelani was at a 7. According to the vet and Uncle they had to rotate Noelani 3 times while pressing on her uterus to get it back into correct position. The little boy was exhausted when he was finally born and we had our doubts if he was going to make it. What was worse is that when we tried to stand him up, he had no control over his back legs. But don't worry too much, we believe that during the torsion the blood flow to his lower legs got cut off and resulted in what we would relate to as a leg that fell asleep. Eventually he got his feeling back, was up and eating, and even attempting to run around! We weighed him and he was a porker! 17 lbs (an average baby weighs 15 lbs, and 20 lbs is considered a HUGE baby). I hope to get pictures soon but since i don't have a camera I'm not sure how soon 'soon' is.
3. Shearing day is tomorrow! Super excited hope I am able to get some before and after pictures, but again no promises.
Sorry for being so quick about all of this, I am gulping down supper at 10:19 and going to bed and will be at the farm starting at 7!
Thanks for reading!
May 5, 2012
Bitter Sweet
Having bitter sweet moments stinks to the high heavens.
Sweet
I go home on Tuesday! Not only do I get to go home, but on the 14th I start my internship. Dr. T e mailed me and we discussed how many hours I will be working, and my pay (YUP I am getting paid!). So as it turns out, this gal will be working 40 hours a week either 5 or 6 days a week. When I found this out I was so excited I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. Not only will I be working my butt off as an intern, but at the alpaca farm we have at least 20 more babies to be born (4 are due any day!!). I'm going to be so excited to grab some pictures for everyone to see. I here the newest cria, Monae's Rebel, is to-die-for-cute! Also I cannot wait to start training the babies for the fall show season. We have a ton to teach and I want to approach training a little differently then I have in the past (maybe I can start up an alpaca blog??)
Bitter
I go home on Tuesday...and leave everyone that I have grown so fond of behind. I have said this from early on, but I have made such amazing friends here. I have started packing and it's been hard to finish. My room is bare, and mostly everything except a few clothes that I need have been packed. It seems like yesterday that I moved here.
Lesson
Friday was my last lesson here in MN. I rode Jealousy and it went great! Jealousy is very different then Mr P but it was nice to ride another horse, even though there were times of frustration! I went from Mr P who you pretty much needed to point his nose a little to the inside when on a circle, to a horse that on a circle you need to use your outside rein. My body was so confused! I was getting my outside rein correct, but my inside hand instinctively was trying to pull her nose to the inside, this horse put up with so much! Jealousy has so much more energy than Mr P so at times it felt like she was ignoring me when I would ask her to slow down or go from the canter to trot. It was probably some rider error also haha! Being on another horse brought some tensing moments out in me. Again, not that she was being naught but just all of the energy!
Not only did I have a lesson on Friday, but I had a lesson on Thursday too! Thursday was a group lesson with Katy and it went fantastic! Sadie set up some ground poles which had us shortening our trots in one diagonal, and lengthening it over another. Mr P was such a rock star!! We didn't always accomplish the extending and shortening, but he did try and he made me so proud! We then did some cantering over a ground pole (and YES I did consider it my first jumping experience!)
Lately Mr P has been acting a little off. With other students he has bucked at random moments, and he seems a little more lazy than usual. I feel like he is trying to work, but he just can't. The horses have been out on pasture for about 2-3 weeks now, so I'm really hoping that it isn't founder. They were weaned onto the pasture nicely (starting with half an hour) and are now on pasture from 8-2 on all week days.
Thankfully Katy, Ali, Syd, and I are going to get together on Monday to order pizza and watch a movie (a HORSE movie of course).
So I said good byes to Sadie and Kelly yesterday, and I'll say good bye to the rest of my amazing friends on Monday.
I can handle sweet moments, and I can handle bitter moments, but these bitter sweet ones just drive me crazy.
Thanks for reading :)
EDIT: AGH how could I forget?!?!?! I won a $100 gift certificate to a local tack store that my boss works at, so I went shopping! I got 2 ariat riding shirts, and THIS beauty!
Helmet
I rode it in my lesson and it is WONDERFUL! I needed to buy an SEI certified helmet in order to start eventing.
Sweet
I go home on Tuesday! Not only do I get to go home, but on the 14th I start my internship. Dr. T e mailed me and we discussed how many hours I will be working, and my pay (YUP I am getting paid!). So as it turns out, this gal will be working 40 hours a week either 5 or 6 days a week. When I found this out I was so excited I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. Not only will I be working my butt off as an intern, but at the alpaca farm we have at least 20 more babies to be born (4 are due any day!!). I'm going to be so excited to grab some pictures for everyone to see. I here the newest cria, Monae's Rebel, is to-die-for-cute! Also I cannot wait to start training the babies for the fall show season. We have a ton to teach and I want to approach training a little differently then I have in the past (maybe I can start up an alpaca blog??)
Bitter
I go home on Tuesday...and leave everyone that I have grown so fond of behind. I have said this from early on, but I have made such amazing friends here. I have started packing and it's been hard to finish. My room is bare, and mostly everything except a few clothes that I need have been packed. It seems like yesterday that I moved here.
Lesson
Friday was my last lesson here in MN. I rode Jealousy and it went great! Jealousy is very different then Mr P but it was nice to ride another horse, even though there were times of frustration! I went from Mr P who you pretty much needed to point his nose a little to the inside when on a circle, to a horse that on a circle you need to use your outside rein. My body was so confused! I was getting my outside rein correct, but my inside hand instinctively was trying to pull her nose to the inside, this horse put up with so much! Jealousy has so much more energy than Mr P so at times it felt like she was ignoring me when I would ask her to slow down or go from the canter to trot. It was probably some rider error also haha! Being on another horse brought some tensing moments out in me. Again, not that she was being naught but just all of the energy!
Not only did I have a lesson on Friday, but I had a lesson on Thursday too! Thursday was a group lesson with Katy and it went fantastic! Sadie set up some ground poles which had us shortening our trots in one diagonal, and lengthening it over another. Mr P was such a rock star!! We didn't always accomplish the extending and shortening, but he did try and he made me so proud! We then did some cantering over a ground pole (and YES I did consider it my first jumping experience!)
Lately Mr P has been acting a little off. With other students he has bucked at random moments, and he seems a little more lazy than usual. I feel like he is trying to work, but he just can't. The horses have been out on pasture for about 2-3 weeks now, so I'm really hoping that it isn't founder. They were weaned onto the pasture nicely (starting with half an hour) and are now on pasture from 8-2 on all week days.
Thankfully Katy, Ali, Syd, and I are going to get together on Monday to order pizza and watch a movie (a HORSE movie of course).
So I said good byes to Sadie and Kelly yesterday, and I'll say good bye to the rest of my amazing friends on Monday.
I can handle sweet moments, and I can handle bitter moments, but these bitter sweet ones just drive me crazy.
Thanks for reading :)
EDIT: AGH how could I forget?!?!?! I won a $100 gift certificate to a local tack store that my boss works at, so I went shopping! I got 2 ariat riding shirts, and THIS beauty!
Helmet
I rode it in my lesson and it is WONDERFUL! I needed to buy an SEI certified helmet in order to start eventing.
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