The past two days has brought the feeling of crisp and clean air. It has felt like fall and I LOVE IT! Fall is hands down my favorite season not only because it makes riding more bearable but it means I can sleep with my window on in a sweatshirt.
Since school has started two more roommates have moved into the trailer that I live in. One is a girl that also rides horses! We are a lot alike mostly that we talk non-stop haha, which is nice because the other roommates rarely come out of their bedrooms. Yesterday I decided to bring B to the barn and ride Ali while I ride Feather. I love having someone to ride with so I was ecstatic.
Well come to find out it was probably a day that both of us should have stayed in bed! I rode Feather in her western tack believing it would fit better than the only English saddle available at the farm and had B ride Ali in the English tack. After a while we decided to switch horses. The BO had come back with her friends after going on a trail ride. I had to readjust the western saddle because it had moved too far back (Feather is so pudgy she has no withers and I have decided that the western saddle did not fit her nearly well enough). I moved the saddle up and regirthed her for B. As B went to go mount up the girth wasn't tight enough and the saddle rolled over and B fell on her back. In the process doing some damage to her ankle. I won't lie I was a horrible friend and busted out laughing at first but then stopped once she said she hurt her ankle. She stood up quickly and walked over to the gate where she fainted. I ran over with the BO and her friends to help B. I was already thinking "Yup lost my riding buddy". We got B up and sitting down and I gave her my water bottle to drink and she felt better. I still felt horrible but B said she was fine, and she looked so much better and stayed to watch me ride Ali some more.
By the time we were done B was back to normal and we were joking around while we untacked. Then came my turn...I was just standing around with Ali when Star (a 30 year old cuddle horse) came up to stand on the other side of Ali. B went to go shoo her away and in the process something must have bitten Star because she bolted in front of Ali and proceeded to run me over, in which I went flying back three feet and landed on my back, hitting my head on a log that was on the ground (thank GOD I was wearing my helmet). Thankfully I didn't get stepped on and Star was fine, but I had to bust out laughing. I've never had so many horse accidents happen in one day, hopefully this isn't' a bad omen of things to come.
In other news school started last week and it looks like it's going to be a great semester! It won't be easy, but it's going to be manageable and I really enjoy all of my professors.
On a completely random note just heard a little girl across the road yell "MOMMY" and the Mom said "Hey baby!" adorable :)
Thanks for reading!
September 8, 2013
September 1, 2013
Meet I'm A Lil Elegant (aka Ali)
Its official I stink at blogging! When I have the time to blog I don't have the motivation, when I don't have the time I want to write. So I have the time and I'm just going to write.
Over a month ago I went for a riding lesson that turned into me meeting and riding a 5 year old paint named Ali.
Even though she is 5 years old she is probably the most sane 5 year old I have ever met. I have yet to witness her spook at anything and even though she does test what you know she is a very willing horse.
At first my goal was to work with her enough that we could do some dressage shows in the spring, but I have changed my goals into just having fun with her. Horseback riding has never been a source of leisure fun for myself. With each ride I always have a goal and if I don't accomplish that goal I feel like I have failed, but no more! I will still make goals but these goals will be "go for a trail ride" "get a few strides of relaxed canter" "HAVE FUN".
Today we went on a trail ride and encountered one habit of Ali's that is going to take some time to correct. She likes to balk. In the ring she does it in on particular corner (by the gate) and today I realized she will also do it on the trail. She isn't spooky, she just stops and refuses to go forward. I don't have a crop to bring on the trail with me (in the ring I use a lunge whip when I need it but it generally only takes a few taps with my leg to get the message across). I know that kicking her doesn't phase her and I tried making small circles but she would stop as soon as I had her straighten to go in the direction I wanted. Since I didn't want to keep doing circles in someone's driveway (we were on a dead end road) I got off and made her trot down the road with me, working on making the trot longer and shorter. I would then hop back on (need to work on mounting from the ground haha!) and we would keep going. I had to do this twice today but I am hoping with more work it won't be an issue. It's a good thing that I would never let her go back to the barn without it being my idea first.
Hopefully on Thursday I will be having a riding lesson at a new barn *crosses fingers*.
Also school starts on Tuesday (HELLO SENIOR YEAR!), and I have yet to buy books haha gotta get on top of that!
Thanks for reading :)
Over a month ago I went for a riding lesson that turned into me meeting and riding a 5 year old paint named Ali.
At first my goal was to work with her enough that we could do some dressage shows in the spring, but I have changed my goals into just having fun with her. Horseback riding has never been a source of leisure fun for myself. With each ride I always have a goal and if I don't accomplish that goal I feel like I have failed, but no more! I will still make goals but these goals will be "go for a trail ride" "get a few strides of relaxed canter" "HAVE FUN".
Today we went on a trail ride and encountered one habit of Ali's that is going to take some time to correct. She likes to balk. In the ring she does it in on particular corner (by the gate) and today I realized she will also do it on the trail. She isn't spooky, she just stops and refuses to go forward. I don't have a crop to bring on the trail with me (in the ring I use a lunge whip when I need it but it generally only takes a few taps with my leg to get the message across). I know that kicking her doesn't phase her and I tried making small circles but she would stop as soon as I had her straighten to go in the direction I wanted. Since I didn't want to keep doing circles in someone's driveway (we were on a dead end road) I got off and made her trot down the road with me, working on making the trot longer and shorter. I would then hop back on (need to work on mounting from the ground haha!) and we would keep going. I had to do this twice today but I am hoping with more work it won't be an issue. It's a good thing that I would never let her go back to the barn without it being my idea first.
Hopefully on Thursday I will be having a riding lesson at a new barn *crosses fingers*.
Also school starts on Tuesday (HELLO SENIOR YEAR!), and I have yet to buy books haha gotta get on top of that!
Thanks for reading :)
August 7, 2013
New Internship!
Wow what an interesting summer this has turned out to be. Lets start with the most recent and work my ways backwards.
Today I started my new internship/volunteer session at the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals or MSSPA. I contacted the MSSPA a while ago asking if they had an on site vet and if I could follow this vet in exchange for some volunteer hours. Why did I want to do this? In the fall of 2014 or 2015 (depending on different factors) I will be starting to apply for vet schools. I already have 500+ hours of small animal experience under a vet, over 1000+ hours of general equine experience, and over 1000 hours of alpaca general experience. All of these look great on a vet application but I am looking to spice it up and volunteering for an equine rescue and gaining some equine vet experience hours is one thing that will help to do just that.
A day or so later I received a very enthusiastic reply from the public relations person at the rescue and before I knew it I had a meeting with her, the owner, and the CEO of the rescue. Before the meeting I did some more research on the rescue and became even more impressed. This rescue really stands out from your ordinary rescue. Unlike other rescues, the MSSPA does not take horses from the general public, nor do they go looking for horses that need to be 'rescued'. All the animals on the property were seized from the state and are either here in find new homes, or are here while the owners are going through the court process. Don't get me wrong, most of these horses came here due to neglect and abuse, but some come here because the owners are for some reason arrested and cannot care for the horses (since they are not home).
Apart from their mission and purpose as a rescue, the facilities impressed me even more. I just gauk at the two barns and the set up, actually I'm sure I drooled the first time I saw the facilities. They aren't fancy (though they are VERY clean and well kept) but the layout is just so open and has a peaceful feeling. All of the horses come in at night time so each one has its own stall. Each stall has an approximate 5 foot by 5 foot open window and the stalls are very open in general. I would say that the only next best option for these horses would be to have them out in fields all day and night, but since that isn't possible this is the next best option.
My day comprised of mucking stalls, cleaning and filling water buckets, cleaning out each feed bucket in the stall (YES this gets done every day), and helping with cleaning up some hay. The barn isles are cleaned using a leaf blower and everything is just spotless (but not a crazy spotless).
Did I mention that everyone I worked with today was amazing?! The barn manager was fantastic and was so grateful for my help today and the other employees were so welcoming. It was nice to be in an equine facility where I didn't feel like the people were "horse crazy". At noon time the barn manager said that it was lunch time, and believe it or not, but all the employees stopped working and we all went into the farm house and had lunch together around a table. It was great, I've never been in a work environment where all the employees actually had lunch together.
The absolute best part of the day was when I was told that it was 4 (meaning the day was done) and I couldn't believe it! Not once had I looked at the time all day. I feel like at my new job I am always looking at the clock and counting down to when I can go home. Not that I don't enjoy my job but when I am there I always feel like I could be doing something more enjoyable, but I didn't feel like that today.
After I showered the owner and public relations lady (and her husband) treated me to dinner. These people are just saints!
Thats is what has happened the most recently, in the next few days I will be posting about the less recent happenings so stay tuned!
Thanks for reading :)
Today I started my new internship/volunteer session at the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals or MSSPA. I contacted the MSSPA a while ago asking if they had an on site vet and if I could follow this vet in exchange for some volunteer hours. Why did I want to do this? In the fall of 2014 or 2015 (depending on different factors) I will be starting to apply for vet schools. I already have 500+ hours of small animal experience under a vet, over 1000+ hours of general equine experience, and over 1000 hours of alpaca general experience. All of these look great on a vet application but I am looking to spice it up and volunteering for an equine rescue and gaining some equine vet experience hours is one thing that will help to do just that.
A day or so later I received a very enthusiastic reply from the public relations person at the rescue and before I knew it I had a meeting with her, the owner, and the CEO of the rescue. Before the meeting I did some more research on the rescue and became even more impressed. This rescue really stands out from your ordinary rescue. Unlike other rescues, the MSSPA does not take horses from the general public, nor do they go looking for horses that need to be 'rescued'. All the animals on the property were seized from the state and are either here in find new homes, or are here while the owners are going through the court process. Don't get me wrong, most of these horses came here due to neglect and abuse, but some come here because the owners are for some reason arrested and cannot care for the horses (since they are not home).
Apart from their mission and purpose as a rescue, the facilities impressed me even more. I just gauk at the two barns and the set up, actually I'm sure I drooled the first time I saw the facilities. They aren't fancy (though they are VERY clean and well kept) but the layout is just so open and has a peaceful feeling. All of the horses come in at night time so each one has its own stall. Each stall has an approximate 5 foot by 5 foot open window and the stalls are very open in general. I would say that the only next best option for these horses would be to have them out in fields all day and night, but since that isn't possible this is the next best option.
My day comprised of mucking stalls, cleaning and filling water buckets, cleaning out each feed bucket in the stall (YES this gets done every day), and helping with cleaning up some hay. The barn isles are cleaned using a leaf blower and everything is just spotless (but not a crazy spotless).
Did I mention that everyone I worked with today was amazing?! The barn manager was fantastic and was so grateful for my help today and the other employees were so welcoming. It was nice to be in an equine facility where I didn't feel like the people were "horse crazy". At noon time the barn manager said that it was lunch time, and believe it or not, but all the employees stopped working and we all went into the farm house and had lunch together around a table. It was great, I've never been in a work environment where all the employees actually had lunch together.
The absolute best part of the day was when I was told that it was 4 (meaning the day was done) and I couldn't believe it! Not once had I looked at the time all day. I feel like at my new job I am always looking at the clock and counting down to when I can go home. Not that I don't enjoy my job but when I am there I always feel like I could be doing something more enjoyable, but I didn't feel like that today.
After I showered the owner and public relations lady (and her husband) treated me to dinner. These people are just saints!
Thats is what has happened the most recently, in the next few days I will be posting about the less recent happenings so stay tuned!
Thanks for reading :)
May 9, 2013
And Let Summer Begin!
My summer goal is to blog more often, and hopefully it will be mostly about horses. Lots have happened since my last post. To start off, I have completed my junior year of college. Though it's weird to say that I'll be a senior next year, because I won't be graduating in the spring but instead the fall of the year after. This doesn't upset me by any means, if I could make a living out of going to school I would do it in a heartbeat (as long as there were still interesting classes to take). I am not an A student, but I do love learning new things.
Healthwise things are starting to look up. Since warmer weather is now upon us my aches and pains are a lot less. About a month ago I ended up in the Er with pericarditis (inflammation of the sac around your heart). Actually it was 2 ER visits, and one was via ambulance. I had gone to express care (which is like the ER but without the crazy bills) and saw a nurse who asked me what was going on. I told her that I believed I had pulled a muscle in my back (which can affect your diaphragm) and was having trouble breathing and I just wanted to make sure it was a pulled muscle and nothing more. The nurse then looked at me and said "it doesn't look like you are short of breath". I was appalled! I almost told her it was because I had to take a pain med so I would stop gasping for breath, but she seemed like she was in a bad mood so I let it go. They proceeded to do an EKG and the doctor then listened to my heart. She then walks out of the room and someone else comes in and listens to my heart. A total of TEN PEOPLE (no exaggeration) listened to my heart while I was there. One nurse then said "Wow you only read about this in textbooks". I'm no sissy but I finally spoke up and asked what the heck was going on. The original doctor came back in and said I had a rub, which means that the heart was rubbing against the sac which was causing the pain. From what I understood is that you can only hear the rub in a small window of opportunity. I asked if I could listen and even to my untrained ear I could hear it, IT WAS SO COOL! It was then they said that they had to call an ambulance to bring me to the ER. I insisted that my Grandfather would drive me (the ER is only 2 miles away) but nooooo I needed an ambulance ride. Got to the ER, confirmed it was pericarditis, was sent home on enough pain meds for a horse (800mg ibuprophen 3 times a day, and .6 mg of a drug they use to treat gout 2 times a day). Went home, and about 6 hours later the pain meds they gave me wore off and was on the kitchen floor gasping for air when Mom took me back to the ER. Long story short, I'm all better now! My regular doctor thinks it was caused by the mysterious auto immune disease that I have. Can I please be on "Mystery Diagnosis"?!
Okay so I'm healthier, and I now have a new job at McDonalds. I had to stop my old job because my body was rejecting the whole working in the cold for 8 hours deal. Which stinks, I loved my job, I have always loved working outdoors. I would rather do labor intensive work than mental work any day.
On the horses note, I have found a new eventing barn to ride at which I am super excited! If things work out they do half leases for $175 a month, or you can lease a horse a day for $20. Group lessons are $20 and private lessons are $30. This is great, although I have loved all the dressage training I have received my ultimate goal is to event and you aren't going to get that kind of training at a dressage barn.
Well that's all folks! Thanks for reading :)
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