This month at FOCUS was pretty slow up until the very end of the month. For the most part, I ended up being by myself at my barn because my supervisor has still been recovering from her sickness she got last month, as well as studying for exams and preparing to start a new part time job. Since we did not get any new horses until the 27th, I have been spending my training time working with Ginger. A new piece of training equipment we got at the beginning of this month is a round pen, which can be used to work and ride horses in a smaller, closed off area of the arena, and can also prevent being dragged by horses while lunging and doing ground work as well as not giving a horse a big area to misbehave while under saddle. The round pen has been a great addition to the rescue, as it gives me a chance to learn about a new way to work horses.
For some happy (but also sad) news, Jesse (spotted baby) and Pearl (white draft pony mix, pictured above) will be leaving to go to their new homes next month. I’m very sad to see them leave, but I know that they will be going to good homes and will be well taken care of.
Yesterday, I traveled all the way to Mt. Hope with my supervisor in order to retrieve some self surrender animals from an Amish family FOCUS has worked with in the past. There were two horses (Ann and Tabby), as well as a sheep (Cindy). It took four of us to push and load the sheep, since she didn’t feel like walking. Tabby immediately went to her foster home, while Cindy and Ann will stay at FOCUS until they can be properly assessed as far as training and health.
One last major event, sometime in March the rescue will be making a 14 hour trip to Missouri in order to pick up six mini donkeys, working together with T&D Donkey Rescue.
One way I was able to show initiative this month at my internship was handling all of the barn management almost completely by myself, as well as planning out the training and turnout of horses. My supervisor has been so busy this month with everything in her life, so the least I could do was handle everything at the barn for her.
The definite highlight for this month was being able to go to Mt. Hope to get the horses and sheep, since I have not yet had the chance this year to go on a ”rescue mission” (since this was a self surrender case, I am not sure if it technically counts as a rescue,) but nonetheless it was an interesting opportunity to meet some new people and interacting with sheep for the first time.
What I mainly learned this month was how to properly use a round pen to work horses. In the past, I thought that round pens were only used for lunging horses, but it turns out I was very wrong. In reality, a round pen can be used for many things, including teaching how to lunge, dealing with respect issues on the ground, building trust, and riding in a smaller, safer environment. The round pen has worked wonders for Ginger. When I was working with her in the past in the arena, she would often times ignore my directions and commands, doing whatever she wanted and almost dragging me through the arena. After a few weeks of round pen work, she now listens much better, and there much more respect.
A challenge I faced this month was learning how Ginger would first react to being worked in the round pen. At first, she was a little confused and scared, then she got angry and kicked and bucked for awhile, then finally calmed down because she’s chubby and extremely out of shape. The main problems that arise with lunging in the round pen are that you have to constantly be alert, or else the horse will either stop or just blow you off. You also cannot get too close or too far away. When working in the round pen, you have to always have your eyes on whatever horse you're working with, and stay alert.
Next month we are getting donkeys, which I am super excited about. I don’t think I’m going to make the 28 hour journey to Missouri and back with my supervisor, but I am eager to be able to work with some donkeys for the first time.
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