These past few weeks at the rescue have been very slow. With all of the snow, ice, and temperatures way below freezing, It has been very hard to work with the horses. The main focus for this month was to continue working with Ginger whenever the weather was nice enough to, and to also begin weaning her from her foal, Jesse. Both mother and son are handling the separation well. On nicer days, Jesse gets turned out in the arena with a few other horses, so that he can learn how to live and behave in a herd.
Another opportunity I had this month was being able to visit a barn that was temporarily fostering two of the rescue's horses, Eden and Fletcher. Horse vet Dr. Cinotti was there, so I was able to watch them get their teeth floated (which is when sharp points on their teeth get filed down to prevent discomfort.) Eden ended up going to a different foster to get some professional training, and Fletcher is currently at the rescue and waiting to go to a new foster. Since both horses have such nice breeding bloodlines and confirmation, I am confidant that they will find new homes quickly once they are officially put up for adoption.
On an unrelated note, I was offered a job with horse trainer Teah Frazier earlier this month. Basically, I am doing the same things at my internship, except managing a barn with 21 horses instead of 13. The skills that I have learned by being at my internship have helped me immensely with my new job, and has also helped me make connections with new people in the horse community.
The one way I showed initiative at my internship this month was showing up as many days as I could (yes, even those days when the roads were awful) because my supervisor was pretty sick for half the month. Everyday I made sure that everyone was fed, and had plenty of hay and clean water.
I would say the highlight of this month was getting my new job. Although it technically does not have to do with my internship, I was able to get the job by utilizing the skills I have been learning at my internship everyday. It also helps that I am naturally unafraid of physical labor, and am very motivated.
What I learned this month while working with Ginger specifically is how to really get her mind working, so that she stops focusing so much on where Jesse is and instead, following me and what I tell her to do. I have been finally able to keep her walking quietly on the rail of the arena, without her trying to spin around and take off towards the exit gate. I also got to see firsthand what happens when a horse gets their teeth floated, as well as seeing a few x-rays. I also did a little bit of problem solving with frozen water buckets, as well as latches and many other things. Because of how cold it was for these past few weeks, I had to learn how to start doing things quicker, so that the horses would not have to be outside for too long. I also had to figure out when to take off and put blankets on, depending on the weather for that day.
My biggest challenge for the month was dealing with the weather. While the cold does not bother me that much, the main issue was the freezing of almost anything liquid, and the roads. I ended up not going to my internship the few days after the major snowstorm, since my car was buried under 3-4 feet of snow for days, and you could not even tell where the roads were. There were a few "Jesus take the wheel" moments while driving to my internship, as I mostly have to take back roads to get there (which were rarely, if ever, plowed.) Combining the weather with my lack of driving in the snow and ice, it was quite the terrifying experience. I do have to say, just going and doing it really helped improve my bad weather driving skills. On days when it was not a blizzard I often times had to deal with various frozen things, and it takes a lot of patience to wait for things to thaw out. In the future, if I end up getting a horse farm, I am definitely putting heaters in place to prevent things from freezing.
Next month, I really hope that Mother Nature will take pity on me and make the weather not -20 degrees. Since a few horses are being adopted out in the next few weeks, I really hope to be able to see some new faces at the rescue, as well as finally go on a rescue mission.
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