I'm pretty sure there was a single day this month that it was sunny. I mostly remember rain, snow, and cold. Regardless, I still did many things this month. One of the main things I did was go to one of the foster homes, and got the opportunity to take pictures and videos of the two horses up for adoption, named Glory and Patriot. After taking pictures, I met the other horses at the foster, as well as an alpaca and baby goat.
At the beginning of this month, my supervisor went on vacation for the week, leaving me alone at the barn to do whatever I wanted. During this time, I worked with Calvin, Cheyenne, and Heaven, groomed horses, cleaned stalls, and also managed the barn in my supervisor's absence. I was very proud of myself, and my supervisor was very impressed with how well I did while she was gone. While I enjoyed the freedom of being able to do whatever I wanted during the week, at some times I would run out of things to do, and was not quite sure what to do next. Mostly, I'm just glad none of the horses caused any trouble.
Several horses got adopted and went to their new homes this months, and we also got a few new ones at the rescue. Cheyenne, Heaven, and Cherry left, and we received two unnamed Quarter Horses, a gray mare named Josie, and Bentley finally returned after three months of training. Since the ground is finally frozen after three weeks of mud, I've finally started riding the rescue horses again. My main project right now is Bentley, since three months of training seems to have not improved his attitude about being ridden or worked.
One way I was able to show initiative at my internship this month was managing the barn while my supervisor was on vacation for a week. It was up to me to figure out what to do, which horses to work, turn out, feeding, and lots of other things. I was very impressed with my abilities to handle everything by myself.
My biggest highlight of this month was to be able to go to the barn that's fostering Glory and Patriot. Taking the pictures and videos was very fun, and I also very much enjoyed meeting all of the other animals they had at their barn. It was very obvious that the foster people really love their animals, and are going to miss Patriot and Glory very much when they get adopted.
I learned lots of things this month. First, I learned how to take pictures in less than ideal settings, since the barn Patriot and Glory were at had terrible lighting, with the exception of a tiny area in the center of the arena. I also learned how important having a GPS is, since without it I would have never made it to the foster's barn. I learned how to manage a big barn with 10+ horses, which was very interesting since the most horses I have had to deal with in the past is three. I also learned how to wrap both the front and back legs of a horse, since two of the horses at the barn, Knucklehead and Bonnie, hurt themselves while running around outside. I am also learning how to deal with difficult horses again, since the return of Bentley. Since I am so used to riding my horses Lucy and J.R., I am getting to learn a completely new style of riding for the rescue horses.
As much as I enjoyed being alone for a week to do whatever I wanted with the horses (after I took care of them, of course,) I sometimes found it hard to figure out what to do next. I am usually at my internship from 8 AM to 12 PM, so I spend a lot of time there. I ended up running out of horses to groom, and a few days it was pouring down rain so I could not work any of the horses. A few ways I curbed my occasional boredom during this time was to clean out the tack room, sweep the aisle ways, clear out cobwebs, and just hang out with some of the horses. I ended up doing a lot of cleaning, since it was something to do and I was sure my supervisor would appreciate it. I also did some school work one of the days, so I ended up always finding something to do.
Next month, I am starting to expect winter weather to really start picking up, so I am not exactly sure what I am going to do. Most likely, I am going to continue riding Bentley, and I am also most likely going to start working with Josie, and the two unnamed Quarter Horses, which are supposed to arrive later next week. With winter approaching rapidly, the weather could either be okay, or really bad, so I guess I will just have to play it by ear and see.
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