Practicum Day
Today was my third practicum day up at the barn. I have one more in two weeks! It was actually a pretty nice day. Freezing cold, sure, but thankfully the main barn is heated and kept around 40 degrees, so it wasn't too bad.
Our tasks for the day were to clean 4 stalls, show groom 3 horses, handwalk one of them, and do a simple grooming on a fourth. My first horse was Twist, my care horse and my favorite up there. He is a Hanoverian/Thoroughbred gelding. I groomed him up really nicely, touched up his mane and clip job that I did like 2 weeks ago, and even threw some hoof polish on him. I was very proud of how handsome he looked! Then, he was turned out in the afternoon, and when he came in he was covered in mud -.- Well, he looked nice while it lasted, haha.
A couple pictures of Twist~
My second horse was named Artesa. She is a Royal Warmblood mare, and kind of short compared to most of the 16+hh horses up there. She has been out of the program for a couple of months due to an episode of laminitis, and is being handwalked every day to get her out of her stall and exercised. I groomed her for quite a while. She was pretty gross under her blankets, as though her care people haven't bothered to groom her in ages. If the weather were warmer I would have give her a full bath. Once she looked nice, I handwalked her for a little bit before putting her away.
My third horse was Mickey Mouse, my care horse from last semester. He is a Warmblood gelding, and around 17.3-ish hh. He is always incredibly itchy, so I spent extra time currying him. He was so happy, he was leaning into it and almost falling over, hahaha. Mickey is one of the best/highest level horses that we have. He actually has his own unofficial fan club, and they all look after him, so he is pretty much always show ready. That made things pretty easy for me.
Mickey Mouse!
After I finished with them, I groomed up Raisin, a Warmblood (I think?) gelding who has been on the rehab list for almost a year. He really enjoyed the attention. I'm pretty sure his care people, like Artesa's, haven't bothered to groom him recently, either. I have to say, I think my favorite part of the end of winter, in relation to horses, is that when their coats start shedding out they tend to get really soft. I wouldn't mind a pillow the softness of Raisin's coat. ... Don't take that weird.
We were sent off for the day around 4, and I met up with a couple of friends for dinner at 5. After dinner, my plan was to finish the level I was on in Styx: Master of Shadows, then get some research done for my history paper on the Space Race (it's not due until April). I accomplished just one of those things. When I finished the level in Styx, I got everything set up to do my research... and then crashed, hard. Woke up at 2:30, 6.5 hours later, to loud obnoxious drunken brats outside of my window, and am now wide awake and very hungry. Figured I would write this up and grab some food, then attempt sleeping again.
-N.E.
Our tasks for the day were to clean 4 stalls, show groom 3 horses, handwalk one of them, and do a simple grooming on a fourth. My first horse was Twist, my care horse and my favorite up there. He is a Hanoverian/Thoroughbred gelding. I groomed him up really nicely, touched up his mane and clip job that I did like 2 weeks ago, and even threw some hoof polish on him. I was very proud of how handsome he looked! Then, he was turned out in the afternoon, and when he came in he was covered in mud -.- Well, he looked nice while it lasted, haha.
A couple pictures of Twist~
My second horse was named Artesa. She is a Royal Warmblood mare, and kind of short compared to most of the 16+hh horses up there. She has been out of the program for a couple of months due to an episode of laminitis, and is being handwalked every day to get her out of her stall and exercised. I groomed her for quite a while. She was pretty gross under her blankets, as though her care people haven't bothered to groom her in ages. If the weather were warmer I would have give her a full bath. Once she looked nice, I handwalked her for a little bit before putting her away.
My third horse was Mickey Mouse, my care horse from last semester. He is a Warmblood gelding, and around 17.3-ish hh. He is always incredibly itchy, so I spent extra time currying him. He was so happy, he was leaning into it and almost falling over, hahaha. Mickey is one of the best/highest level horses that we have. He actually has his own unofficial fan club, and they all look after him, so he is pretty much always show ready. That made things pretty easy for me.
Mickey Mouse!
After I finished with them, I groomed up Raisin, a Warmblood (I think?) gelding who has been on the rehab list for almost a year. He really enjoyed the attention. I'm pretty sure his care people, like Artesa's, haven't bothered to groom him recently, either. I have to say, I think my favorite part of the end of winter, in relation to horses, is that when their coats start shedding out they tend to get really soft. I wouldn't mind a pillow the softness of Raisin's coat. ... Don't take that weird.
We were sent off for the day around 4, and I met up with a couple of friends for dinner at 5. After dinner, my plan was to finish the level I was on in Styx: Master of Shadows, then get some research done for my history paper on the Space Race (it's not due until April). I accomplished just one of those things. When I finished the level in Styx, I got everything set up to do my research... and then crashed, hard. Woke up at 2:30, 6.5 hours later, to loud obnoxious drunken brats outside of my window, and am now wide awake and very hungry. Figured I would write this up and grab some food, then attempt sleeping again.
-N.E.