Monday, January 18th, 2010

Eighth Day


What new appreciations (for who? of what?) have you gained through internship that you did not have before? How did you develop these appreciations?

I have a new appreciation for all of the people who own horses, or even their own ranch, because it is honestly a LOT of work. Most of the people there get up around 6AM every morning to feed and water, then do a check on all of the horses to make sure everyone is okay and no one's been injured or anything. Later on they get back up around 9AM and do all of that again, then turnout a few of the horses, groom others, and lunge others.

On a few of the days every week there are trainers that come in and work with the horses, teaching a few of the younger horses how to have a rider on their back, and other horses how to have a rider that does dressage on their back. On those days most of the horses get lunged and turned out for a portion of the day.

What made me appreciate everyone at the ranch most about this is, in the mornings it's around 30 degrees there, maybe higher 40's. It's cold! But they keep working, which is awesome, because it shows how much they care for what they're doing.

Today it was 45 degrees the whole day, the sun was never out, and there was a near constant sprinkle of rain the whole time I was there, and it got worse as I was leaving. But everyone had to work even more because of this. The horses all had to have blankets on, to protect them from the rain, and plans had to be made if they got flooded. In case of an emergency they have to evacuate all of the horses up to higher land, since they're right next to a river that has been known to fill all the way to the top. (Which comes up level with half of their ranch)

The reason I've developed these appreciations is just from being around all of the people who work there, and noticing how they continue to work even through the bad weather and very cold mornings.