Horse Rescue

  Earlier today I went to help out at the horse rescue for a few hours. Before going there, I went with Patricia, who helps out often, to pick up a few salt licks for the horses in the stalls. Then we went to rescue and began working. We began by turning out Ricko and the small dark bay mare. Then brought Dante to the round pen, cleaned his stall, and I began working with him. He had dried mud caked over some parts of his body, so I curried him before brushing him off, then free longed him for a few minutes.

 Next, Patricia moved Serene to Dante's stall and we began mucking Serene's stall. Afterward, it was time to work with Serene. Because Dante was in the round pen and Serene was in Dante's stall, we had to play musical stalls for a bit, moving Serene into her own stall, then moving Dante into his stall. We finally brought Serene to the round pen where Patricia worked with her a bit. She took Serene's halter off and replaced it with another to get her used to being halter, then longed her on the longe line in both directions. We then left her to let her absorb what she had done.

 Patricia moved Ardonis, a very light palomino, to the neighboring stall so we could muck his. When we were done with that, Patricia worked with Serene a bit more, leading her over a tarp. She then picked Serene's front hooves. Serene struggled a bit before Patricia could lift each front foot. Next, she returned Serene to her stall. She brought Ardonis to his stall as well.

 Finally, we returned the two horses we had turned out back to their stalls. Before leaving, we shoveled shavings into a muddy part of Dante's stall, mixed it into the mud to absorb the moisture, then scooped it up. After that, I went home.

Teaser: I have a secret that you will see after Saturday's lesson, when I post the pictures. I'll keep you suspense until then.