My Day at the Rescue

I once again volunteered at the rescue. When I arrived there, I helped a regular volunteer, Patricia, muck stalls. We started with a palomino named Ardonis, leading him to the round pen before doing his stall, which was flooded from the recent rain. After mucking in, we covered some of the mud with dirt, then returned Ardonis to his stall.

 We did the other four horse's stall's one by one, taking its occupant out and doing some work with him or her before doing the stall and returning the horse. Patricia is now able to brush Serene, the bay youngster. She did that while in the round pen, and also lunged Serene and tried putting a halter on the horse to get her used to having one put on.

 After that, we worked with Dante, a bay Arabian. I lunged him off the lungeline and groomed him in the round pen before we took him to a small arena to lunge him in figure eights around two barrels. Patricia taught me how to do it, then I tried.

 Next, we worked with Ricko, the large bay horse that looks like he could be a dressage horse. I lunged him and brushed him before Patricia tacked him up. He was likely kicked and treated roughly in the past, so he was anxious when being mounted. He pulled away several times before she successfully mounted. She had me come over and lead Ricko, who was tense the whole time. After a few minutes, she dismounted.

 Finally, we worked with the last horse, a small bay mare who had shed out most of her hair. She had recently injured her left front fetlock, so I only lunged her lightly and brushed her before putting her away.

 After that, I went home. I'm likely going to be able to come once a week to help, which is cool. I really enjoy helping out, and I am grateful the Patricia can teach me horsemanship while I am there and give m,e more experience working with horses.