From Elephants To Horses.

So I've been back from a trip of a lifetime and now I'm working on something new. Every since my time at the elephant park I have been preparing myself for a career involving elephants whether that be traveling back to Africa to study them or working at a zoo as an elephant keeper. I have one school in mind for a masters degree, but I won't say anything yet because I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully I'll hear back from them soon enough to see if I can study under the head of the biology department working with African elephants.

In order to prepare myself to work with elephants I have opted to take an equestrian class here at the college so that I can gain some experience around larger animals. This class is what I am going to focus my blog on for the coming weeks. I am the only person in my class of twenty that isn't an EQ major and I'm one of the few with little to no experience with horses. Sure I took lessons once a week when I was about seven, but that was so long ago! Basically, this class involves the general care for horses like cleaning their stalls, taking their vital signs, bandaging, saddle fit and other various things. This week was my first week since our first week of class I miss the very first day because I wasn't signed up for it yet. That Tuesday was our lecture day and I was given a list of things I needed to buy for the class. I dropped about fifty bucks at Tractor Supply just to buy my horse, whose name is Robert, about 15 brushes which I still don't know what they are all used for. My horse Robert is all black and is the oldest horse that the school owns, born in 1988. I can't tell you to much about him other than all the EQ teachers say he is a good boy. He is very laid back, but he knows that I have not a clue what is going on so he takes advantage of it. This week I have finally been able to get into a routine of things at the barn. Robert must be turned out (which means take them out to the paddock (and paddock means like the pasture they hang out in while I clean his stall)) with Harper, his stall neighbor. We walk them out and since Robert knows I can't be mean to him, he will bend down and eat as much grass as he likes, he will also nudge me and he doesn't come when I call him (I haven't tried my puppy voice yet). Once he is out in the paddock, I scoop all the poo out of his stall (which is a lot smaller than elephant dung) and lay down new bedding. I then clean out his water dish and feed bucket. This doesn't sound like much, but since I've only clean a stall a total of two times in my life to date, it takes me quite a while. Once its about 9 o'clock, we walk back out to the paddock we left our horses in and bring them back to their stall. I'll then attempt to groom him. I use my curry comb to get all the dirt to the top of his hair then I'll use my stiff brush to flick it off him. And those are the only two brushes I've used so far. After I'm all done with that, I'll try my best to pick his hooves, but this is where I always get a little nervous, the way he picks his leg up always makes me think he is going to kick me, plus I don't know if I am hurting him. I guess I'll figure it out eventually!

So far I like the class and I've already learned so much, mostly by trial and error, but I'll get the hang out it. This is a great experience and I hope to also take a riding class in the spring! I'll most likely try to update weekly because everyday is interesting at the barn seeing as it isn't your typical college student day (atleast for a non EQ major!)

As for the rest of my classes, I am taking a piano class, which today I was introduced to the world of the bass clef. It's going to be tough trying to play piano with my left hand. I'm decent at reading the treble clef because I have experience with the trumpet, but everything else... forget it! Animal behavior is my other class which is simple enough, lots of videos and lectures. Volleyball is going well, we have our first game tomorrow and we get to play one of my old teammates. The season so far as been very easy and we actually don't practice much, which is good for me because once it comes time for me to start training for my marathon in October, I won't be so tired! Going off that topic, I plan to race in the Toledo Marathon and hopefully qualify for Boston for the following year. I have my training plan all set and am just waiting for the date to come around and to get going! I'm super excited to start running again and I think my legs have finally recovered from the 50k back in July!

That's all for now! Cheers! Oh and sorry no pictures! But I'll try my best to start taking some at the barn!