How Do You Like Them (Horse) Apples?

Yesterday at DR I found myself saying things that I never thought I would say at an internship site…. even though I have a nontraditional internship 🙂 Yesterday I was saying things like:

• Scooter (the dog) please don’t eat the horse poop!
• Poke your belly out!
• Try not to steer your horse into a tree next time.
• If you bite me, you’ll regret it (said to a horse, not a rider!)
• Of course you can have different candy.
• wow… that’s a lot of poop.

Yesterday, like any other day, was filled with chores that needed to be done before the riders got to the farm. I had to rake up hay that had blown out of the hay building (cue allergens) sweep walk ways, much stalls, and get all of the horses ready for the evening’s lessons. Nothing too difficult, just super messy! I was a hot mess by the time the riders got there! I like that the chores I do aren’t long term tasks that take forever. They are easy to accomplish, in my mind, because there is a clear end and I can actually see how much I still have left to do before I cross that task off of my to-do list. Tasks like that make me feel accomplished when I complete them because I get some serious satisfaction when I cross things off of a list! Also,I can see that what I am doing makes a difference at DR.. there is too much stuff to be done around the farm for them to give me meaningless tasks. It’s kinda funny to think about measuring my time at DR with little things like how fast I can get a horse ready for the lessons. It used to take me forever, and I mean forever, to completely get a horse ready for the night’s lessons (curry combed twice, mane and tail brushed, body brushed with soft brush, feet picked, fly sprayed and gear on); now I have it down to 10 minutes flat! Yup, I’m pretty proud of that 🙂

Last night we had an Easter Egg Hunt on horseback! It was a pretty great lesson and all of the riders seemed to enjoy themselves. They decorated paper bags (makeshift Easter baskets) and hunted for candy-filled eggs along the outside of the ring. I was working with a rider named Mary whose family doesn’t celebrate Easter, so we rode around looking for necklaces rather than Easter eggs-just as fun, right?! In all seriousness, her family believes in Jesus, just not the Easter Bunny. I wonder what her mother would have said had she known that instead of Easter Eggs, her daughter was hunting for Mardi Gras beads… just a thought! Anyway, Mary and I still had a good time searching for necklaces. Mary has been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety disorder, and a mild cognitive disability. She kept saying that she was going to fall off of Molly. However, she was no where near about to fall of f of the horse, so rather than argue with her or try to convince her otherwise, I just reminded her that if she sat tall and strong that she wouldn’t fall off. I’ve never really worked with kids who have ADHD, so last night’s lesson was a new experience for me! I had to make sure that I was thinking ahead so I could keep her on track in order to search for the desired color of necklace and to make sure that she didn’t steer Molly into a tree.  It was challenging to have to keep her focused on so many things- I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to keep track of what all we had to do while steering Molly! We survived the experience though, and she told me that she was vacationing in Myrtle Beach over spring break which is where I live when I’m not at school, so it was fun to talk about what all she was going to do at the beach!

The last rider that I worked with was Majestic Diamond who was also riding Molly. We certainly got to know each other better after this ride! She disclosed all kinds of information to me (i.e. her unfortunately located itch, what PMS is like for her, and other medical facts!) She is 17 and doesn’t have an older sister to talk to about those kinds of things, so I understood why it would make sense to talk about them with me; after all, she puts a lot trust in me as her side-walker. We got to hunt for Easter Eggs (which was way more fun than hunting for necklaces.. but you didn’t hear that from me)! Majestic Diamond has something called a “shunt” which is a port that helps regulate the pressure inside of her skull by draining excess cerebro-spinal fluid. If she bends below the waist, the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid will reverse and literally flood the inside of her skull. I had to keep that in mind while helping her hunt for eggs- I had to retrieve the one’s that were below waist level for her! Also, Majestic Diamond is legally blind and cannot see anything that is further than 2 feet in front of her.. so that aspect made for an interesting Egg Hunt! I had an excuse to participate, which of course made me even more excited!  I found out that she will be getting her GED this summer which is super awesome! I am so proud that she is deciding to finish high school (early!)

All in all, it was another great night! The family who owns and operates DR is going to the national PATH conference this weekend, and the program’s spring break is next week, so if I’m at the farm, it’ll be to organize the DR building, work on administrative stuff and or bathe the horses!

Hours at barn:

1:30-7:00

Spring Forward… Fall Back!

Spring has arrived at Dream Riders as of yesterday-the air was warm and the flowers were in bloom, but the most telling sign that spring has sprung was the massive amount of hair that was shed yesterday! I swear, I had enough excess horse hair to make a Shetland Pony (or 2!!) Needless to say, I felt like I brought half of the barn with me when I went home last night… so.much.horse.hair!

It was wonderful to fall back into the swing of barn life after my break last week. During Spring break, the barn was always on my mind. Someone would say something, or I would notice something that would remind me of one of the riders. I met this girl named Daisy on my trip to Isle of Palms, SC and I accidentally called her Daisy Lava Girl (the pseudonym of one of the riders). I nearly died of embarrassment, but it warmed my heart to realize just how much this experience has had on me- and it’s only been a month ! Almost everything that I do in my “real life” (life outside DR, that is) seems to relate to what I do at DR, which has to be a good sign, right?!

So….about last night… yes it was wonderful to be back, but there was a TON of excitement that happened. I worked with James again last night. If you’ll recall, James is 4 years old and has Down Syndrome. I’m 99% sure that the extra chromosome makes him extra cute- I just love him! He’s so happy and so very silly!  James seems to love adventure; he’s certainly not shy! He is so small that he doesn’t need to sit in a saddle- which means that his side-walkers (like me) need to pay close attention and hold on to his feet so that he doesn’t lose his balance and fall off the horse. At the end of each lesson, the riders go on a trail ride around the outside of the ring. There are a few fun obstacles throughout the trail that are designed to stimulate some sensory functions… plus, it’s super fun :). One such obstacle is the noodles. Basically, they are foam pool noodles that hang down like the octopus cleaner things in a car wash: same principle, really! Well, Mr. James, being the adrenaline junkie that he is, tipped himself back whilst going through the noodles and proceeded to slide off Malchi… thankfully, he didn’t hit the ground. He was caught long before he hit the ground by the other side walker. WOW- it all happened so fast, Malchi almost ran me over trying to get out of the way(he was doing the right thing), and I watched as the laws of time and space were being bent before my very eyes… in reality, I probably stood there looking like a dead fish with bulging eyes and my mouth hanging open. Little James didn’t shed a tear, or even look sad for that matter! He was smiling and ready to get back on the horse… bravo, James!  I had never experienced anything like that before, and it really is a rare occurrence at DR (thankfully). It just serves as a reminder to always be alert when working with patients-things like this can, and do, happen quickly. Whew- just writing about it makes my heart race… I’m glad that everyone was alright, and that (as a group)we remained calm.

In other, not as exciting news, I am making great progress with Lou! For the first time ever he let me pick (clean) all 4 hooves! Apparently he’s particular about who can mess with his feet, and it’s about time that he let me! I’d be lying if I said I was above a little bribery 😉 I brought him a green apple from my fridge and gave it to him when I first arrived, and then promised him treats if he let me pick all 4 feet without being difficult-success!!! He has been such a trooper while I relearn the ropes of horse care- he probably deserves more apples in the weeks to come for putting up with me!

Dirty, hot, sweaty, and feeling the after effects of adrenaline, I walked to my car smiling because, once again, I have the coolest “job” in the world 🙂