Days 1-3
I don’t know if Day 1 was actually Day 1, since we spent most of the day doing orientation-related stuff. We met in the volunteer lounge, met the five non-residential interns (Kara, Ashley, Caitlyn, Sarah, and Alex), and got a PowerPoint/video-based presentation from Brittney, then got another tour of the farm. It was similar to the one we got the day before but a little more detailed, because the non-residentials had of course not been here the night before.
I realize that I am creating a format for this blog that I will be expect to follow in the future. If you have followed any of my blogs for any significant length of time, you know that I am not one for following my own rules. If you haven’t followed any of my blogs for any significant length of time… what the frak are you waiting for? An invitation? I cordially invite you to follow any of my blogs for any significant length of time. Also, don’t expect this format-following nonsense to continue. I’m a free spirit with my pencil and/or keyboard. I won’t be tied down, baby.
I don’t know why I called you “baby”. I guess it just felt right to tack it on at the end of that sentence.

A Typical Day:
Feed buckets are prepared the day before and stacked in the room with the feed bags in the order that they are listed on the feed charts. They’re lined up in front of the building and all of the pelleted feed is watered down with hot water before it is fed. When the feed soaks up the water it’s really gross-looking, like wet dog food or ground hamburger, but the horses love it. Each feed is deposited at hanging buckets at specific stations for specific horses, then the barn staff let the horses from the gelding field into the chute from the pasture and passes each one off to a volunteer or intern with directions as to which station the horse goes to. When all the horses are clipped in and eating, they are all groomed from head to toe and checked for cuts, scrapes, punctures, swelling, bruising, etc.
While everyone is being fed and groomed, the meds list is consulted and any horse that needs a special ointment or soak or wrap or other treatment is taken care of. Then they are turned out again, and the stall cleaning starts. There aren’t many stalls (16 in the main barn and 7 in the quarantine barn), so it doesn’t take long. After this a few chores get done by various people – feed buckets and meds/supplements are prepared for the next morning, hay and sawdust quantities are assessed and replaced if necessary, the barns are swept, pastures are cleaned, water buckets are refilled, and any minor first aid or daily treatment things are performed. By this time it’s about time for lunch (I have a guaranteed ONE HOUR lunch break! It’s amazing! It’s unheard of! It’s inconceivable!)
The afternoon includes the same feeding regime described above with the mares, plus extra feedings for a couple of the horses that need to put more weight on. Any of the various chores mentioned above that haven’t been gotten to are done, and the horses that have to stay in overnight are put in their stalls after their feet are briefly picked out once more. It is fascinating that we actually finish by 5pm. Not because we’re so extraordinarily busy, but because in Colorado we were NEVER guaranteed to get off by a certain time. One day it would be 5pm, the next it might be 7:30, and the day after that we might have a 5pm ride go out but the managers would be merciful and offer to get the last ride in, allowing us to go when the chores were done at 6.
On Day 1 the vet came out to look at Buttercup, a mare who came in from the pasture with a grade 4 lameness in her right foreleg. He surmised that she had overextended her leg and her extensor tendon sheath had swelled up. He put a sweat wrap on her that consisted of a layer of furazone, pillow wraps, gauze and Vetrap.
He came out again today to see how she was faring. She’d put weight on it willingly yesterday, and did so today as well when she was tranq’d for her ultrasound. It took a lot longer than it would have if he hadn’t spent so much time explaining to us what he was doing and what we were seeing. He ended up rewrapping her leg and made plans to come back in three days. If she’s still swollen he’s going to inject her with some cortisone.
After the vet left, and while Buttercup was still drowsy, Brittney spent a great deal of time talking to the interns (some of them have little or no horse experience) about body condition scoring, laminitis, and general hoof care. She used Buttercup as an example (she’s at an almost-healthy 4 or so on the Henneke scale right now) until the mare started to wake up in a grumpy mood.
On Day 2 a different vet came to look at Emmett, a stray stallion that came here recently. He aged the horse (13-14yo) and did a quick physical, then palpated his testes to judge how difficult he would be to geld. I (and I imagine others) were amazed that Emmett didn’t bat an eyelash while having his man parts prodded. Assuming that the owner doesn’t come forth to claim him by the end of the week, he is officially scheduled to be demoted to gelding status.
The place apparently has four different farriers that each look after a certain set of horses, and I’ve seen two of them at work so far. Yesterday Tony trimmed Royal’s feet, and today Kevin gave Peter a new set of shoes. I have officially seen and treated thrush that is much more serious than anything I’ve seen at LEC. This past semester when I treated our school horses for thrush (for a large number of my Lameness barn hours), none of the hooves I saw had the characteristic look or smell that I had read about. However, when I cleaned Peter’s feet this morning and put a thrush treatment on them… I finally had the pleasure of seeing and smelling real thrush. It was a few ticks below smegma and several ticks above fresh carrion.
There is at least one thing that has happened here that makes me uneasy, but I feel unqualified as a mere intern to speak up about it. An abscess burst in a mare’s heel and we soaked it in an Epsom salt and betadine mixture. However, the tub that the staff member used was quite dirty and was not scrubbed before she filled it. An abscess is essentially an infected pocket of pus, so if you're trying to heal it, it would behoove you to not allow dirt into the wound – that’s just asking for more infection.
We have several talks/meetings scheduled for the next two weeks on various topics, including large animal rescue, managing volunteers, handling and training green horses, and fundraising. I took a few pictures today when Peter was having his feet worked on, and will be bringing my camera with me every day now so that I don’t miss any of the cool things that happen. Of course, I do also need to get footage of us doing our daily chores, so even if we don’t get an interesting visit, I’ll still have pictures/videos to take.
Sabrina has picked a favorite horse already (Cassanova), and although I don’t really have a favorite, I’m rather a fan of Walker strictly based on seeing his adoption flyer in the feed room and seeing him this morning as we were bringing the geldings in to feed. I’m going to see if I can lead/groom him tomorrow so I can get to know him. I also like poor little Wally, the gelding that was a stallion until recently and gets picked on by the other geldings, and he always hangs out by the gate rather than moving further out to pasture with the other horses. He loves being in a stall by himself, and hates it when he has to go back to the pasture. I walked him out there today, and it was quite a sad chore. Elise ended up helping me get him through the gate by encouraging him from behind to keep walking. I think because he is socially inept and can’t fend for himself and is looked down upon by the other geldings, I feel a certain camaraderie with him.
I have to say that my first 3 days in Maryland were fre-e-e-e-e-e-ezing...... but today it was warmish and sunny and so beautiful! Mother Nature really spoiled us today, and I think we’ll probably be in for a rude awakening tomorrow when we get out there and it’s freezing and starts snowing in the afternoon again.
Stupid winter. *grump*

♥
SM