Stories From First Year: Equine

A horse stables was the second of my practical experiences, and similarly involved a lot of new understanding about how horses are kept and what to do around them. It's pretty dull to talk about--I shoveled out stalls, fed the horses, groomed some horses, routine stuff like that. I did get a fair amount of responsibility with the horses, which was very lucky because apparently plenty of my classmates got stuck with some really boring equine time. Some places don't want you touching horses at all if you have no experience, so my friends got to do nothing but shovel stalls for three weeks straight.

One thing that amuses me is that horses require snow shoes so they don't skate around all over the ice, or get it packed up into their hooves. It was slightly terrifying to be leading this massive beast and have it slip on the ice and get a fright. I think I panicked more than the horses. They also got snow jackets, which I had to put on in the morning before they went out, then take off in the evening. The horses were surprisingly docile and pleasant to work with, which isn't my experience with horses in general.

I got to be mini-vet when one of the horses got kicked by another horse, and it became my duty to clean the wound and dress it every day.

The best part was all the other animals. In other stalls they had two ponies, two alpacas, a llama, and a donkey. Roaming free they had a goat, a tiny ugly pig, and a super fat sheep, and also a very handsome dog and a bazillion cats. And a domesticated raccoon that is the fattest raccoon I've ever seen.

The alpacas were skittish, but made adorable little mewling noises. The goat had some serious personality, and constantly sat on things that I needed and chewed on stuff and got into things. The ponies were fun to be around, but I'm not sure why. The llama was the best--I got to lead it out to pasture just like the horses, and it's just... llamas are really hilarious. They look funny and move funny and act funny. I think it got free at one point and the people who worked there had to go chase it back. The raccoon was cute, but had crazy sharp teeth and claws. It constantly chowed down on the cat food, which is how it got so fat, and it would come up and beg around people (which was not fun considering how sharp its claws are when it's grabbing at your leg or your sleeve).