My Oh My..........

It certainly has been a long time since I've posted. Needless to say, a lot has changed. I no longer am searching for something to do in the equine field, instead I'm thriving as a Therapeutic Horseback Riding Instructor. I discovered this passion a year ago at Shadow Ranch and after volunteering there for just a couple of months, I was hooked. At the beginning of this year I went through the instructor certification at Equest and earned my certification on the best 18th birthday I could have asked for. After one month of searching, I found my current part-time job at Shadow Ranch. Here I'm learning a LOT more than I thought I would about training, caring for horses, and teaching students of all ages.

Working here is therapeutic for ME. Something I didn't expect to happen. Teaching brings me such joy, especially when a student finally "gets" something we've been working on. When it comes to training the horses, they force me to take a deep breath and not get frustrated, something that I definitely need to work on in every area of my life.

I'm extremely thankful I've found a job I genuinely love. I'm much happier when I'm helping others and more in control of my emotions when working with horses. Plus, my coworkers are all awesome. They're people I can open up to and vice versa. I consider you all caught up :)

Throwback Thursday....on a Sunday - Tuffy the Pony

As my search for a horse begins, I decided to take a look at Tuffy the pony. He's a Quarter horse/Welsh Pony cross. The advertisement didn't say much, just his breed and that he was free. When I called the woman, she had told me that he was thin, still a stud, at least 20 years old, and that one of his eyes was messed up. I decided to take a look at him anyway. I'm really glad she told me all of this beforehand. While he was a great height, his confirmation was alright, and looked pretty healthy (with the exception of being so thin), all of the other negatives outweighed that. If it weren't for his messed up eye, (he had gotten a thorn in it or something a couple of years ago) I think I would have gone for him. It was really freaky-looking, which is a problem because he would have to be near really small kids, which might get scared of him because of it. Plus, I don't think it had been looked at by a vet. His temperament was also really good, although he needed a refresher when it came to picking up his feet and riding. I'll keep looking though!

January 19th 2012