Boys will be Boys

Time flies when you are having fun, that's what they say right? Well it is true! Right now things are "slow" on the farm. Or so they told me... I guess I've been working on the farm for three weeks now. I've been in the Yearling 2 barn the whole time. This barn has the colts. Yearling 1 has the fillies. Tryn, my roommate, has been back and forth between Yearling 1 and Yearling 2, but has mostly been in Yearling 2 with me. Our 'barn foreman' is an Irishman named Paul. He has shown us how to do things the "Pin Oak Way". That is the farm I am on. It is an awesome farm. They breed to race so they have only about 40 mares and they keep all/most of their yearlings to break and then send to South Carolina for further training and then send them off to different trainers based on how the horses are doing and where they think they will succeed. The farm manager is also from Ireland, though he has not lived there in 25 years or so.

The first day Tryn and I rode around with our farm manager and looked at most of the horses on the farm. We also helped bring in some horses. He told us that they look at all the horses every day. In the afternoon I went to Yearling 2 and finished the day there.

For most of the first week it was just Paul and I in Yearling 2. I basically followed him around and he showed me what to do. Then Tryn joined us and we divided the horses up so we each have our own set to take care of. Paul and Tryn have 5 horses and I have 4 horses. A typical day on the farm (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) starts at 7am. We put feed and water with electrolytes added in the stalls. Then we go out and get the horses. The horses are divided into different paddocks. At first we started with paddocks of 2, 2, 1, 4 and 4. We have one horse on stall rest but he gets to go out into a small pen in a pasture for the night. They thought he had a broken pelvis, but discovered he has a severely strained sacral ligament. (Attaches from the back bone to the pelvis). He walks funny on one of his back legs. Due to injuries and other problems, the paddocks switch around some.

We bring the horses in with these rubber bit things with lead ropes because they are very bitey and it helps to give us some more control as well as hopefully give them something to gnaw on other than us. Some of the boys are just nibbely while others want to make breakfast of my arm. So I always have to be on my toes.


We have one yearling about 16 hands (64 in. tall at the withers) that just likes to walk over people. Literally. When bringing in we have to do a bit of juggling around because we are supposed to start with the closest horses first so we aren't walking horses by other horses in paddocks and we cannot leave one horse in a paddock by himself.

After we bring in we take temperatures and pick out their feet. Then we bathe all the horses. The four I take care of have some little bumps/scabs on their legs so I have to wash them with special shampoo on their legs. We take turns washing, so while one person is washing the rest of us are doing something else. I have some medicine I have to give three of my horses for their leg condition. One of the horses gets 'ice boots'. These are boots that we put ice in them and then wrap around their legs. He gets these to keep his growth plates from getting inflamed. Another one of my horses gets the Equissage. This machine goes on their back like a saddle and massages their back. This is because he has a bit of a sore back. We only have one Equissage and two ice boots. So we juggle these around too because we have several horses that need these for one reason or another. Sometime during all this one of the managers (there are three, the farm manager, assistant manager and broodmare manager) stops by and we pull all the horses out of their stalls one by one and he feels them all over and tells directions such as bandages, meds, etc. Then we walk them down the shedrow and back so he can watch them walk. We also pick out the stalls as we go in and out of them. Then we groom the horses that are dry and braid (or plat as Paul says) the manes that do not lay on the right side of the horses' necks.

Sometime during the day one person drives around and checks paddock. This includes making sure the automatic waters are clean and are working properly. Also, we fill hay racks with hay. We have to 'fluff' or pull apart the hay in the hay racks to make sure it fills them and so it looks nice. Once the thoroughbred paddocks are done, I have to go and check the retired mares, teaser and ponies (AKA riding horses) paddocks and hay and water them. We have a golf cart to do this in and good thing because the retired mares and teasers are far away.

We blow the barn and water the horses before we go to lunch at 12. When we get back we have to feed grain again. Then we medicate. We put on more ice boots and Equissage if necessary. (Both have to stay on for about 20 minutes, so when 4 or 5 horses are on them it takes awhile to get done). Then we finish grooming if necessary. At this time I put on poultice. This is to help cool the joints on the one horse of mine. It is a fairly sticky substance and then I have to put brown paper on it to let it dry and hopefully not get straw in it. Also, I have to put mineral oil on the legs that have the bumps and any other medication on little nicks and injuries. Sometime during the afternoon we have to move the pen for our stall rest horse. It is heavy and we basically drag it to a new spot. Then we take the horses out. We start with the farthest horses first and then work our way closer to the barn when turning out. We take them out together so again no horses are by themselves unless they are supposed to be. The barn is blown again, all the rooms are swept and cleaned, the water buckets dumped, the feed tubs washed, hay shaken out in the stalls and stalls picked. Then we are finished at 4. On Saturdays and Sundays they finish at 3 so we quickly groom and we usually do not have to do any extra things like clean halters and whatnot.

Tuesdays and Fridays the stalls are mucked out. We clean out the stalls except for the clean straw and then re-bed them then bring in and do the typical. These days are usually hectic so we just give the horses a rinse and quick groom. Sometimes we get more done than other days.

More on next post...do not want to overload your eyes!