I have finally settled into the routine. Now that I understand it the day seems to go by much easier. Not to mention when you can break it down to tasks rather than hours of work it seems much shorter. This is my routine: I wake up at 5:30 each morning get ready and head to the shuttle by 6:20am and we head to the tent. Normally there is a much needed stop by Starbucks first. When we get to the tent we open up the stables and get bales of hay to feed the horses.I need to get an exact count and see how many there really are in the stable. The day is just so busy I never have uninterrupted time to do so. It is somewhere around 60 Someone grabs a hose and fills all their buckets. Next we have to get the cedar chippings for each horse. Each stall gets 2 with exception of the 6 large stalls that get 3 each. Now we muck stalls! I normally do about 10 stalls, give or take a few. We sweep and then it is feeding time again. After all the hay is passed out for the second time we have to sweep again.
That is the morning. All of that takes place between 7 am and noon.
Now it is lunch time! I head over to the kitchen and see what my amazing Mr. has prepared us for lunch. He always makes me yummie vegetarian goodness ^_^ !! We get to take a nice hour long lunch which gives me time to spend with Billy. We don't get days off together so this is a very special part of my day. When he is too busy I just go hang out with my favorite horses and shower them with love and attention. This bonding time with the horses is vital. It is important for them to see me as a friend not just someone who has to boss them around. They are far more apt to listen to me if they consider me a friend.
After lunch is over we have to clean. Normally we have to wash all the horses water buckets, pick the paddock, scrub the grain buckets, and/or scrub the walls of the stalls. The problem with having an all white stable is it can easily look dirty so we spend a lot of time keeping it sparkling. In a normal afternoon we have to do two of those tasks. After that is done it is time to re-pick the stalls we did in the morning. We sweep one more time and it is time to go home!
About 3 hours after I get home Billy gets home and we get to see each other for a few hours before we have to go to sleep and start the day over again.
I love reading about your experiences!! Your so right about the horses needing to bond with you. Also, its crucial for those horses to be happy offstage so they'll perform their best onstage!! You're so lucky and those horses are lucky to have someone who cares taking care of them. ^_^
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