Lately my weekends have been filled with horses, ponies, sheep and lambs.
The second picture shows a lamb that was born two weekends ago. The little lamb was spunky and a fighter. She endeared herself to me in the way she fought me when I picked her up to move her and her mom to the lambing stall. I watched her this past weekend interact with the older lambs who are twice her size. She took no guff from the bigger lambs and held her own in the field. I think she reminded me of me. I get a kick out of the different personalities of the sheep and lambs. The two lamb profiles are of two of the bottle baby lambs I have cared for over the past month. They are almost weaned off of the supplemental milk now. The lamb without the freckles comes running after me in the barn and in the field when I do my twice daily walks through pasture to check on everyone.

I learned a lot this lambing season, what to look for as the ewes were getting ready to lamb, how to move a ewe and newborn lamb with minimal stress, how to care for ewe and lamb when the lamb is born, how to bottle feed and in general the overall care of lambs and sheep. In college I furthered my education with horses , did a little bit with chickens and had five weeks of caring for pigs. I never got to care for goats and sheep but in my pet sitting jobs I am gaining more experience.

That is Gator in the top photo. He’s my buddy where I teach. He graciously stayed away from the fence line while I was teaching. When I finished and my student was walking her horse on the cool down I approached the fence and here comes Gator. I just love that little pony. The pony with his head to his chest is Tiger. I was astounded he could reach an itch on his chest between his front legs. A friend of mine dubbed this horse yoga.

The final picture is my student with her horse Kinzer. It was great to teach on Sunday. It was our first lesson of the year due to both of our schedules not working out and the weather. I have been teaching for twenty years and mostly beginners to intermediate riders. This past Sunday for some reason as I pulled up to the farm the thought crossed my mind “What the hell am I doing here teaching?” I felt as if I had no right and found my confidence in the toilet. I started teaching and got into what I was doing and both student and horse were happy and relaxed. We worked through a sticky point with her horse who every so often gets stiff in her neck during an upward transition. My student rode through it and by the end of the lesson Kinzer did not even think about acting up.

I really need to find a horse to ride and an instructor for me. I miss it so much but health issues in my thirties prevented me from riding. I remembered scribing for a judge at Fair Hill International Three Day Event, as it was a break in between rides she told me how she could no longer ride but judges and teaches. I never forgot that. Most people only think of riding horses but there is so much more.

I hope you have a great Thursday and as always thanks for stopping by.