I am currently interning at a horse ranch in Sunol near Pleasanton. I usually go to the ranch three to four times every week and depending on the day, I do different activities. Some days I go just for the feeding and that usually takes about 30/45 minutes. However, when I go for feeding and grooming, it can take up to an hour or more. My favorite part about having this internship is I never get tired of going and having to drive to Pleasanton. As a matter of fact going to my internship is something I always look forward to. I love being around horses and being outdoors. It's very therapeutic after a long day of school. The thing that really stands out to me being around lots of horses is just studying the different personalities each horse has. Each horse has a different personality, and that's what makes everyday a new experience.
I've also been learning a lot about the medical aspect of working with horses. One of the older mares, Dolly, has a medical condition that causes her to be very itchy, to the point where she even itched her entire mane off. I was able to help Jessie treat her by bathing her with this special medicine. I also learned how much work and responsibility it is to bathe a huge animal like that. Another one of Jessie's animals, Pony, has a medical condition called Founders that causes her to easily gain weight so we had to separate Pony from the rest of the horses to help monitor her eating schedule.
Another crazy experience was when I found a horse on the other side of Jessie's property. There was a horse on her neighbor's property that looked in very bad condition. You could see this horses' ribs and hip bones and it was obvious this horse is not being taken care of. I notified Jessie immediately and she called animal control who is supposed to get back to her as soon as they can. Hopefully this horse will be put into a better place or get some help.
One thing I have learned about myself is that I am getting very good at making decisions on my own and working around things to get where I need to be. There have been many situations where I have been alone at the ranch and had to use, for example, a machine for the first time and was able to figure out how to use it on my own. Regarding my area of interest, Equine Science and Management, I have learned that owning a ranch and many horses is a lot of work and commitment. It is as much work as it is fun, and you have to be very committed to own lot of animals and a lot of property.
I would like to continue working with the horses and learning more about care and management of a ranch, especially the care of the horses. I would also love to start doing more relating to the medical side of the horses and would love to start riding. I am currently researching places to ride and am hoping to start soon.
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| Feed |
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| Pony eating |
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| Part of Dolly's back that she scratched |
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| Dolly's mane that she scratched off |
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| Sick horse I found; its ribs and hip bones should not be that visible |
