Wednesdays

There came a point when I was a very bored 14 year old. I needed something to do. I wasn't into sports, I didn't take music lessons, and at that point we hadn't joined a church.... So my mom thought it would be fun if I volunteered at a horse stable. I love horses, and due to the fact that I can't exactly squeeze one into our tiny back yard, it would give me an opportunity to be around horses.

I volunteered for about 3 months before Anna started volunteering, too.

It's funny... I don't really know if we talked too much before we started working together. We'd see each other on Sundays, maybe exchange a few words... but I think we really got to be friends over the time we had there. :)

Since then, we've racked up memory after memory in that hairy gallery of all things equine: Conversations, injuries, blunders and victories echo in the dusty hallways.

It's sad, but our time there is going to come to an end soon. :( For a couple of years I've been wanting to take some pictures there, and I finally did. :) So without further ado, here's a tour in pictures of our typical Wednesday. Thanks to Anna for letting me borrow her camera!

Hehe, I just needed to take a picture of this sign. :P

Our friend Katelyn, another volunteer on Wednesdays. :)

This is Kolby. I used to ride him a lot. :) He's really tall!

He looks innocent enough in this picture, but Diesel is one of the bullies. :P He likes to bite at people's heads when they're not looking.

The viewing room. It looks out into the bigger arena where people usually ride. We go in here to get warm in the winter and eat snacks from the vending machine. We've also celebrated a few birthdays in there. :)

This guy right here is one of my favorites. His name is Feeair. He's kind of old and has pretty bad arthritis in his legs (so he can't be ridden anymore), but he's just so sweet. He's one of the only horses who's not a jerk when you walk past a hay bale.

In stark contrast to Feeair, this is Skylark the Fjord. Really, I don't think this picture does Skylark justice. As in, I don't think it really captures her pure evil. :P We're sworn enemies. I guess it's because Skylark knows I'm a weakling and she takes advantage of my smallness whenever she comes across food. She also tried to run away once, leaving me pulling her tail and screaming for help in the rain as she ran towards the road. That was the only time her obsession with food came in handy, because the only thing that stopped her was some grass in the neighbor's yard.

This is Penney.

She's really cute.

I like her.

She doesn't like me.

I don't really know why.

Oh well. :P

She also just got over a bout of lice a couple weeks ago, so we've been a bit scared to touch her ever since. O_o

This is a therapy lesson for a little boy named Joey that we get to help out with sometimes. We set up plastic dinosaurs around the arena, and he gets to collect them and throw them in the bucket. He's improved a lot since he's started. He talks a little more than he used to, and has a pretty good arm now. ;D

Mah rain boots.

The cross ties. This is where we've been spending most of our time, because we've been grooming horses a lot lately.

This is Truffle. She's Anna's greatest enemy. They haven't really been friends since Truffle decided to rear up and smack Anna in the face. O_o

Katelyn and Jubilee.

And last but certainly not least is Romeo, who's even bigger than Kolby. I'm not even tall enough to see over his back!

He got his name from the little heart-shaped mark on his forehead.

I wasn't able to take pictures of everyone, so I guess I'll give an honorable mention to Jackie (my awesome boss), David (the guy who pays me in canadian money), and Katelyn's mom, Wendy. :D