Maybe I'm allergic to volunteering

So I went and volunteered at the horse ranch today, well, it's a center for equine therapy... but in my mind it's still a horse ranch. I was up and seven and made it there at 8:30 to prep for the 9:15 class. It was fucking freezing, everyone was huddled in jackets before jobs got assigned. I ended up grooming the lovely Miss Patty, who wasn't so lovely today... she was grouchy and nippish. And doing her best to mush me into the fence. Though I do believe she was satisfied with how frikkin' gorgeous her coat was before she went in to work and it got coated in dust again.

Then I was sidewalking for Kyle (with the adult Kyle leading, and another girl on his left) who seemed to be having the time of his life until he did the challenge course, where he got tired and no longer cared about riding. Surprisingly though, that was when he did his best riding, he held the reins and keep his hand on the saddle horn with no prompting! And he stopped Gypsy on his own! I was SO proud of him! And bless Gypsy... she has never ending patience. Even when it was obvious that she just wanted to take a nap she kept going along, no complaint, not fidgeting at all. She kept nice and calm and consistent the entire class. I'm telling you, in equine therapy the real hero, the real therapist, is the horse.

Remember how I said up there that it was fucking freezing that morning? It got hot. We were all sweating buckets and kicking ourselves for wearing warm clothes. It was miserable outside. And so windy. The wind was the worst thing, mostly because it's all dirt out there, everything produces a dust cloud if you so much as step on it. I'm pretty miserable right now with a sore throat, stuffy nose, head ache, hurting ears. I hate dirt.

Still, when all is said and done it was definitely worth it to go out there and help out. It was wonderful, and rewarding.

Love,

Alice