Take A Bow

And so, my friends, we come to the untimely end of my journey. After a lot of praying and thinking, debating and talking, I’ve decided to come home. It wasn’t the easiest choice to make, but once I decided, I felt at peace immediately.

The reasons for my leaving Taylor Made early are numerous, interlaced, and a little fuzzy. Attribute my departure to the fact that I do not want to find myself working in the Thoroughbred industry for the rest of my life. I knew that in this business, everything must come down to the bottom dollar, but I probably underestimated it. There is something precious to me when I can spend time with each individual horse and truly know their personalities, or even allow them to have personalities. Give me time to spoil each horse and create a trust. That’s worth any dollar amount to me.

Adding to the hardship is the stress of the internship. Daily work was fine, even dealing with difficult people shouldn’t have been that hard. Honestly, this internship wasn’t any harder than anything I may have experienced in my previous work experiences. What made it difficult was the lack of my support system. Yes, you. You, reading this blog, play a central role in keeping me sane and calm. My church, my family, my man, my horse… they are all vastly important to me. Remove those resources from me, and I realize how little I can handle in a decent manner.

True, I will not get a recommendation from Taylor Made. And I may not be able to put this work experience on my resume`. I changed plans midway and paid a decent amount of money for it. I let a couple people down and worried others that my decision was a mistake.

Also very true, I feel happy again. I can return to what matters most to me. I am two steps closer to really knowing where I want my life to go. And I’m ready to meet this new chapter of my life with my full faculties.

Maybe Taylor Made didn’t turn out to be the magnificent adventure I had always hoped for. But that matters little to me. No adventure is worth it if I can’t find a way to stay happy throughout it. As a friend put it, it's not enough to know what you want. It's just as important to know what you don't want.

Music

With this internship, I've had to make various adjustments to my life. For example: my sleeping habits. When was the last time I started looking at nine as bedtime? Oh, wait... when I was working at Noah's. Better example: transportation. Without a car here, I have to be positive I am planning ahead and making sure I have a way to and from work every day. In addition, all my errands are completed on my day off. But the biggest example of a life adjustment? Church.

I work on Sundays, and I have no car. So it cuts out any opportunities I may have to explore churches and find something to attend during my stay here. Needless to say, I've had to work on other ways to keep my faith strong. And thankfully, God knows me better than I know myself.

God knows how much I connect with music, how much it can influence me. One day, Jess and I were driving on our way to class and she was setting the stations on her car radio. She came across KLUV without knowing it and tuned it in simply because the song playing was rock. So I listened gratefully to the words of the song as it talked about God's glory. Perhaps Jess has caught on that the station isn't "her style," but it still remains on the dial.

Then, Sunday last week, I was dutifully working on our 20+ stalls when I strangely recognized the melody coming from our small cassette radio. At some point, the classic rock station had turned to a Christian station, and I heard a song that I have sung in church hundreds of times. I couldn't help but smile. Oscar, who speaks little English, didn't understands the words. Rovel wasn't listening close enough to listen. So for a few precious minutes, I was able to let the music revitalize me and remind me that God is still here.

Perhaps I'm not as on top of devotional readings as I would like to be. Perhaps I haven't made it to church in over two months. But God's reaching me in a way that fits these life changes, and it's comforting. And it's keeping me mindful of Him through the days.

No Room At The Inn

That's all we can hold, folks! Yesterday we received our last mare and foal and the result is a completely full barn, including the wash stall. It brings us to a grand total of twenty seven mares and twenty three foals in the main barn, four barren mares in the lower barn, and seven mares that are living in the field. That's sixty one individual equines that are under the care of Bona Terra B. Then, of course, there are seven more mares from another field who will move over to Bona Terra when they get closer to their foaling dates. Whew.

If nothing else, I'm getting really good at handling mares and foals on my own, and finding the most efficient way to get chores done. With a barn this full, down-time is a rare gift. And if we are working with the blacksmiths or doing pictures, or if the vets have a full load for us that day, time is even more precious. But, as I found out yesterday, it is possible to do all the chores absolutely necessary in four hours. We need a little extra help, but at least it's possible!

Why so full? Over the past few weeks, mares and foals from New York, Florida, and California have been shipped in to Taylor Made. A few are owned by Taylor Made, but most are here because the owners have hired Taylor Made to sell the mares and foals. They will go through the broodmare sales and weanling sales that happen later in the year. It's great for business.

Thankfully, our foals have remained healthy, as well as our mares. There's a strange sense of accomplishment seeing the paddocks full of content of horses, swishing their tails in the occasional sunlight.

Last Tuesday the interns took a field trip to Ashford Stud to have a class on breeding. It was pretty fantastic. Ashford is one of the premier breeding establishments in the Thoroughbred industry. They are par tof Coolmore, a company that has farms in the US, Ireland, and Australia. The stallions they stand are some of the most influential studs in the business. It was pretty fantastic. Thunder Gulch, Johannesburg, Lion Heart, Scat Daddy... they were all there. Petting their heads was like shaking hands with celebrities. I loved it!!

When it rains...

... it pours. This week has been insane, and pretty full of bad luck. We've lost a few horses due to various things. The situations are not that common in reality, but because we have such a high concentration of mares, those rare cases show up more often. Today was the pinnacle of the bad week. It would be hard to beat the chaos of today.

At 1pm today, I literally stood in the barn aisleway, totally confused and lost. There was so much activity, such a disturbance in the daily routine, and so many people that I honestly couldn't think of what needed to happen next.

Parked at the east end of the barn was a group of trucks belonging to two vets examining one mare's recovery from laminitis, the two managers, and the three vets plus one assistant that had just spend two hours at the barn with a sick mare who had to be euthanized. Inside the barn were piles of old bedding tossed out by the four extra grooms who came over to help with chores (we only had 3 stalls of 27 done when they arrived), and the tractor with manure spreader taking up the entire aisle. Out front was another set of vehicles, including the truck and trailer that arrived to pick up the deceased mare. At the west end of the barn was another truck and trailer delivering a nurse mare for the newly orphaned filly. All together, we had 21 people scattered throughout the barn and more trucks than a rodeo parking lot. And we still didn't finish the stalls for another three hours.

If there is one thing I'm learning, it's that the only plan that you can have is to be flexible. An agenda perfectly planned for the day will quickly be turned inside-out and upside-down as our beloved equines show how unpredictable they can be. Our day today was supposed to be busy, but still manageable. By ten-thirty, all our hopeful plans had been thrown out the door.

On the brighter side, the filly who lost her mother today is one of the best looking babies I've ever seen. She's huge! She's the size of other foals a month older. Her chestnut coat is accented by a bright blaze and three striking stockings on her legs. The circumference of bone on this filly's legs is substantial and she's filled out a lot more than you would expect to see on day-old foals. I hope to have pictures of her soon. This is one filly I'm going to have to keep tabs on.

Lucky Number Five

This is practically something out of Ripley's. We had a mare foal out today in the middle of the day (again) and she had a hard time foaling. As one of my managers was helping her out, he called the vet over to check something out. Soon, a whole group of us is crowded around this mare, trying to see what the heck was going on with this foal. It seems that this foal was born with an extra foot.

Yes, that's right. An extra foot. Her front left hoof was completely cloven in two, just like a calf's. The pastern is a bone that goes from the hoof to the ankle joint, and she has two. This goes beyond just an finger or toe (he he he). This is an entire extra hoof, seemingly normal with good blood supply and all. The only problem is that the ankle joint can't bend, partly because it has two separate bones connecting to it.

The prognosis for this filly is not the greatest. She won't be able to race, but she is able to stand and nurse. Other than this foot, she's perfectly normal. But her worth in the industry is low enough as it is. So she will probably be put down. This is a business, after all, and if she isn't going to be able to bring a sale price or reproduce successfully, then she has little use to the business. It's unfortunate, but it would be impossible to give her a quality life within the demands of this industry.

Beavis

It's been said that, collectively speaking, Thoroughbreds have the least amount of personality of all the horse breeds. Granted, this is coming from a girl who is a Quarter Horse girl, so I have just an ounce of bias. Just listen to me talk about my Trufflez and you'll hear personality overflowing. But I do feel that the mares here seem to be lacking in the personal quirks and antics that I find so enjoyable in horses. So I thank heavens for these little foals.

For instance, take the little foal Nikki and I have named Beavis. He's mischevious, a brat, and he makes a grunting nose when he runs that is taken directly from the MTV cartoon "Beavis and Butthead." From the day he stepped off the van from New York, he's been nothing but trouble. While holding him for the broodmare manager to examine, Beavis nearly took pieces out of my arm and the manager's arm. When we hold his dam for the vet to examine, the trick isn't making sure he doesn't escape, it's watching when he rears so his hooves don't hit you in the head or knock his dam over. Leading him o and from the paddock is a task in itself. If he's not bucking and jumping, he's tearing off, dragging you and his dam along for the ride.

He's not all a terror, though. In the afternoon, the mares will usually come to the gate when we whistle for them. Beavis has figured out the routine, so more than once he has come running across the pasture, grunting and whinnying the entire way. It almost makes his mischievousness bearable to hear him like that. And his personality would be annoying if it wasn't such a welcome change.

All the babies

It all reminds me of something I would read in a horse story back in middle school... Stormy, the black colt!

We had another baby born today... at 11:30 in the afternoon! This is unusual as the vast majority of horses will foal at night, under the cover of darkness. It's their instinct to foal at night, but every so often a mare just can't wait that long and has to foal in broad daylight.

This little guy caught us all by surprise. We try to make sure every foal is born in a stall where we can intervene in case of an emergency, but when a mare foals in the day, she's usually outside. And even the best watchmen will get caught by surprise. We were in the middle of stalls when our manager came in, telling us we had a foal in the field. Oops!!

The foal was no more than thirty minutes old when we found him, but we still needed to get him into his mare's stall quickly. All the other mares in the field were running around in a tizzy, either from the huge gusts of wind or from the presence of the foal. Eventually, we got a pickup out in the pasture, laid the highly confused colt down in the bed, and practically sat on him during the ride to his stall. This poor mare, though she could see her foal the entire time, was certain that her colt was going to disappear somewhere without her. Her behavior, as well as her size, made her more of a problem to deal with than the foal!

Once inside, the mare was able to see that her colt was fine, and by the end of the day all was well. He seems to be a very healthy baby, which is lucky for us! I think I might have to nickname him Stormy. Cliche, I know, but it perfectly describes the weather of the day, the whole situation at work, and his silver-gray color. I'll be excited to see what he looks like as he gets older.

Valentine's Day

Today has turned into a day not just for people in love, but for everyone you love in all respects of the word.

I received a package today filled with chocolates, a special box, and tons of notes from my friends back home. Reading all those great little notes has made my day so special. They made me smile, made me laugh, and even brought a little tear to my eye. Everyone who helped make the package so great deserves more than the thanks I can offer. Special thanks to Kenny for having the genius to put it all together and know exactly what would make my day practically perfect. It means a lot to know so many people would take just a few minutes to let me know that they are thinking about me!

Thanks everyone!

Weather Watch

I'm sure I have people wondering about me, wanting to make sure I'm okay. I hope this gets out to enough people to calm some nerves. A couple nights ago, about fourteen tornadoes went through areas of southern Kentucky. It's a nearly record number, and the casualties were the highest in over 50 years. The damage was all south of Lexington, so I was well out of harm's way, but I still had quite a bit of weather to deal with.

The thunderstorms were crazy. I've seen just a few powerful thunderstorms in Oregon -the kind that shake the window panes during a clap. Within a week, I've encountered two. The most recent was on Tuesday night, while the whole state was in a tornado alert. Unfortunately, the thunderstorm did result in the death of one of our broodmares, so it's hard to say that the farm didn't suffer much damage.

Despite challenging weather patterns that keep me on my toes, I still feel like this is exactly where God wants me to be. I'm so thankful for the friends and family who I know are praying for me and sending me encouragement and support. I may be off in a different state, but I still rely on everyone close to me! Take care... more to come soon...

Colts and Fillies

Last week we got three mares and foals in from New York. They are here for a while until they are sold by Taylor Made. These foals are about two weeks old and are such a blast to handle. One in particular has quite the attitude and is very curious. Today, the sun was out, the temperature was up, and I spent my lunch out in the paddock with the other intern Nikki. We took some fantastic pictures. Most are on Milo's internet gallery, but here are just a few for you all!

New update!

Talking to Mom last night over Skype (ah, the internet...) I realized that I hadn't put an update up in quite a while. My only reason is that the work here is settling into a routine and I forget that everyone else is still waiting to hear from me! So, here's my update...

One big blessing lately has been the new set of friends that I hang out with. There's a group of five, all of us interns, who like to hang out and have dinner at least once a week. It just gives us a chance to relax, talk about work, and have a little bit of socialization in our lives. Otherwise, there would be nothing but work to keep me occupied!!

As I said earlier, I'm settling into a routine at work and becoming used to the things that are normal in Kentucky, but rarely seen in Oregon. The horses here are worth so much more, and this is especially true for mares in foal. If a mare has produced a few good horses and was bred to a stud with a $75,000 stud fee, she's worth the extra money it takes to keep her healthy. So I'm seeing a lot of treatment techniques that aren't as common back home and I'm learning a ton along the way.

It's been cold again lately, but luckily there isn't much precipitation. For the most part, it's not that difficult to deal with. It just gets hard when I'm walking through the pastures at 7am to find the mares that need to come in and I'm getting blasted with a biting cold gust that causes wind burn on my cheeks. But I'm not complaining!!

This really is a fantastic time for me, though. Even if the work gets hard, the labor hours are long, I'm still in a beautiful place with amazing people. The more I work here, the more I'm impressed with how well the farm is run as a whole. If my plans for life included possibly staying in Kentucky, I would want to stay with Taylor Made. But don't worry, my Oregonians and fellow Pacific Northwesters... as great as Taylor Made is, I'm still looking forward to coming home.

Silver Linings

I'm not going to lie... today was a little rough. The weather, the massive amounts of work, language barriers, and other undefinable factors influenced a less than perfect attitude. I noticed it half way through the morning. The stalls were really messy and I was constantly one stall behind Oscar, which just made me feel a little incompetent. As we worked in silence (he knows as much English as I know Spanish...) I began to wonder why I wasn't feeling as motivated as I had been the past few days.

It's hard to say exactly what my thought process was, but all I know is that God is good and He's leading me through this. Not every day is going to be sunshine and roses, but I can plow through them knowing that I have higher goals set. This was reiterated for me by three of the four Taylor brothers. During a little Meet&Greet, they told their stories about working hard in situations that seemed over-flowing with hard work and little reward. They were all in the same exact spot as the interns are in now -bottom of the barrel, barely keeping their head above water, surrounded by physical work. But they told us that with a little work, a little faith, and a better goal to work for, those rough days are tolerable. It was precisely what God wanted me to hear.

Overall, things are going very well. There are always days where the wind is just a little too harsh, the load is just a little too heavy, or the work seems unending. But it doesn't have to be like that forever, and I don't have to define my time here by how hard it is. There's more for me on the other side. God's good like that.

Winter

A girl growing up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon rarely sees snow. So when I woke up this morning and looked out the window to a white blanket of fresh snow, my first reaction was "Yay! Snow!" My second reaction: "Thank goodness today is my day off." I've got the gear to keep me warm, but I honestly didn't feel like working in the snow today.

The past two days have been extremely cold. I don't think the temperature got above 20 degrees Fahrenheit on either Sunday or Monday. It was extremely dry, so the wind was the major element to worry about. This is cold that bites at your cheeks and makes it hard to keep your eyes open. This is cold that makes the refrigerator feel warm. We work around the farm with nothing but our faces showing, and even those are partially covered. If I ever complain about it being cold when I get back to Oregon, remind me of winters in the Midwest.

The horses do surprisingly well in this weather, though. They've been living outside all winter, so their bodies have developed the winter coats to deal with the cold. We help them out by keeping a nice layer of fat around them. I'm sure my horse would freak out at this cold. I'd put her outside and she would give me this look of "You have got to be kidding me."

Settling In

I've been at Taylor Made for a little over a week, and there is a daily routine that I'm beginning to settle into. Granted, things are rarely the same two days in a row, but there is a general plan of action that I can follow and adjust accordingly. As my manager, Bob, always says, the idea is to have a plan, but that plan will always change! So being flexible and attentive to the changes is key to working on a farm like this.

The day starts around 6:30 or 7:00am, depending on how much work there is to do that day. Water buckets are filled, grain is given, and the mares are brought in from a chilly night out in the pastures. Sometimes I feel sorry for the mares who live outside, but I guess their bodies are adapted to the cold weather and can keep them warm.

With all the mares in, some are doctored (foot problems are the popular ailment this winter), some may be shown to potential buyers, or the blacksmiths come to trim feet. I'll write more about the blacksmiths later... This is practically the only time we have to examine the mares, so it's crucial that we are observe any changes in the udders, any new battle scars from the pasture, or any signs of illness. Surprisingly, it doesn't take that long. Once you know the signs to look for, you can get through twenty three mares fairly quickly.

The mares are quickly kicked back out into their paddocks. The stalls are either picked through, or cleaned thoroughly, depending on the day. The barn is cleaned, swept, and cleared with a blower. After lunch, we head into the fields with the tractor to throw out a lunch of hay and grain. The mares all recognize the tractor and what it is bringing to them. Some afternoons they are so anxious for their grain they crowd the tractor and make it hard to maneuver! Other afternoons, they might be halfway across the 15+ acres and come galloping over the hills to us.

All in all, it doesn't sound like a terrible load of work, but when you realize that there are twenty five horses to care for in one barn and the work is split between two people, it can quickly add up to an eight hour day. Also keep in mind that nothing ever goes as planned. Machinery can break down, or horses can have different ideas for how the day is supposed to go.

Of course, this routine is set only until we get all the various foals born! Hopefully this week we will have more foals and I'll be able to put up lots of pictures!

Pictures!!

After some internet problems, I'm finally able to put up a couple pictures. The weather hasn't been the nicest lately... we had snow yesterday... conditions for taking pictures weren't very cooperative. But here are a couple from last week. The first is of Queen and her filly born on Jan 1st. Feisty little girl! The next shows barn B at Bona Terra, where I spend the majority of my time. Bona Terra is just one of the broodmare division within Taylor Made. It boasts three barns of twenty five mares each, all in foal. The farm is expansive; you never walk from one barn to the next. You take the tractors.

From January 11th

I watched he sky grow light from inside a moving horse trailer today. All I could see were tree limbs and the occasional power line and I sat low in the corner, a week foal in my arms. His dam, traveling loose in the small trailer stall, lowered her graceful head periodically to chek and make sure her baby was still with us. We were on our way to the clinic to save this little guy's life.

Less twelve hours prior, a mare named Caracara had her foal nearly two weeks early. The placenta was infected and had begun to separate early. I'ts hard to know how long the colt was without oxygen before he was pulled out in an emergency birth. Then he lost quite a bit of blood when the umbilical cord didn't break properly and had to be cut. Overall, the first few hours of his life were rough and he's what we refer to as a dummy foal. He doesn't have the strength or oxygen supply to hold his head up for long, much less stand to nurse. So as soon as I got to the barn, I was asked by a manager to ride in the trailer so the mare wouldn't accidentaly step on her foal. We got to the equine hospital of unusual size (read: EHOUS) about an hour later and the little foal was carried away by stretcher. The next few days will determine if he'll be alright. What a trip! But it wasn't done yet!

I rode with the farm's hauler, Barrett. He's a man who looks older than he is due to the cigarettes he smokes, and is full of southern drawl and charm. People laugh at me when I jokingly bring out the drawl and turn "If you want to," into a harsh "Y'oughnt to." I've got nothing compared to this man!

We stopped by Keeneland Race Course to drop off paper work for the yearling sale currently going on there. Taylor Made Sales Agency has about 200 young horses they are putting through the sale. I've never seen any event put on with such preparation, care, show, and professionalism. Horses are pets here. They are big business.

Adventures abound for me. There is never a day the same, expecially if you're willing to do a little extra work, spend a little extra time, and lend a hand. Everything is new and exciting in my position, as someone here to learn. It's fantastic now, and I hope I can keep up a portion of that excitement during my tenure here.

Blue Kentucky Morning

This morning, I walked out into one of the many pastures to call in half the mares for breakfast. From somewhere in the dark, my eyes were able to see the outline of these big mamas, bellies swaying and heads bobbing. One by one, the broodmares come in from the dark into stalls full of straw. As the sun begins to rise over the Kentucky countryside, a blue haze filters through the air. There's a sense of serenity with these mares. There's a peaceful quiet as each horse munches quietly on her morning ration of grain. But this stillness doesn't last. Soon, there are tractors driving all over the roads, a hundred stalls to be picked, and various health issues to be addressed. And above all, these mares need to eat. A lot.

Though I've only had two days of work at Taylor Made, specifically the Bona Terra division, I can see where the daily routine fits in. Yet there's enough variation in the day to keep it interesting. Before spring break, we should have 75 foals born, and close to 100 before the breeding season is done. Once the little ones arrive, the work in increase as will the excitement.

There are hundreds of stories to tell right now, and just not enough time to give them all justice! But I want to say one little blip about Oscar: This young man from Mexico has been living in the US for three years, and has been at Taylor Made for a year. His English is patchy, though I think he understands more than he lets on. Without one of the other interns to translate, we spend a lot of time repeating words and using hand gestures. But it's still fun. He laughs at me for not having the tractor driving skills he has. His character is great and very patient. He still can't understand why I don't speak Spanish, though. Thinks I grew up in France or something.

Our internet situation is a little messed up right now, so I'll have to hold off on pictures until everything is smoothed out. There will be so much to tell!

I'm ready to go.

All that's left to do now is pack my bags. I've secured a purchase for a laptop so I will be able to continue these updates. Everything is in order and well prepared. Now I just have to step onto that plane.

This is crazy. I can't believe I'm doing this. An internship like this is something I've been preparing for since August of 2006, so long ago that it hardly feels like it could be real. My posts have gotten a little dry lately purely because there's nothing different. Still waiting. Still preparing. Still counting down the days.

But in a week (possibly the time of my next post) I'll have plenty to write about. People, places, 'partments, pictures, etc. Next you hear from me, I'll be in Horse Country, USA!!

Countdown to KY

Here's the countdown, folks. Exactly four weeks from today, I'll be flying out for five months in Kentucky. Yes, it's only five months because I chose to stay home until after the holidays. It just means I'll have to work even harder when I get there!

Trufflez is almost to her new home for the winter and spring at the Children's Farm Home in Corvallis. I'm incredibly grateful to Debby for helping me out with this. It's such a load off my mined to know that my horse will be well cared for by someone I know and trust.

Here we go! T- 28 days!