So I've finally begun working here at Summerhill and the first division I'll be working with is the Yearlings. So far, its been quite the job! I've only been dealing with them for 3 days now and I'm exhausted. The first thing I did was handle them and take them from the stables to the paddocks. That sounds pretty easy, right? Wellll when you're dealing with such young horses, not to mention Thoroughbreds who are known for being "hot", its basically like holding onto a 700-800 pound stick of dynamite. The workers were told to give me the "easier" horses (thank you, thank you) because they obviously don't want the intern being killed after being here less than a week ;). The first filly I handled was very sweet and gentle. Nothing too crazy. Next was a colt who happened to be feeling his oats. He was rearing and walking sideways, but I handled him quite well. The guys kept asking me if I was okay and I was! I felt quite accomplished handling such a young horse. I've never before dealt with such young horses.
Our first major task with the yearlings was to get them ready for inspection by the official yearling judges of South Africa. They would be like the Jockey Club of America. All the yearlings were groomed and brought down for inspection. They are given a physical score on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. Then they are judged based on pedigree also on a scale of 1 to 10. Then they'll have an overall score out of 20. The horses that do the best will go on to the National Yearling Sale at the end of April where they will hopefully be sold for loads of money! During the inspection, my job was to check the horse's microchip numbers. The racehorses here in South Africa are not tattooed like they are in the U.S. They have microchips placed in their necks instead. Amazingly, it seems like most countries are moving in the direction of microchipping and according to many who work here at Summerhill, the U.S. is behind in that sense. Some see it as barbaric to still be tattooing horses (but then again Australia brands their racehorses). I had to scan each horse's neck and confirm the number with the judges. It took almost 3 hours to get through all 45 of the yearlings. After we had gotten through with all the horses, we went to have lunch at the stud office with the two judges. The lunch was delicious! We had "maze" or corn bread, a beet and carrot salad with ginger dressing, potato salad with a hint of wasabi and pork sausages in honey and mustard (of course I didn't eat the pork, but it smelled delicious!). It was such a privilege to be apart of the lunch. Of course, the CEO of Summerhill, Mick Goss, was in attendance. I got a chance to speak with him and I found out that he used to live and work in Indiana. He was a lawyer in Gary, IN (ugh.) But its amazing that he is so familiar with my state! (Cue the song.... "Its a small world after all"). Of course, the general conversation mainly revolved around horses and racing. However, they did discuss the price of gas and vehicles. They asked me the price of a new SUV in America and they seemed to think my estimate of $20,000-30,000 was a bit high (am I wrong?) According to my South African co-workers, the price of gas is lowest in the Middle East and America (so I guess we all need to stop complaining). Although, we do rely on our vehicles a lot more than most counties.
After lunch, I went with Ricardo (second in command of the yearlings) to sponge the horses down with an anti-fungal disinfectant because many of the horses are coming down with ringworm with all the rainy wet weather. I held them while Ricardo sponged. I actually have blisters on my hands from holding on so tightly to the naughty horses. Young horses aren't particularly fond of being sponged down. It was actually quite a dangerous job. Plus we had to do about 45 horses! I was so exhausted when we finished that I barely had the strength left to brush my teeth before I went to bed! If there's two things that I've learned so far about working on a stud farm its this- 1. You MUST L.O.V.E. horses to do this, like really love them. Its a lot of hard work and basically your life just revolves around your work. All of the farm managers live right here on the farm because their jobs require it. And 2. Its exhausting! I've only been working here for 3 days and I'm beat! I mean beat. I'm so incredibly tired (and dirty!). I will be working with the yearlings for the rest of this week and then... I feel like this announcement requires some very dramatic music BUM BUM BUM.... RIDING!!! I. Cant. Wait. I'll go to work with with the pre-training horses that are being prepared for the Summer Ready to Run Sale that will take place February 18th. These horses are 2 year olds. Yikes! Wish me luck. I've been working out very diligently and I'm hoping it will pay off. I'll be sure to keep you all updated! This really is such an incredible experience. Sometimes its hard for me to believe I'm here. Every once in awhile I just take a breath and soak it all in. I'm in Africa working with racehorses!! Wow.
P.S. Currently, I'm having a bit of trouble with the internet. I'm having trouble uploading pictures to Facebook, but once I get them uploaded there then I should be able to upload some here as well. At this point I'm only able to upload about 3 pictures at a time and it takes forever (and of course I have thousands!!) But probably the best way to see my pictures and videos is through my Facebook. You can find the link at the bottom of the right hand side.
Also, I'm sorry to all my fellow Hoosiers. I keep getting email updates about the weather. Butler is completely closed today because of the snow! Sounds fantastic (NOT). I won't rub it in too much because I know what its like buttt today was a balmy 80 degrees with sunshine and a cool breeze ;)
As they say here in Africa,
Cheers!
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