Monday 26th November

Another week! The Thanksgiving families have departed and things are much quieter here - we had enough time to dunk Kate in a water trough to celebrate her birthday.





You may be pleased to hear that Roman is recovering well from his colic. You may be less pleased to hear that he has a new issue - he came in this morning with a huge rip in his mouth which looked VERY sore. So the vet came out again (they are on first-named terms with each other these days) but unfortunately there is too much tissue damage etc for the rip to be stitched so he just cut the flap out. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUCH. Now, up until this stage, I'm holding Roman still (who, to be fair to him, has been heavily sedated at this stage) and I've managed not to vomit or pass out as the vet injects his ripped mouth to numb the damaged nerves. However as Dr B came towards us with a huge pair of scissors, I made an executive decision to step away from the horse.





Roman now has an open wound on his face which looks nasty and I'm sure is pretty painful. I took a photo so you can see it for yourself....

It will need to be kept clean - a huge challenge in itself as he, um, lives in the desert and we will need to doctor it and give him medication. I will keep you posted as to his progress.

Tonight one of the guests invited Kate and I to have dinner with her. As "staff" we are not allowed into the guest bar or to have dinner with the guests unless we are invited so this was a treat for us. It felt rather strange to be in there actually with all the guests and I felt like I had to be on best behaviour (which obviously for me, comes naturally) so I opted for a Diet Coke. Oh, and now I'm back in our bunkhouse, nursing a gin 'n' tonic. I don't want you to think that that is my usual tipple here but as it was Kate's birthday on Saturday we made a special trip to Wal Mart to buy some celebratory booze.

I'm not sure that the said G & T is helping my cold much as I'm feeling rather congested again. I need to remember to wrap up well tomorrow morning as it was Tres Cold when we went to work this morning. I forgot to pack any coats so I had on a vest, shirt and 2 hoodies and a scarf and I was still wheezing like a 90 year old lady with Emphysema. If anyone has a thermal, waterproof riding jacket that they want to pop in the post for me, that would be great!

It is very pretty here at the ranch as they have just turned on the Christmas lights and as you know, I love Christmas lights! We have coloured ones all around the stables and up near reception there are chilli lights. I'm a bit disturbed by the huge inflatable snowman but otherwise it is all very pretty.

One thing that continues to frustrate me whilst I'm here is my riding ability - I seem to have lost all my confidence. I am in a very fortunate position to be able to ride a variety of horses and yet my nerve seems to have left me and I'm reverting to riding like a complete idiot. Today I have been riding Pete again - he is the horse who belongs to one of the owners and is 25 (but thinks he is 5). I had forgotten how strong he is - we were only out on a slow ride but he got very excited and I could feel myself starting to panic. I talked to Carol, the Head Wrangler about it and suggested to her that I ought to have a drink before I ride. I'm just practicising now with my G & T.

The other highlight of my day was doctoring Buzz. Buzz had cancer on his ......ahem...... and had to have some cut out (OUCH OUCH OUCH) and so every day, Buzz needs to have his "friend" cleaned and cream applied. The issue with this is trying to persuade Buzz to get his "friend" out for you to poke it about. Funnily enough, Buzz isn't showing great willingness in this respect and so we have to coax Buzz's friend out of his shell. Now, I've not led the most exicting of lives but neither is it that sheltered but this job was a new one for me! I won't bore you with the details, but after donning my latex gloves I managed (after some time though!) to successfully complete said task with my humour intact and Buzz's friend, all shiny and clean. Don't worry, I didn't take a picture for you.

Friday 23rd November

Hi, Sorry it has been a while since my last update - things have been rather hectic here. But before I forget, i wanted to try and post the photo of Deuce that I tried to upload last week. Let's see if this works....

Phew, glad i got that one sorted. Now where was I? Well it's been a pretty busy week since I last wrote. I can't remember if I told you that one of the ranch owners, Kristen was competing in a rodeo last Friday and she kindly invited the volunteers to go with her to watch. I've never been to a rodeo so I jumped at the chance and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Kristen took us in her big truck - towing an even bigger horse trailer. 2 horses came for the outing -Wildcat (who was actually entered in the competition) and Apollo (who came along for the ride and to get him used to shows). Wow. What an experience.

Ines and I had a wonder round the area and found the junior rodeo arena where kids of about 4 or 5 years old put on protective helmets and ride on the back of sheep for as long as they can. Very strange to watch. I was also slightly distracted by the two female comentators for this event who were looking very spangly in their outfits:

(Sorry about the photo being the wrong way round!) It turns out that the lady in the silvery glittery number is none other than Miss Rodeo USA - hence I guess she gets to wear the Bet Lynch stuff....

So first of all we watched the macho cowboys doing their bucking bronco stuff. Personally I think you have to be pretty crazy in the head to want to do that kind of thing - can you imagine the kind of pressure it would put on your body? I love the way that they try really hard to walk away like they haven't just been shaken around like a rag doll....

Since the rodeo we have been ultra busy here on the ranch. It is Thanksgiving week and the ranch is at full capacity with guests. There are 3 families that come here each year for Thanksgiving and have been doing so for the last 10/15/21 years - they are very loud, very competitive and just walk around like they own the place. To them I am "just a volunteer" which suits me fine as I don't have to talk to them much!

Wednesday was a very difficult day for me here. I went up to the outer fields to round the horses up early in the morning and found Butch, one of the large draught horses, lying down. I thought he had injured his leg but after some encouragement he got up and trotted down to the barn so I assumed he was just being lazy. As I got down to the barn I saw that he had collapsed again and this time I couldn't get him up - it took 5 of us to get him up and then we had to run him through the barn and out into the main ranch and keep him moving as he wanted to collapse again. He was sweating a lot and his eyes were very bloodshot. After a while he was lying down and trying to roll and clearly in a lot of pain so we called the vet. For 3.5 hours myself and Gry (wrangler) stayed with him, stroking him when he was down, trying to keep him warm and then running with him when he stood up to try and stop him going down again. It was very exhausting. The vet discovered that he had 2 twists in his gut and the only real chance of saving him was an operation but due to his size and age (25) this was unlikely to be successful and so the decision was made to put him down.

I was very upset at this stage - I think it was the right decision to put him to sleep but it was very hard to see him in such pain and not be able to save him despite all our efforts. He was such a gentle giant and I think he really wanted to keep running for us but he just couldn't. I stayed with him until the end and they have buried him with his old partner, Sundance here on then ranch.

About the same time, we discovered another horse (Roman) was also poorly with some kind of colic - I then spent the next 8 hours with him, calming him whilst he had IV meds, walking him to try and ease his gut, stopping him roll etc etc. The vet was also very worried about him and the wranglers did shifts throughout the night to stay with him. I'm pleased to say that he seems to be doing ok - he is drinking a little and his stomach is much less distended now and I am hopeful he will make a full recovery. I think it is safe to say that Wednesday was a very difficult and long day for me and the other staff.

One thing that I did find strange was the guests who seemed intent on staring whilst all this was going on. It's a bit like slowing down to have a good gawp at a car accident. There is one guest (who shall remain nameless) who just stood watching me and Gry trying to calm Butch as he thrashed about on the floor and put blankets under him to try and make him more comfortable. I suggested to said-guest that she might want to go and get some breakfast. Her reply? "i want to brush my horse". "well, we're a little bit busy right now. i think it would be best if you went to get some breakfast and come back another time". AKA "GO AWAY YOU &&***&&(". That made me quite angry.

Yesterday was a little better, and my day was going well. I went on a half day ride with a horse called Korona - very handsome but as I discovered slightly mad, as he proceeded to lie down and roll - whilst I was still riding him. An interesting experience for us both.

I have a stinking cold today and have been feeling rather sorry for myself. It's no fun being sick when you are so far away from home. It's Kate's birthday tomorrow and we are all supposed to be going out for dinner to celebrate so I'm crossing my fingers that I am feeling well enough.

That's all for now folks. I thought I would sign off with a photo of us volunteers (it's just as well these photos don't work like scratch 'n' sniff)....

Thursday 18th Nov (aka the day after Black Wednesday)

Today has been a good day - I had a nice ride this afternoon on Remington. Remington is the horse I rode last year as a guest and he is very sweet. It has been a funny day weather-wise - when we first started work this morning, there were plenty of clouds and also lots of lightening but no thunder.

I managed to hurt my finger this morning whilst grooming the horses. We use a brush called a Curry Comb to help ground the dirt out of the horses coats. Its made of metal rings with lots of little metal teeth on it. I was using it quite furiously and managed to "brush" my finger. Ouch ouch ouch. Curry Comb + finger in the way = bloody and painful finger. Oh well, i guess I can add it to my list of other injuries that I am slowly starting to accumulate.

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about Deuce. Deuce is one of the horses here, ridden when I was last here as a guest by my friend Sam. Deuce had a very runny eye then and has since had an operation on it and this week the vet advised us that he found cancer in the sample that he cut out. He now has to have it dressed 3 times a day and he is very sweet and well behaved whilst we are poking about in his eye and so I thought he deserved a special mention as he is very brave and I like him a lot. I think the vet thinks he has managed to get all the cancer out of his eye so hopefully he will be ok. Here is a photo of me and Deuce:

Oh, no photo of Deuce, cos my PC won't upload it for some reason. Sorry about that.

I have to go now and apply some cream to my mangled finger - laters people x

Monday 12th November

Hello All, I'm back to tell you about my exciting day today. Monday is quite hectic here as it is over the weekend that a lot of guests leave or arrive and thus on Monday there are quite a few new guests to accomodate. This means a flurry of adjusting stirrups, making sure hats have stampede straps and making sure guests are suited to their horses. This last one can be quite tricky to get right and today there were a couple of guests who weren't satisfied with their horses. The thing that I have learnt today is to hold my tongue when they tell you in no uncertain terms that they don't like their horses (especially when the poor horse is not to blame - ever heard the saying "a bad workman blames his tools??!).

Today i have been riding "Pete". He belongs to one of the ranch owners so I have been feeling quite nervous as I feel more responsible for him than some of the other horses. Pete is 25 but thinks he is 5 - he had a LOT of energy today and can be a strong horse. I sense that we might be at the start of what could become a stormy relationship.

I thought you might like to see a photo today of me in my work uniform. I'm looking happy in this picture as I have some magic potion in my hand.....

Incase you are wondering why Cissi (at the front) and Ines (to the right) are pulling funny faces, we were supposed to be showing how tired we were.

What I haven't told you about yet is the horsemanship course that is also going on at the ranch at the moment. It's kind of weird to watch and hard to watch without laughing (I'm guessing the participants won't appreciate me if I was to do that) - it's kind of like a horse-whispering course, getting to know your horse etc. I read the literature for it and they have different topics - one of which is entitled "Intimacy". Now I don't know about you, but I have never been a big fan of beastiality but these guys are getting intimate with their horses and feeling "at one with the horses womb". Other interesting parts of the horse includes ballet in the saddle. All. Very. Strange. I wonder how much they are paying for this???

Sunday 11th November

Yay! I finally had a good nights sleep! I slept pretty much till 6.30am this morning. That in itself is quite unusual for me as usually if I don't have an alarm I can sleep in much later but I guess my body is getting a bit more used to the early mornings. Damn shame thought too as today is my day off! I snoozed until 8.30am and then got up for breakfast.

It's a lovely day here in Tucson, 79 degrees, clear blue skies and a very slight breeze. It's kinda weird having a day off as I feel guilty that I'm not working so I've taken the opportunity to clean my room, the bathroom and wash the floors. Those of you that know me know that this is also a very weird thing for me to do! Anyways i took some photos of the house I'm living in so you can get more of an idea of where I am!

The first photo is of my bedroom - quite neat for me huh?? and the 2nd one is of our "lounge area". What I have quite quickly realised is as soon as you wash the floor or sweep it, it gets covered in dust everywhere as it just seeps into the building and covers your clothes, your bed, everything! I am finding that i am coughing quite a bit but hopefully I will get used to it.

Wednesday was quite a low day for me - I felt very tired and my feet were so sore with blisters. Thursday was a lot better and three of us volunteers (Ines, Cissi and I) drove to Wikenburg for our Volunteer Appreciation Day. It should have taken us nearly 3 hours but the rode we were due to come off of was closed for roadworks and there was no signs for divertion so we had to find a place to turn round, come right back down and head up another main road. To cut a very long story short, we finally arrived at our hotel at just gone 1am - we set out at about 7.45pm (although we did stop for a Maccy D's on the way).

It was great to be away from the dust for the night and we spent the morning looking round Wikenburg. On the whole people were very welcoming towards us until they found out what I did for a living (in the real world) and then I kind of got the feeling that I was gonna be "rode out of town"........

So we had to leave Wikenburg pretty quickly. We spent the afternoon in Phoenix undertaking a serious bout of shopping. Eventually we decided we ought to had back to the ranch and so we made our way home.

Yesterday was probably my best day of work so far - I think havin the friday off probably had something to do with that and also knowing that we had today off work too also helped. I also wore my new work boots (very feminine I can assure you) and so my feet weren't so sore!

I had a nice night last night as i went out for dinner with Cissi and Jenny, one of the wranglers. We went to an Italian restaurant called Olive Garden. The restaurants here have HUGE servings but I am somehow managing to work my way through the food. It's a hard job but someone has to do it.

Wednesday 7th November

Greetings Fellow Earthlings, don't you think it's weird that I am here in Arizona, having had my dinner, working on my blog whilst you guys are sleeping peacefully in your beds (lucky buggers).

I have been shovelling lots of horse doo-doo today. I took the chore to "rake the road" which is a polite way of saying "go and pick up horse shit". Despite the smell, it's actually quite a nice chore as you do it about 5pm and the sun is starting to go down and it's cool and quiet. The cool part is particularly important as it has been 90 degrees here today. 90 degrees and I've been wearing boots, jeans and a long sleeved shirt, and scrubbing out a huge water trough. Oh and that was a really grim job. The water trough definitely needed cleaning out as it had lots of algae in it so we got rid of the water and discovered that the algae wasn't the only thing living in the water trough. I discovered a whole science lesson ready to go in the damn thing. Mainly hundreds of bright red worms which took a firm liking to my hand. They were disgusting. But after much scrubbing, some silent screaming and lots of sweating the water trough was as clean as a swimming pool. Well, sort of.

So, I guess you are all dying to hear what I have learnt today: Well I have learnt that the breast collar always goes on last, and comes of first. I bet you guys are glad that I shared that little gem with you.

x

Tuesday 6th November

Oh My God. I think every bone in my body is aching. Some more than others - those being my back, my left foot (aka "biffa foot" to my friends-in-the-know), my right knee and my head. I'm guessing there could be some kind of arguement here that my head is not a muscle but to be honest with you, I'm too tired to argue - I'm guessing that too might come as a bit of a surprise to some of you!

So I have just survived Day 2 as a wrangler. We started work @ 5.30am this morning. Ouch. I am not what you may consider a "morning person" so this was particularly hard for me. We finished @ 5.30 this evening. I felt a bit less of a waste of space today than I did yesterday. The wranglers are so busy it's hard for them to find time to show you what to do so it really is a case of watching, watching, trying, getting it wrong, trying and praying to God that you get it right.

For those of you who are interested we have a routine which is built around the guest rides and then there are the chores. First thing in the morning the horses are herded in and those that need grain go in the graining barn and those that are being used for rides are tied up at their allotted post. That initself is a challenge for me as I don't know the names of the horses, and I don't know where they live. You then brush all the horses and they are saddled up ready for their rides. When the guests come over you help them on their horse and you can escort them/the wrangler on the ride.
When they come back you help them dismount and then take their horse back to its' spot (and that problem arises again!). In between the rides the chores have to be done - feeding the rodeo cattle - first getting huge bales of grass and hay from the hay barn. I couldn't lift the bales - they are huge. I had to then get up on top of a huge pile of bales and chuck down hay into one of the cattle pens. I missed quite a lot. Mainly cos I had my eyes shut at the time of chucking them as I was so scared of being up so high. Oh and then I couldn't get down cos I was scared of falling so one of the wranglers had to come up and coax me down - very embarassing. So after giving all the cattle their hay and grain you go up to the big barn and lay down hay all around the outside for the horses later that night.
I will take you through the other chores another day but first I wanted to introduce to you my theme for my blog - lessons of the day:

Today: I have learnt about how to open and close a pen knife. I have learnt how to loosen a cinch and finally, I have learnt to button my shirt to the top and keep my eyes closed when distributing the hay otherwise I wear half of it down my top and the other half of it in my eyes.
Ouch.

Ok I need to sign off now as I have to go and get some sleep. More exciting news tomorrow.

PS Is there anyone actually reading this apart from Horseface?!

Sunday 4th November 2007

Hi Guys, or should I say "howdy". Well, I was right in thinking that I would wake up thinking I was at home. I was wrong when I said this would all turn out to be a dream.

I slept ok until about 4am and then that was it, which is surprising and somewhat disappointing as I was feeling absolutely exhausted. I woke up feeling quite nervous and anxious about what lies ahead but it's fair to say that I've had a good first day so far. I guess before I get into my day I ought to set the scene here for those of you that haven't been here before.

Well, I'm working as a volunteer at a ranch in Arizona. It's a working cattle ranch that allows guests to stay. There are 42 guest rooms and I think over 150 horses. I'm sharing a house with 4 other volunteer wranglers: Cissi (my Swedish friend who I met here at the ranch as a guest a couple of years ago), Ines (german girl who has been here since the late summer), Marie (german girl who arrived here 3 days ago) and Kate (a Scottish lady who arrived the night before me). Cissi and Ines have been here long enough to know what is going on and so there are three of us who haven't got a scooby what is going on and so for us the adventure is only just beginning.

The house we are living in has 5 bedrooms so at the moment we each have our own room and are not sharing. There are 2 bathrooms, a living and kitchen area. There are other staff houses just around this one too.

The guests can ride six days a week - Sunday is the horses day off and so it it the volunteer wranglers day off so tomorrow I start work. More about that later, let me tell you about today.

Cissi arranged for us to go shooting with our friend Ralph who had a shooting range on his farm. This experience has to figure in my top 10 weirdest experiences. This is me with my 40 Gloc.

(I shot the sucker right in the heart!)

I found it quite scary and whilst enjoyable I was quite tense. Some of the guns I fired where pretty powerful. Ralph's uncle was a SWAT police officer and now trains the SWAT shooters so he came along and showed us the ropes.

I found some of the rifles hard to hold and when they get heavy I couldn't hold my aim properly but there were no accidents you may be relieved to hear. The gun that I had the hardest time with was the machine gun - automatic - I had to really struggle to get the trigger to fire. A truly mad experience and I pulled a lot of faces as the guns were going off! As illustrated in the photo to the left.

Still good fun was had by all and I've made a mental note never to upset Cissi as she was a good shot.

Saturday 3rd November

Ok, this is all really weird. I'm writing this as I lie in my bed in my bedroom. In Arizona. This really doesn't feel real. The last couple of days in Blighty just flew by as I struggled to get everything done that I should have and before I knew it, I was being driven to the airport this morning in the early fog, still half-asleep. 2 flights and 2 arguements with security guards later, I arrive at Tucson Airport where I am met by Adam who drives me back to the ranch and drops me and my bags in my new home for the next couple of months.

Lucky for me my friend Cissi is "home" to welcome me - along with another new volunteer, Kate. I unpack a few things, say hello to the other volunteers and we head to get some dinner. We've made a trip to Wal Mart (I love that shop) and I've bought some necessities (Bud Light) and some luxuries (deo, shampoo etc) and have just finished my unpacking. I have to say this all feels very strange and I'm convinced when I wake up in the morning, I will be staring up at the ceiling in my house back in Blighty and this will all have been a bit of a bizarre dream.

I will have to let you know if that is the case...