Olivia

grooming, turn in/turn out, blanketing,feeding, wrapping, tacking up, lunging, tractor driving

I have worked at two horse barns. The first one was at a facility called Rosebrook Farm and it is located in Georgetown Massachusetts. I started in 2018 during my senior year of high school and I left in the fall of 2019 . It is a dressage barn and there I learned how to feed, turn in and turn out horses, I learned how to wrap and blanket as well, I also learned how to drive a tractor to drag out the indoor arena to make it level. I also became proficient in grooming and tacking up horses for the horse trainer that would exercise the owner's horses. My second horse job was located at a facility called Echo Ridge Farm and is located in Lee, New Hampshire. I began in the summer of 2020 and ended in October because I had to move to Massachusetts. My duties were to turn in/ turn out, feeding for both horses and the chickens as well as goats that were on the property. I also ended up taking lessons there too in exchange for the work. This barn focuses on show jumping.

I have encountered circumstances that were very high stress while being a barn manager. For example, there was one afternoon I was tidying up the barn while the horses were turned out and the Clydesdale ended up kicking down the weak part of the fencing and about 10 horses ended up fleeing the paddock and onto the property. I knew that the best thing to do was to keep as calm as possible to not worsen the situation and I was able to bring them back to their stalls safe and sound.

I have ridden only trained horses that are consistently ridden and exercised.I have ridden a horse that was more stubborn but nothing too intense. I have about a year of horse riding experience and this is because I come from a low income household so starting out early with horse riding unfortunately wasn't an option for me until I became more financially independent. I also have become busy with school and having to work that I haven't had time to continue taking lessons but I plan to soon.