Gorgeous, right?
After I got done filling the troughs, I went over to the goat barn to help Alice with the morning feedings and the mucking. Soon enough, I had to go to a presentation at 10:30 with the rest of the interns. Today, we had two presentations! The first presentation was on adoptions. Sherri, who mainly does cat adoptions, gave the presentation. She just explained all of the different fees and policies that Best Friends has, as well as, some of the numbers from 2013. Last year, Best Friends adopted out over 560 dogs and 300 cats! WOW! To adopt a dog, Best Friends asks for a $100 donation, and for cats, a $65 donation. For those of you who aren't familiar with Best Friends, they also have a return-guarantee policy. If something happens, or if you can no longer look after the animal, Best Friends will always take that animal back. Most shelters don't have the ability -- whether it be financial or physical limitations -- to deploy this kind of policy. So it's pretty amazing that Best Friends' animals truly have a forever home!
Our second presentation was from the manager of the Volunteer Department, Lori! She informed us of all the ways that we can stay involved with Best Friends even after we leave. Best Friends has programs and events all over the country that constantly require the help of volunteers. Each year, they have an fundraising event called Strut Your Mutt that is held in cities across the US, and they're expanding every year! Here's a link so that you can check it out!
http://bestfriends.org/What-We-Do/Events/Strut-Your-Mutt/
Once you copy and paste that link, on the left-hand side of the page, you will see other events that are happening, like Pet Super Adoptions! Although there aren't too many events located closely to Reading, PA... I still want to find a way to stay involved and help out Best Friends in anyway that I can! You guys should think about getting involved too :). It's really easy! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me!!
So after our two morning presentations, I ate lunch, and went back to horses. This afternoon, I was scheduled to shadow Ann, who is a horse trainer. Ann has over 20 years of experience in the 'horse world' and she's an established trainer using the Parelli method. Parelli is a natural horsemanship program for training horses. And although I don't know much about Parelli itself, I know that it's an extremely humane and wildly popular training method. Today, Ann wanted to work with Jewel. Jewel arrived at Best Friends just three weeks ago, and she was not a happy horse! She was extremely stressed out, and to let everyone know that she was stressed out, she would bite, kick, and strike. When she first arrived, staff members, including Ann, couldn't even be in her pen with her because she was so unpredictable. But in these three short weeks, Jewel has made tremendous progress. She's no longer doing any of the harmful behavior, and she has become approachable. Ann wanted to do Parelli with Jewel because she thinks that no one ever took the time to train Jewel and give her any sort of stimulation. Throughout the afternoon, Ann gave me so much information on horses! I really feel like I've gained a better understanding about their body language, their nonverbal cues, and just their behavior in general. I'm so amazed at how receptive and sensitive horses are to everything. Jewel did exceedingly well on her outing today! Here's some pictures of her... (she's such a pretty girl!)
In this picture, Ann is playing the 'touch game', which is part of the Parelli program. Ann wanted Jewel to touch the sign with her nose. Using the rope that's attached to Jewel's halter, she swings it quickly back and forth, and by doing so, it lets Jewel know where she's supposed to go. After a few tries, Jewel really started to pick up on the touch game! It was awesome to watch her improve so quickly.
Here, Ann wanted Jewel to do a figure-eight around the two cones while still being lead by the rope attached to her halter. Jewel had practiced this task before, but she remembered what to do right away!
Overall, my afternoon was jam-packed with information about horses! They are such fascinating animals and I am beyond happy that I got the chance to spend a week with them! Now that my week is done, I definitely feel more comfortable around horses, and that's simply because I understand them more! I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned in the past week. Out of the twelve people that run the horse and pig departments, eleven of them are women!!! If that's not amazing, I don't know what is. I am beyond impressed by how hard-working and passionate all of these women (and Ron!) are about their work, and they do such a phenomenal job! You guys have heard me whine all week about how tough the work is, but I have no right to complain, because these women do it day in and day out! I think I'm just a wimp :).
FINALLY, I will be in my element next week!!!! YAY! I am so excited to spend some time with dogs before I leave. I'm sure my last week of this internship will definitely end on a good note! I'm going to try my hardest to not bring another piece of "luggage" home with me! :)
