New Horse Photos

The internship has been fun, though I've definitely appreciated having a few days off after a week and a half (first week at the internship was roughly 75 hours! :yikes I've also been starting to learn a little about the pedigrees of some of the broodmares on the property. Some are certainly quite impressive!

I was able to see a horse run on their high speed treadmill the other day, which was fantastic to see. We've seen and participated in a bit of the foal handling work and in one of the ongoing research projects on the property. Now for some photos!

This mare's grandsire was a Grand Prix showjumper by the name of Ahorn.





This girl was nationally ranked (fourth in the nation if I'm not mistaken) in dressage as a four year old. Such a pretty girl. She's a fairly new addition.







some other photos





and this little orphaned girl that I posted the other day, I just found out that she is a granddaughter of Secretariat! It's pretty interesting to say the least!

Hah! love that last photo

Gorgeous!

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

thanks all! I'm interning at a warmblood breeding, research, and extension center that is operated and run through my university. So far, us undergrad interns have been involved in the basic horse care, data collection for the graduate students' research projects, and a little bit of 'public relations' type work. The program has been excellent in working with us and making this a real educational experience, rather than just free labor for the program.

It has been my first experience working with anything under the age of three and has been quite educational. The first week was absolute insanity with only three interns present, so we literally worked doubletime (that week was almost 75 hours!). Since then, though, it has settled down to the point that it's almost part time. My shift today doesn't start until this afternoon, so I have a bit of free time.

I've already gotten to watch a foaling, see a horse run on a treadmill, handle some young foals, watch an ultrasound, give a local anesthetic, and do some other pretty interesting things. I'm interested to see what the rest of the summer brings!

I must have missed the back story, what happened that the little girl was orphaned?

It is certainly a pretty cool place!

I don't think I ever gave the back story on the orphan. The little girl was orphaned at 2 weeks old when her dam died of colic. Another broodmare foaled shortly after the filly was orphaned, so someone had the idea to see if they could convince the broodmare that she'd had twins. They covered the two week old filly in birth material, introduced her to the mare, and then shortly later introduced the mare's own colt to her. This little scenario worked for about two days until the mare realized that the filly had teeth coming in, while her own colt didn't yet. Now the mare won't allow the filly to nurse, so she's eating milk replacer pellets (was originally on a liquid milk replacer). That being said, with the exception of nursing, the mare treats the filly like her own. Of course, when the mare is restrained for any reason, the filly manages to get a few sips! She's a persistent little one!

They are all awesome and gorgeous! The last photo is precious!