Thursday, January 15, 2009

This will have to tide you over for a few days!

  • I am off to my first day of Vet Tech School in less than an hour!
  • Charley has a UTI. He had one about 6 months ago and he had had trouble urinating and had to strain to go. He also had a huge accident in the house. A few days ago I noticed that he took a little longer than normal to find a spot to pee. Then I noticed that he was more subdued and laying down more than usual. Then he yelped out of the blue. I called the vet and I was a bit hesitant to make an appointment because he was eating, drinking, and peeing fine... He just didn't seem right. So, I took him in and sure enough- another UTI.
  • I discovered how to get Boomer to drink in the winter! Fill a 5 gallon bucket with hot water, stir in a cup of feed, and watch him drain the bucket!
  • I was offered a job breaking a horse. It is a little sorrel QH gelding rescue who is probably 4-6 years old. I get the payment knocked off our board. I have been thinking of fair prices and I thinkI will charge $10/hour of riding and $5/hour of round pen work. I think I will put 3 hours of riding on him per week and 1-2 hours of round pen work per week. Sounds good, eh?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Ooh, Vet Tech School! Have fun!

Do you learn about all animals there or are you going to focus on just horses?

Since this is the first post I have ever read on your blog, I have no idea who Charley is. I am assuming he is not the horse since those aren't generally allowed in the house. I suppose it could be your husband, though then you probably wouldn't be taking him to the vet. :) My guess is a cat, dog, or bird (if those can even get UTIs), but whoever he is, I hope he gets better soon! Urinary tract infections are the worst!

Are you getting board knocked off in addition to getting paid to break the horse, or is what you are getting paid what's going to your board?

If you are using the payments to pay for board, I would say charge more! It can't be easy to break a horse (especially if you are doing it right) and it makes their value go a whole lot higher.

I am in California where things are pretty overpriced, but when I was looking round for some additional training for my Arab, there were trainers charging 40 dollars an hour to break a horse. And then about 75 dollars an hour for specialised (event) training.

Best of luck in school!

Heather said...

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to browse back to older posts to see pics of Charley. I always get more comments on him then my horse posts! Charley is my 1.5 year old Boxer. He is AWESOME! :)

Vet Tech school is great so far! I will be learning about all animals and can specialize in Equine Certification through the AAEVT.

About the training prices, I'm not really sure what to do. I feel like that is low also, but it will only be my 2nd horse to break. So, I figure I can just go up from here!