Post by Zala on Feb 6, 2023 7:19:24 GMT -3
"Check out those deer in the pasture!" Alicia Wiggins squealed as she and the other two grooms walked out of the show barn.
"Yeah they come around every year, and this coming spring they'll have fawns with them" Becka Smith said, "Just wait."
Our newest groom Alicia had just started her day shoveling manure and filling water buckets and hay nets. So far she hadn't gotten into too much trouble, but I could see she was wearing on Becka's nerves a bit. JT had come with me to check out our stallion Pocoboonsmal FS who had slipped in his paddock earlier in the morning. I didn't need him getting badly hurt because he was one of our prized Cutting stallions. And with him being a homebred of Fiesta Stock Horses made him even more special!! He had been specially bred by my friend Ashlee when she was still dabbling in Working Western Horses and Arabians.
"Hey boss, are we heading to the tack store anytime soon?" Becka asked me.
"Um maybe later this week, I don't have any shipments coming in or orders to pick up yet." I said, watching Alicia out of the corner of my eye as she giggled and showed Darren West; out oldest groom, pictures of her new puppy on her phone.
"Alright, we're going to need some more buckets and haynets. Several of them are tattered and needing to be replaced." Becka said, "And it may be a good experience for Alicia to figure out the stuff we need around here."
"Good idea." I nodded with a smile, this was going to be fun!
A few days went past, like usual horses were coming in and out of the barn for pasture rest or work outs in the round pen or indoor arena. One of our up and coming Reining horses; CU Shining Lil Prize, was a gorgeous 2 year old stallion who was being put through his paces by Kelly Ramsey; our head Working Western trainer. She definitely knew her stuff, but had sorta retired after a bad accident with another farms horse. She decided to "come out of hiding" as she put it and get back into the game. When she saw our ad looking for a professional trainer, she was calling practically every day until I finally agreed, and we've never turned back. Kelly is perfect for CU and we plan to keep her around for as long as possible! She's great with the youngsters; even breaks the babies, and loves jumping on a finely tuned Reiner or Cutter and go to work. She has also started showing and will be assigning Becka as her assistant trainer soon, that's why Alicia had been hired, but we'll see how that goes. She's kind of too talkative and is always asking a ton of questions. I'm sure Becka will enjoy the relief of being assistant trainer and not having to work around Alicia. I have to laugh about it sometimes.
"Off to the tack store we go!" I said loudly into the show barn; trying to get the attention of Becka and Alicia. Becka was the first to arrive and Alicia showed up shortly after putting away her wheelbarrow and muck fork from mucking stalls. We jumped into the farm truck with JT in the driver's seat and headed into town to the local tack shop and feed store. I decided it might be a good idea to get a few more bags of grain, some treats, and the buckets and hay nets Becka had mentioned earlier in the week. JT grabbed up a couple more muck forks as a few of the ones in the barn were missing tines and I hate broken tools for mucking stalls. Its always irritating when your tools are worn out and don't work like they used to. Alicia was eye balling the saddles and bridles, but finally came over and helped pack some of our purchases out to the truck. She jumped in the truck bed and helped load the remaining goods; which raised a few eyebrows and then we were on our way home!
Once we arrived back home, Alicia helped Becka, JT and Darren put the new purchases away and then asked if she could go watch the youngsters in the side pasture. I agreed to let her and asked her to be back at the barn in a little while. I had planned a company dinner of sorts and had already set up our eating area and had the food catered so I didn't have to do the cooking, lol. I got a text saying the caterer was on their way with the food, once they arrived I would invite everyone for dinner. It was great having everyone living on the property, so company meals were super easy to put together because everyone was so conveniently close!
Dinner was great, everyone enjoyed it and went back for several helpings and there was hardly anything left, but everyone was happy and content! Another year had rolled around and we had big plans for the future of our Working Western program! We had several fantastic foals on their way and many beautiful, talented show horses. I couldn't ask for anything better, what an amazing opportunity!! We all hope this year will turn out to be one of our best yet, here's hoping!! Cheers!!
"Yeah they come around every year, and this coming spring they'll have fawns with them" Becka Smith said, "Just wait."
Our newest groom Alicia had just started her day shoveling manure and filling water buckets and hay nets. So far she hadn't gotten into too much trouble, but I could see she was wearing on Becka's nerves a bit. JT had come with me to check out our stallion Pocoboonsmal FS who had slipped in his paddock earlier in the morning. I didn't need him getting badly hurt because he was one of our prized Cutting stallions. And with him being a homebred of Fiesta Stock Horses made him even more special!! He had been specially bred by my friend Ashlee when she was still dabbling in Working Western Horses and Arabians.
"Hey boss, are we heading to the tack store anytime soon?" Becka asked me.
"Um maybe later this week, I don't have any shipments coming in or orders to pick up yet." I said, watching Alicia out of the corner of my eye as she giggled and showed Darren West; out oldest groom, pictures of her new puppy on her phone.
"Alright, we're going to need some more buckets and haynets. Several of them are tattered and needing to be replaced." Becka said, "And it may be a good experience for Alicia to figure out the stuff we need around here."
"Good idea." I nodded with a smile, this was going to be fun!
A few days went past, like usual horses were coming in and out of the barn for pasture rest or work outs in the round pen or indoor arena. One of our up and coming Reining horses; CU Shining Lil Prize, was a gorgeous 2 year old stallion who was being put through his paces by Kelly Ramsey; our head Working Western trainer. She definitely knew her stuff, but had sorta retired after a bad accident with another farms horse. She decided to "come out of hiding" as she put it and get back into the game. When she saw our ad looking for a professional trainer, she was calling practically every day until I finally agreed, and we've never turned back. Kelly is perfect for CU and we plan to keep her around for as long as possible! She's great with the youngsters; even breaks the babies, and loves jumping on a finely tuned Reiner or Cutter and go to work. She has also started showing and will be assigning Becka as her assistant trainer soon, that's why Alicia had been hired, but we'll see how that goes. She's kind of too talkative and is always asking a ton of questions. I'm sure Becka will enjoy the relief of being assistant trainer and not having to work around Alicia. I have to laugh about it sometimes.
"Off to the tack store we go!" I said loudly into the show barn; trying to get the attention of Becka and Alicia. Becka was the first to arrive and Alicia showed up shortly after putting away her wheelbarrow and muck fork from mucking stalls. We jumped into the farm truck with JT in the driver's seat and headed into town to the local tack shop and feed store. I decided it might be a good idea to get a few more bags of grain, some treats, and the buckets and hay nets Becka had mentioned earlier in the week. JT grabbed up a couple more muck forks as a few of the ones in the barn were missing tines and I hate broken tools for mucking stalls. Its always irritating when your tools are worn out and don't work like they used to. Alicia was eye balling the saddles and bridles, but finally came over and helped pack some of our purchases out to the truck. She jumped in the truck bed and helped load the remaining goods; which raised a few eyebrows and then we were on our way home!
Once we arrived back home, Alicia helped Becka, JT and Darren put the new purchases away and then asked if she could go watch the youngsters in the side pasture. I agreed to let her and asked her to be back at the barn in a little while. I had planned a company dinner of sorts and had already set up our eating area and had the food catered so I didn't have to do the cooking, lol. I got a text saying the caterer was on their way with the food, once they arrived I would invite everyone for dinner. It was great having everyone living on the property, so company meals were super easy to put together because everyone was so conveniently close!
Dinner was great, everyone enjoyed it and went back for several helpings and there was hardly anything left, but everyone was happy and content! Another year had rolled around and we had big plans for the future of our Working Western program! We had several fantastic foals on their way and many beautiful, talented show horses. I couldn't ask for anything better, what an amazing opportunity!! We all hope this year will turn out to be one of our best yet, here's hoping!! Cheers!!
