The Trials and Tribulations of One Freak of Nature

[Natasha]

Good point.

 

[Natasha]

No pun intended.

 

[freakofnature]

That's too bad. It would have been an awesome pun.

 

[freakofnature]

One of the pregnant mares is walking her stall. Some horses will get restless and walk their stall when they go into labour. Her due date is at the end of April so it's a bit early for her to be foaling. She doesn't have a big enough udder to be foaling yet either. She just starting coming in for night a few days ago and I really haven't paid much attention to her yet. Maybe she's just a restless horse. Maybe something outside is bothering her...but the mare in the stall next to her is just standing quietly. :humm:

 

[Natasha]

Oooooh, excitement in the horse world...maybe???

 

[freakofnature]

If by excitement you mean foaling, I sure hope not. At least not tonight. If she foaled tonight everything would be messed up because she's so early and that would mean a whole lot more work. More work is bad. :ninja

 

[Natasha]

Ahh yes...but it will keep you on your toes worrying about whether or not she's going to foal. Sneaky evil horses.

 

[freakofnature]

On my toes? Nah...It's not like I have to run down to the mare barn every half hour to check on her and make sure she's not foaling. I've already got all the stuff on my list done for the night and they've got security cameras on all the horses. All I have to do is sit here on my ass and watch her. Actually, if it wasn't for the cameras I probably wouldn't even know she's walking her stall.

 

[freakofnature]

This is the first year we've had cameras for foaling. They installed them all over the farm last summer. I absolutely love them for watching pregnant mares. A lot of mares like to be private and won't show signs of labour if you're there. With the cameras you can be out of their way and they can do their thing with out feeling threatened. Two of the mares I've foaled this year I probably would have missed if not for the cameras. So in that respect, I really like them. What I DON'T like is when the owners use them to watch the employees. I HATE being watched. And it's not just live camera. It records too so you can rewind and watch stuff if you want.

 

[Natasha]

Well damn...I guess you can just sit here and talk to us, then.

Yeah, I wouldn't like being on camera like that. Not b/c I have anything to hide...but it would make me nervous. When I was a freshman in college I was scheduled to take a polygraph test (funny enough, w/ the department that I work for NOW) and, even though I knew I was telling the truth, I was SO nervous about it. I always think "what if the polygraph is inaccurate and thinks I'm lying when I'm not???" :24: I was relieved when they put the other person on the polygraph first and she failed it miserably...mine was canceled.

 

[Siphorous]

I don't think this horse likes cameras of a different kind either. Lucky his camera seemed to be in the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxSx2PpHcD4

 

[freakofnature]

Well damn...I guess you can just sit here and talk to us, then.

Yeah, I wouldn't like being on camera like that. Not b/c I have anything to hide...but it would make me nervous. When I was a freshman in college I was scheduled to take a polygraph test (funny enough, w/ the department that I work for NOW) and, even though I knew I was telling the truth, I was SO nervous about it. I always think "what if the polygraph is inaccurate and thinks I'm lying when I'm not???" :24: I was relieved when they put the other person on the polygraph first and she failed it miserably...mine was canceled.

:nod: Yeah, exactly. I do my job and I'm not beating horses or doing other stupid things when no one's around. I've never had complaints about my work. I just hate being watched. And that's doing anything, not just at work.

 

[freakofnature]

I don't think this horse likes cameras of a different kind either. Lucky his camera seemed to be in the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxSx2PpHcD4

Yeaaaaaaaaah...it's not a good idea to stand behind a race horse. That guy was definitely lucky. If that kick had connected he would have been seriously injured.

 

[dancingpotato]

Is it bed time yet?

 

[Natasha]

Is it bed time yet?

Almost for me. It's, what, quarter past 9 for you???

 

[dancingpotato]

Yup and since this is my 2515 post, it's a nice round number to leave it for bed time

Night all

 

[Natasha]

Night, Laurie.

 

[freakofnature]

Another 4-5 hours for me. It's 2:45am here right now and I usually go to bed around 8:00ish.

 

[freakofnature]

So...when I got to work this evening, I had been left an updated list of things I need to do every night. One of the things was to take the dogs out for water once during the night. I didn't see that until 2:00am. I figured it would be easier just to take them a pail of water in their pen than to let them out and have to chase them down to get them back in. They're both pretty obedient dogs but I like to make things as easy as possible. Anyway, I grabbed a pail of water and headed out to the dog pen. No dogs. I went so far as to shine a flashlight in the dog house but still no dogs. What the heck???? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I hadn't seen the dogs in their pen for quite a few days now. (It's beside the drive way on the way to the barn.) I hadn't seen them in either of the barns so I was trying to figure out where they had moved the dogs. I finally thought to look in the mare motel (that's what we call the outdoor stalls) and sure enough, there they were. So thank you, you asshats, for telling me you moved the dogs. Appreciate it.

The girl who covers my nights off dropped by yesterday. Last week they had moved the four 2 year-olds from the paddocks in the yard to one of the pastures. They neglected to tell her about it so she didn't feed them the one night because she didn't know where they were. The owners were a bit upset about it. So she's telling me "I didn't KNOW where they were. How am I supposed to feed horses if I don't know where they are???" Oh Kirsten. It's called asking. The owners aren't in bed yet when we do the night feeding so it's not like it would have been an inconvenience. I just had to laugh to myself. She was so indignant about getting in trouble for it but it was her own fault. I do agree, though, that the day crew could do a better job of communicating with us.

 

[Natasha]

Sounds like some serious communication breakdown going on, Zirc. Do y'all have routine staff meetings where things like that can be brought up???