I started volunteering down the street from my office at a therapeutic riding barn. Once a week, 7-9am I do whatever they need:
- Bring horses out to paddocks
- Collect and re-fill hay nets
- Top off water buckets, sift out any hay
- Soak hay, beet pulp, alfalfa for those who need it
- Muck paddocks and stalls
- Turn on outdoor ring's sprinklers and water flower beds
- Wash out one horse's mouth
- Clean up aisle
- Take recycling to curb
It's funny that, were I younger, I'd be doing this at a barn as a working student, to pay of rides. As it is, I'm fully employed and don't really need to earn my way. It's so important to give back to barns like this that I know have very thin operating margins, and need all the help they can get. We're very careful about how we muck stalls and clean water buckets (don't dump them every day) because water is so expensive in the town the barn is in.
My supervisor retired around age 50 from managing barns of some pretty famous riders, as well as a successful career in Sales. You have never seen someone muck a stall with such efficiency and precision!
It would be great to actually be around during the riding lessons to help out, I've heard it's pretty magical.
At around 8:55, I cruise to the office, use the shower in the gym (lucky to have those!) and get to my desk by 9:30. I feel pretty great from the manual labor and time with animals - the feeling lasts pretty much the rest of the day!
