I'm a survivor!!

I made it through the week of hell!!! Still 2 midterms to go but they are quite spread out over the next couple weeks.
Went riding yesterday afternoon after the last exam, it did wonders to help clear my head. Then some friends and I went out for a celebratory dinner to a really good local mexican restaurant. yumm!

A breath of fresh air

Been out riding sunday and tuesday and again today! Classy has been doing really well, everyone at the barn thinks she is just stunning and can't get over how well behaved she is!!
Here is a video from today, everyone was busy so I set the camera on the mounting block so just fast forward through the horse-less parts. The weird background noise isn't be saying whoah a hundred times a minute, its pigeons.
I had SUCH a fun time this afternoon, back to the parasitology books though now for me!

exams, again

Well it is semester turnaround week. Had a pharmacology midterm today that invovled verabtum memorization of 98 different drugs along with their method of actions, contraindications, etc along with a bunch of theory.
tomorrow is a virology final
Friday is a parasitology midterm
Its a rough week from our standpoint!

Day one:

Woke up early this mmorning, and by early I mean 8 o'clock as I wanted to get to the barn early before anyone else started riding in the arena as I wanted to lunge Classy out good before I got on her. Got to the barn and gtrabbed Classy, saddled her up in the barn then headed over to the arena. We lunged for about 20 minutes and at first she was a little heads up and crazy but she eventually settled down. She had never been in an indoor arena and everything was a little spooky at first. After lunging I grabbed one of the girls doing morning chores to give me a hand getting up the first time as I was a little nervous. Clasy though was a doll, it was like she never had any time off and she sure works better when she has some room to move. We did a lot of walking, serpentines, circles and whoahs and ended with a good 5 minute trot doing similar. We then went back to the barn and untacked, she got her goodies and then I turned her back out.
So I have a horse, and indoor arena, other girls to ride with, but you know what was missing: my mom. Mom has always gone riding with me ever since I was born, she was the person to spark my love of horses and even though she may not always ride, she is always there to debeif with after riding and be my ground man when things are a little iffy.
Sorry, no pictures.No riding till wedndsday but will probably drive out to check on her tomorrow night.

A horse of course!!

Classy arrived in fine style this afternoon!! She seemed no worse for wear after her 7 hour trailer ride from Alberta other then a little stocked up.
Met the barn manager Liz, she showed me around the place before Classy arrived! It is a really nice place you can see here at E and J stables It was pony club day so there were a lot of moms and younger girls around. Everyone was so helpful! The barn is an old Mennonite barn with stalls and feed storage on the main floor with tack storage in the loft above and its kind of a free for all, claim a space and utilize it as you see fit. That has me a little worried but I will survive. There is a nice indoor and an outdoor ring with riding from 6am to 11pm. Tons of trails maintained throughout the winter in the neighboring fields as well as a 1 km ride to the river valley with lots of trails.
Once Classy arrived we walked around for a while to stretch her legs and get used to the sites and sounds of the place. She's not used to a busy stable but she will certainly be bomb proof after a little time there(as well as pigeon proof, she thought they were terrifying!) After about an hour of walking and rubbing her legs down I put her in her pasture. Large pasture with about 10 other mares. Classy was a little bit shy and got pushed around at first but eventually buddied up with a big paint and dark bay and managed to get in at a hay bale.
Tomorrow I am heading there early in the morning to get a good lunging session in the arena before it gets busy and then hop on up and get the filly and myself back working! I am so excited I don't think I'll be able to sleep.


A gelding at the barn my mom will drool over

Classy and her buddies

All she wanted to do was eat

More eating

and a picture of Louie helping mom study...

catch-up

Last weekend was thanksgiving up here in Canada which meant a long weekend for me!!
Got off of school mid day Friday and drove my truck back to Alberta. My grandparents were visiting from Manitoba for the weekend and it was really nice to see them. Spent most of Saturday helping Fernvalley with weaning, holding horses for the farrier and freezing in general. Sunday we set up panels for the winter pen for Eurus and Phoenix and went and got bales for the babies. Mom and I even got out for a ride in a short burst of sunshine! We then went home and ate turkey(which I got the majority of the leftovers from!)
Monday was pretty much clean up and get ready to make tracks back to Saskatoon. The weather had been iffy for the past week, but I was an hour out of Edmonton when I ran into a huge snow squall with zero visibility and very icy roads. Truckie and I ended up in the ditch at one point and luckily I have 4x4 low on it so we were able to climb back out. Then later in the drive an hour away from Saskatoon I stopped for gas and managed to lock my keys in the truck. So 2 hours later someone finally comes to unlock the truck for me. It was a very long and eventful drive back!
I did absolutely zero studying over the weekend so really had to buckle down last week as midterm season is upon us! I wrote a general pathology exam on Thursday and am spending the weekend studying pharmacology, parasitology and virology for exams next week and.....

CLASSY IS COMING TODAY!!!!! I am so excited!! I will post pics once she arrives.....


Digger and I

Mom on Blue

Deer in the field

Tossing bales

vetavision

Its been super busy here but not a lot interesting has gone on. It turned very cold and has done nothing but rain for the last 2 weeks. It was-6 when I woke up this morning!!
Last week, thursday--> sunday was a huge open house at the vet college that is put on every 3 years known as vetavision. All students work at a booth (I worked at the dairy booth). There are things like large animal surgery, small animal surgery, clinical pathology, gross pathology, bugs and worms, wildlife medicine, exotic medicine, etc. there are over 30 exhibits!! all students also had to volunteer at admissions, concession, gift shop, etc. all in all it was about an 8 hour commitment all 4 days for me. Here is a clip from the local news on vetavision if you want a peek at what went on! There are also live animal demos such as the dairy booth, petting zoo, poultry, beef, horses, llamas,sheep, alpacas, exotic animals, fistulated cow that you could stick you hand into, etc. All in all it was a success but left me tired and a very unproductive weekend homework wise. It was fun setting up though as we had to move about 200 bales and I love moving bales. It was a fun alternative to class :)
click here to see a clip on vetavision
I am super excited for the upcoming thanksgiving long weekend. Can't wait to go home, see the family, the horses, and just forget about studying for 3 days! Grandparents will be down from Winnipeg who I have not seen in a very long time.
I've also had to get a new lap top as my old girl finally died on me and classes have been going so fast I can no longer keep up with pen and paper! The 1st laptop I bought was a dud so I am now on new lap top #2. Hopefully its a keeper!

the first is always the worst

Well, as i posted earlier, i wrote my first exam of the new school year last week. The first is always the worst. I always find myself wondering if I will still stack up with everyone else? am I still good enough? will I survive this year? At least this year it was a fairly easy midterm that I managed to get 95% on! That is a lovely little confidence booster!
Will post again later this weekend about vetavision, the vet school open house that is going on over the next 4 days(which = no real school!!!)