Tash

I am keeping a reord of a horse named Tash.

Tash is a Apoloser, this means he is a grey with pink pigments round his eyes and nose with some black spots. He does not do anything at weekends, in the holidays when he goes home, he is in and out of the indoor riding school and also jumps at the school.

Tash gets ridden with a loose ring french link and a snaffle bridal, his saddle is just a general purpose saddle. Since I have been at the college I have ridden Tash once, he is good to ride as he is responsive to your leg and also you don't have yank his teeth out too much when trying to get him to stop.

What has been happening out at the yard

For the first couple of weeks it was only the NC students out at the yard so we mainly got used to working with the horses and started to do some riding. After the third week the HNC and HND students came back to the yard at which time we were sorted into our three groups for working on the yard. The rest of the term was used to get on with course work and get up to scratch with walk, trot and canter. For me this was a lot of walk as I had never done much riding before coming to the college. By the end of the first term I was able to walk and trot and I was starting to do some canter. We all went a day trip down to see a a cross county lesson from Lucinda Green at

Colliemore Equestrian Training Centre.







Just before we broke up for the October holidays we were given our groups for working weekends.

When we got back from the holidays it was back to the routine. After a few weeks with the horses getting ridden and getting fit again, we started jumping. Now this was the first time I had ever done jumping of any sort. Our first jumping lesson was good and I was on Hi-Fi, the first jumps we were doing were some small cross polls that we trotted over as we are not allowed to canter over them yet. As it was my birthday out at the yard, a whole crowd of the girls decided to get me! Which they did well and truly with six buckets of mud, shit, shaving and anything else they could find around the yard. We have been working on our jumping and doing course work the rest of the time. On Thursday the 8th of November we were all being taken back to Thurso early from college because the wind out at the yard was to strong and there was objects blowing around the yard and it was just not safe for us to be out there.

The Yard

The general routine of the yard is when we all first arrive we start to get the stables mucked out. Whilst we are doing this Marion will be getting the feeds ready so we can get the horses finished. Depending on what time of year it is the horses may get put out to the field after they have finished their feeds. After all the horses have been dealt with, the rest of the morning is spent with one group riding and the other two groups are in the class rooms. At lunch time we all just relax and have a laugh, then in the afternoon a different group is riding and the other two groups are in the classrooms. At about 3.15pm we all head down to the yard and start skipping out box's. We make sure that all the horses have two hay nets and a big bucket of water or two little buckets inside the stable. We also have to make sure that all the stables have a little bucket of water outside the stable door. The last jobs of the day are to sweep the yard and give the horses their last feed. Between the start of the course and the end of the October holidays the horses get their outdoor rugs on and get put out into the field at the end of the day. After the October holidays the horses are kept inside as the weather is to bad to put them out but they do get put out if the weather is nice enough.

Out in the yard there are different groups of people. There are the tutors; Mary, Liz, Alasdair and sometimes James, he is the head of the land based courses at the college. Marion is there also, she is the the yard manager. There are different groups of students, the N.C students, the H.N.C students and the H.N.D students.

What I did in the first week of college

I started college on the 20th of August with my induction week. In this week we came to college on the Monday and listened to Mr Mennie who is the Assistant Principle of the college. He spoke to us about what he expected of us and how he wanted us to take our studies seriously.

We were given a tour of the college and saw where the game keeping hut is and we were told about the course we are doing. Then in the afternoon we were all taken up to the dome which is the computer area for all students. There we got inducted into the college and we got our student I.D. cards.

For the rest of the week we were out at the yard, where the horses are kept, getting used to it before the rest of the students arrived. So for two weeks the first years were the only students out there but this was good as it meant we were able to get used to all the horses and the workings of the yard.

What I did over the summer holidays

For most of the summer holidays I just hung out with mates and worked at my job on Saturdays. Then in the last two weeks of the holidays I went down to Edinburgh to visit some friends of the family and also to do some work on Gorgie city farm.

When I'm helping out on Gorgie city I get left in charge of the chicken sheds so that is my responsibility when I first arrive at the farm. I make sure that they are all let out and get feed and water I also make sure that all the eggs get collected. After I'm done with the chickens i give a hand with any other jobs that need doing. For example the farm gets a delivery from Asda of all their past their sell by date products so we use it to make up the pigs' treat buckets.

As I am helping out on the farm I get £2.50 off the price of my lunch. My lunch break is usually at about 12.00 till 1.00. Then we get anther break from 3.00 till 3.15.

After the last break at 3.00 I have to go round the chickens again and give them their last feed. Once that is done I will help whoever else is working to get the rest of the animals away like the cows,horses and goats. After all the other animals are away I will go and put the chickens away for the night so that the foxes don't get them. This can sometimes be easier said than done as they are very fast.