Goat Herding and Poopology

Day 2 - Wednesday, August 5, 2009

We had our volunteer orientation at 9:30am, video at 10am and tour at 10:30 this morning. The volunteer video has changed since I saw it in 2007. BF updated it with the Vicktory Dogs, and their latest Puppies aren’t Products campaigns. Kim & I walked out of the video room in tears, but SO GRATEFUL we have both been given this opportunity to help everyone at BF this week, including the amazing animals in their care.

We headed over to Angel Village for a wonderful lunch with an equally wonderful view. BF invites volunteers to join staff members for a vegetarian lunch each day, and let me tell you it was amazing. We had tomato basil soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, potato salad, blueberries, peaches, salad, chocolate cookies, and I’m sure other things that I’m forgetting. Regardless, it was fabulous & we had to roll ourselves to the car afterwards.

After lunch we made our way over to Horse Haven for our video orientation at 1:15pm. I was sad to see that Britt, the Horse Haven welcome piggie, wasn’t there to greet us as she did back in 2007. Sadly, she recently passed the Rainbow Bridge, and there was a memorial set up for her on the Horse Haven counter. Kim & I grabbed stones to lay on her tombstone and to keep for ourselves.

Once the video ended, we teamed up with BF staffers Margaret and Ronnie, volunteers Richard & Vicki, and intern Michelle for a special “project.” Hmmmm….

Turns out we were to build chutes to switch goats from one enclosure to another. Apparently, the mother daughter goat team of Emily & Lydia doesn’t enjoy the grass in their area, so they weren’t keeping it as tidy as they should. However, the goats at the far field - Maggie, Olivia, Joseph, and one other I can’t remember – aren’t nearly as finicky so our project was to switch everyone which trust me, sounds easier than it really was! Not to say it wasn’t fun though!! I can honestly say I never thought I would be a goat herder but I loved it! They were so funny, and we especially fell in love with little Olivia. Once all the goats were in their new homes, we moved a few of their houses around, then sat back to admire our hard work while the goats happily munched away on their new grass.

About an hour after it all started, we switched tasks and went with Margaret to the horse pastures for the all important task of mucking. Yup, we became poopologists for the rest of the afternoon. As unglamorous as it was, we had a BLAST and the ladies we were teamed with were all wonderful. Margaret, the BF staff member, took us to a hidden jewel that is close to the pasture on the other side of Kanab Creek. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

During the mucking, I was able to catch up again with Alex the Great, Grandpa Bernie, Cowboy and a few other horses I met back in 2007. For those of you who have visited BF before, Alex is now in the Disney pasture with a beautiful 35 year old Arabian named Yasmine, and the two are best buddies. Loved seeing him again!

We then moved on to grooming Mercer, Luna and a few of their friends in the pasture right outside of the BF cottages. We also hung out with a new horse, Sasha, who was completely feral when she arrived at BF. She and her horse friend were previously owned by an idiot who “forgot” to feed them for TWO YEARS, and they were both severely malnourished and underweight when they arrived at BF. Sasha had also been bound at her hooves and drug by a truck at one point, so it’s no wonder whatsoever that she didn’t trust humans at all. Once she realized she is safe at BF, that the food is plentiful, and that she is loved, she slowly started lowering her wall and now she is thriving. She is starting to enjoy being around humans, and she actually nudged us a few times through her gate. She has gained back the weight she lost and she is absolutely stunning.

My internet connection is still iffy so I'll post an update on day 3 as soon as I can. For now, enjoy the slideshow of day 2!

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