Last day with Thea

Thea is leaving today for Fredericton for a month trial. So yesterday I recruited a photographer to do a mini photo shoot, and get all dressed up :) Here are the results...

Zoo trip!

Our class had a field trip today to the Oaklawn Farm Zoo in the valley, NS. We had a great time, with a couple personal tours! First was the reptile house where we got to handle some snakes and see some endangered turtles.



Then we wandered around to see zebras, a "zonkey" (half zebra, half donkey), camels, lamas, alpacas, lemurs, mokeys etc. When we reached the barn and farm animal section we noticed a goat in labour and almost got to see the birth! But then she was taken into the barn.

There was aso a goat that looked ready to explode... poor thing!






After that excitment we were ushered off to a personal tour of the big cats. We went through the outer cage section and within reach of the big cats. First were the panthers, and we were allowed to touch them through the cage!!








Next were the cougars... ( no good pics, sorry!)

Then Tigers...





The Jaguars...




And finally the Lions! our tour guide even went in with the pride and gave one of the boys a good scratch under the chin. The reason she could do this was because she raised all of these cats from cubs, so they are used to human interaction. Very cool!

April Update

Half way through the month! Exams went uneventfully, should get our marks back next week. We're halfway through our first week of intersession. I'm really enjoying the hands on stuff, and we are being kept very busy. I've gotten to take blood from a kitty and IV injections (under anaesthetic). Next week I am scheduled for surgery assistant monday, anesthesia tuesday, and surgery assistant thursday :) And I got the only dog for the anesthesia, so I will get to try and intubate!! Can't wait...

Also exciting is my recent ebay purchase. Not quite as exciting as my saddle, but none the less well anticipated. I got a stethoscope. Not just any stethoscope, but a Littman Master Cardiology... and of course in blue. LOL Here is a picture of the pretty beast:



Here is what they say about it:

The Littmann® Master Cardiology™ stethoscope offers a handcrafted stainless steel chestpiece with the portable convenience of a single-sided stethoscope. The tunable diaphragm conveniently alternates between low- and high-frequency sounds with a simple pressure change on the chestpiece.

Additionally, the stethoscope comes with a special procedures adaptor for difficult site or pediatric auscultation

This should be more than adequate for a vet tech, and good if I do anything beyond that! ;) And I got it at half the price of regular retail in Canada. I love ebay!

Classes are finally over! We made it through "Anatomy Week" with 3 tests in Anatomy. Now all thats left are 4 final exams next week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We had a surprise birthday celebration party for one of our instructors, Chas, our last day. It was fun not to do school work!





Here is a picture of our mock emergency with "Fluffy". We had to do CPR and draw up emergency drugs etc. Our instructor also acted as the "distraught client" LOL. It was fun :)



Last night we went out to Damascus to celebrate with pizza,Chocolate Eruption cake, and a few drinks :)





I've been getting quite a few rides in the past couple weeks. Thea is going great! I was able to get some pics and a couple videos. Its great to see how far we've come since September!

St. Patty's Day, etc.

I've been a bit busy with school and everything else, I didn't get a chance to post St. Patty's Day pictures until now. It was a great trip to Halifax, thanks to Liz and Michelle! I definately needed to have some fun time away from Truro.


Dave looking a bit spaced out, Liz and me.


Green beer! (not that I was drinking it, yuck!)


Steve singing to Dave...


Sandra and Liz


Statler in his attire


Liz and Michelle


Liz and I


Me and the boys


Not sure whats going on here...

And now there are only 2 weeks left of classes! And then we have 4 exams in 3 days. Should be stressful times. I'm still waiting to hear from a vet clinic for my externship... it would be nice not to worry anymore :(

But more importantly, I got an interview to AVC!!! :) Wish me luck, three times should be a charm :P

Its almost spring!

Today was gorgeous, a high of plus 6 and a low tonight of plus 1. There was a schooling horse show at the indoor that I watched this morning, and then went for a little ride outside, but only managed walking and a little bit of jogging because the snow/ice hadn't completely melted yet.

Last wednesday night a few of us rented the indoor arena, and I got to use my western saddle again! I was very pleased with Thea. She hadn't been ridden in two weeks and last week wasn't allowed outside because it was too icy. She was so quiet and listened to me. She's going very well at the jog, its amazing the difference between the last videos I've had taken of us and now (see below for links to new videos). Her lope needs the most work, but that is to be expected since I havn't had a lot of tiem to work on that... Its hard to lope very much when they are not in shape... not really fair.

I'm getting to ride in the indoor again tomorrow morning. This time I don't have to pay because I'm helping the guy who's renting it in the morning with chores :) Yay, free time!

Other stuff going on... I finished my "couch to 5k" program last week. I've been a bit slack this week due to getting to the gym and there not being free treadmills, and school stuff. But I'm hoping to increase my speed and get back up to 5 k, not necessarily 30 minutes, but that may come later. By the looks of the weather trends it shouldn't be too much longer before I will brave running outside :)

I've started to apply for my 6-week externship this summer. We have to approach vet clinics and convince them to take us on and hopefully pay us. I've sent my resume out to the clinics here in Truro. One already called back saying they weren't taking anyone this summer. I've been thinking about applying to places in Charlottetown and Saint John, if nothing turns up here.

This is also the month where I'll hear about my AVC interview. I would be surprised if I don't get one, but its still a bit stressful!

Thats all for now. I better get studying for the 7 tests we have next week...

Last week Dad stopped by on his way to halifax for a work meeting and brought me the best Valentines present (from myself!): It is a lovely Royal King Roughout Trainer. It has flexible bars, so will fit most horses. It is very comfy to ride in and fits me very well. I couldn't be more happy with it :) Here is Thea trying it out:

We had a great ride with the saddle, and then that night a messy storm hit that left everything covered in ice. So I haven't ridden since :( It has been frustrating because it is Spring Break this week and I have more time than usual. But I guess I can't complain too much, March is almost here and with that, spring weather! I have lots to do with the horses anyway, I am taking care of two others this week, and I'm doing clicker training with Thea for my companion animal behaviour project.

My running plan is almost over! I had my first 30 minute run today, it was tough, but not impossible. I am going to have to come up with a new plan after I finish the next two workouts... I'm really only allowed to use the treadmill for 20 minutes, so I don't think I should hog the treadmill much longer than 30 mins. Maybe I will just increase speed/incline but keep running for 30 minutes? We'll see... There is also a button on the machine that says "5K run"... not sure what that entails LOL

This week I've downloaded a few movies to view... The Guardian, and Blood Diamond were both very good movies! I recommend watching them. One I would not recommend is The Marine. It was one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. Horrible acting and writing... So bad that it makes you laugh. Tonight I'm going to watch Flyboys... I'll let you know how that goes :)

I should do some studying, or school work of some sort... I have been kind of slack since break started! Hope everyone ejoys the rest of the week, and keep fingers crossed for riding conditions soon!

Another week gone

Hard to believe its been a week since I posted! Time is flying by too fast. Thursday will be February 1st... I don't know what happened to January!

Today was the final run for week 6. I ran 25 minutes :) Not bad, if I do say so myself. From here on out there will be no walking during my runs. This coming week will all be 25 minutes. I think I can handle it. The worst part is not getting bored. I can see why runners prefer the outdoors! Not that I will be running in this weather (unlike Dad :P). I have been using my iPod, but music can get boring too... I'm gonna have to find some good podcasts or something to keep my mind occupied.

I also rode today. It was a warm (considering) -4 degrees Celcius, with little wind. I saddled up the poor girl and went for a walk around the ring. Only attempted one jog circle, but the ground was awfully hard, and I didn't want to stress her legs. It would be nice if we had a soft cover of snow to ride on... then I could actually do something!

For my companion animal behaviour class we are doing a case study. My group is going to clicker train Thea and then teach her not to rest her hind feet for showmanship (showing the horse in hand). She has a bad habit of being lazy and resting her hind feet, so maybe the clicker training will help motivate her. I've used the clicker training a couple times before... with the first horse I leased, Sarah, and my cat Cody when he was a kitten (he knows how to stand on his hindlegs, spin, jump on something, and jump off of something on command LOL).

Not much else is going on here in Truro. Lots of studying and school work as usual, and our weekly Grey's Anatomy get-togethers. Hope everyone had a good week, and talk to you soon!

Success!

Today was the dreaded 20 minute workout! I was worried I'd get another side cramp like on Friday, but once I started running it was fine. I didn't feel like I was going to die. I was kind of bored (didn't bring my iPod today), but once I got to 10 minutes and still felt the same, I knew I could finish it :) I could have kept going LOL But I didn't want to push it. So that was the end of week 5! Next week should be great since I managed to pull this week off. then week 7-9 are just minor increases from 25 to 28 to 30 minute runs. So I should be running 3 miles, or 5 km soon :) Hehe. Mind you I'm going just about as slow as anything, but that can always be improved over time.

This week is kennel duty week! It is a bit annoying with school and other commitments... not that I don't enjoy kennel duty, its just hard when we have to do all the other stuff. At least we don't have a dog to walk in the -30 degree weather we're having. LOL I better not speak too soon...

Other exciting news, I got groceries! I lasted 3 weeks, and finally got some (part) of my student loan money on friday. It was a good feeling getting some food. Even though I probably could have lasted another week. I'm gonna see how long I can last this time :)

No pictures today, too busy!

Getting there!

Today was week 5, workout #1 in my "Couch to 5K" program! I thought it was going to be tough, but I breezed right through it :) It was bitterly cold with a windchill of -35, but I've been lucky enough to convince a couple of friends to come to the gym with me, and one has a car!! Very useful.

Sunday is the scary workout of running 20 minutes without walking! Should be an interesting workout... Even last summer I was only going 15 minutes before having to walk. But I'm hoping this program has enabled me to take on the challenge better than just winging it LOL

Here is a picture of Cody looking like he's possessed, but he's really just ready to pounce on the camera!

These are my new shoes! :) I tried on several today at the mall, and these were the only ones that fit LOL I even got to try them out at the gym today and they were great! It is amazing the difference between these and the old shoes I was wearing... I think I got those ones in grade 11... which is 7 years ago LOL I think it was about time.

And best of all, I got my student loan signed and mailed back to the student loan office, so in about a week I won't be completely poor :) Yay!

I forgot to post about my Christmas presents. But what I did was get a newly established, but highly praised photographer (specializing in Equine photography) out to for a photoshoot of me and Thea. It was such a fun day, we took almost 3 hours of photos, resulting in 330 pictures. She edited about half of them, and made a video for me with quotes and music. It was great! It was so hard to pick what pictures I wanted to print out and give to people. But I think they all enjoyed them :) Here are a few for you to see...

Back to the grind...

I arrived back in Truro on monday, Jan. 1st. And school started Wednesday. And since then the week has gone downhill fast LOL I won't get into details but its been one thing after the other with schedules, instructors, tests, and lack of any details or response for details.

But there has been a few good things this week. I've ridden twice!! The weather has been amazing. Wednesday night 5 of us rented the indoor. It was a lot of fun. Thea was very good for not being ridden in almost 4 weeks and for never being ridden in the scarey indoor. Our second ride was sooo good. She loves to stretch her head down and was going so well after about 15 minutes that I just stopped early.

Here is Thea in her new attire. She's hoping to be a western pleaure horse :)



Other details...

I've started the "Couch to 5K" program. It is designed to get people who don't do a whole lot (e.g. me) to be able to run 5 km in two months. I just finished week three and am onto week four! And you only have to run 3 times a week. Yes I've actually gone to the gym here at school. Amazing. Hopefully I'll keep it up... if the weather wasn't so nice for riding it would be easier LOL. This week shouldn't be too bad... start with 5 minutes of brisk walking, run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, walk 2.5 min, run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, walk 5 min. Next week looks a bit more scarey ending with a 20 minute run with no walking... hmm. Will have to see if I can make it!