Cleaning stalls at the stables

Today I got to the ranch and they hadn't taken the horses out yet, so I got to help do that. The volunteer coordinator told me which horses to take and made sure everything was done safely. She gives me little tips about how to handle the horses, and different horse personalities. She let me walk out one of the friskier horses, but she walked along with us in case he gave me any trouble (she said he likes to see if he can get away with stuff with new people). I got to walk out one of the adorable ponies too :) Then she went into the office to work on the computer, and I stayed out in the barn and started cleaning stalls.

It had started out as a sunny day, but as I worked I heard the wind picking up, and the sky changed to a sort of dark, slate blue. The little birds who live in the barn rafters were getting restless and fluttering around. The sun disappeared, and the rain started coming down, pattering on the metal roof of the barn. I looked down the aisle and saw the wind was blowing stuff around pretty good, so I went down and closed the big door. As I continued cleaning, listening to the rain and wind, I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace, doing something people have done for thousands of years - cleaning the stables, while the wind howled and the rain poured down outside.


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