Shumbashaba Reflection 5 - 15 - 14

Shumbashaba Reflection 5 – 15 – 14

            On Thursday, May 15, I learned how to blanket the horses. Blanketing the horses at the close of each night is needed to conserve warmth and provide mosquito protection. Specially made horse blankets are placed over the horses back. Ensure that the horse’s blanket is fitted the right way around, so that the tail flap is not on its neck. Basically, don’t put the horse blanket on backwards. Fasten the breast straps, allowing enough room between the blanket and the horse; so, you can slip your hand all the way around the horse’s neck. Fasten the belly straps around the horse’s belly. Also, allow enough space between the straps and the horse so you can run your hand around the belly. This assumes the blanket is not too tight. Put the horse’s tail through the strap to allow the tail to freely move.

            The challenge that I found a bit difficult is that the blankets are hard to tell which way round to put it on the horse properly. Thankfully, we have the Shumbashaba staff that is willing and always able to assist and help us in such a professional and kind manner. I thank them for all their service and knowledge. One of the learning moments here is that the Shumbashaba horses are so well taken care of and interacted with humans. Therefore, they are so wonderful to be around and tame. My motivation to volunteer at Shumbashaba allows me some great opportunities to interact with large animals to get the hands on experience that will be helpful for my future studies in zoology. I feel that volunteering my services to Shumbashaba is an asset to them and rewarding for me. Every Thursday, when I volunteer to work with the horses I give 100% with participation and effort. I accept all the new challenges openly and gain so much by doing so. I’ve realized that each and every time that I volunteer with Shumbashaba I’m going to have some sort of limitation because I’m always learning something new that I didn’t know. I thoroughly enjoyed this CAS project and I am looking forward to starting again next year. I want to thank Shumbashaba and the staff for giving me this incredible opportunity and opening their property and business and giving the AISJ students a chance to grow, expand, and learn.