Monday, December 25, 2006
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Horses
The 5 days spent doing the course was rather good for basics. As i've probably mentioned before, the course is rather pricey. A few things such as riding and foal handling were taught to us and were emphasised and is just a build up of all the skills we got during our week at Camden at the end of first year. The horse unit itself is adjacent to the main CSU gates and has about 30 horses. During peak production (a decade or so ago) they had 120 working horses in which the students took care of. Because of course changes and university exchanges, alot has changed in terms of management and student enrolment/capacity. Rather sad. They have excellent support staff who are leaders in their industry where they have their own businesses external to teaching here. Its rather obvious they needed more staff.
In house cat
Each pair of students were allocated a horse to "take care of". B, T and I were in charge of the stud which involved numerous horses that resulted us always finishing last because we needed to be supervised.
I've never seen dog collars on horses before
We got to see preg testing. In the photo below you can just make out a ball small circle at the centre of it-thats the heart and yes, the miracle of life! After this we saw a caslick (http://en.mimi.hu/horse/caslick.html) to which i wont post pictures of
We saw alot of heat detection which should eventually lead to semen collection using Snowy (poor dude, never gets a chance) and variuos mares. Apprently he won Best Teaser at the Sydney Royal easter Show. Go figure.
Only for Bayo to do the job.
The Arena used to be an equipment shed, i mean ad BIG a
equipment shed before they turned it into this
We used it for Lunging and riding
Our horse, Arti goes for a spraying after having to put up with
4 students who dont know what theyre doing on the back of a horse
Foal handling was something new to us, nonetheless fun. The foals were lanky things and some of them were rather difficult. We all had a go with this guy. He was too easy so they put us on the alpha mare's foal. No photos there because it invovled us running around the yard numerous times, lots of struglling, foot stepping and kicking. It makes you appreciate that foals ARE NOT cuddly and cute as depicted below.
This is our second attempt at semen collection. The first time above wasnt so successful. Im glad someone is impressed because the demonstrators werent.
This is the first time i've seen flehmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response) in real life. Its rather funny to hear. I couldnt get a good shot of it-maybe at next prac =/
The uni horses as anyone would gather, is used to having n00b students poking them and doing odd things that normal horses wouldnt. Below are two forms of restraints. Once we were showed how to put the restraints on, we had to try them out ourslves. V and I had to do the second restraint on a different horse and it just flipped. Literally. We got the ropes in the places where we wanted it but when it came to pulling the leg, he started to twitch but i managed to tie it in time before he lashed out. Scary stuff. Standing in a small roundhouse with 500kg thrashing around. All we could do was stand back as far as possible, and as i said the roundhouse is rather small, so this was rather hard. He ended up snapping the buckle-thing around his hind foot =/
The most amazing experience was swimming with the horses. Yes, we swam with them but not like how they depict in the movies. You lead the horse into the water and have to stay in front of them. Once they can no longer walk on the floor and start swimming, you place your feet and stand on their pectoral muscles so you are being pushed with their movement. Your face is literally under their head and if you were lucky enough to already be swimming in the dam with turd from previous horses, you would get a nice nasal shower from yours.
The difficult thing is trying to steer the horse. You're trying to keep your head up to breathe, so the natural reaction is to pull the bridle to keep you up, especially when the horse is wet your feet start to slip. If you pull the bridle down, you pull the horses head down = horse drowns you first then drowns all 500kg on top of you.
Classy - Boots and Boardies
View from the back of the ute to the dam
Me leading the horse in
Swimming with the horse - you can just make out my head in front of the horse
We found this littel dude on the banks of the dam. He wont make it =/
The were are odd few things we saw on a daily basis:
Stink beetles having sex everywhere
The toilets - which one do you go to?
The plants adjacent to the toilet that smelt like wet-dog
The course overall is excellent. I reccomend it to anyone who hasnt had enough horse exposure. The only thing bad i have to say about it is the price and lack of staff. Orange is a lovely country town and i see myself coming back at some point in the future working here on a temporary basis. I would like to thank and congratulate the staff for putting in a trumendous effort in running the course and having to put up with weird questions from clueless vet students.
In house catEach pair of students were allocated a horse to "take care of". B, T and I were in charge of the stud which involved numerous horses that resulted us always finishing last because we needed to be supervised.
I've never seen dog collars on horses beforeWe got to see preg testing. In the photo below you can just make out a ball small circle at the centre of it-thats the heart and yes, the miracle of life! After this we saw a caslick (http://en.mimi.hu/horse/caslick.html) to which i wont post pictures of
We saw alot of heat detection which should eventually lead to semen collection using Snowy (poor dude, never gets a chance) and variuos mares. Apprently he won Best Teaser at the Sydney Royal easter Show. Go figure.
Only for Bayo to do the job.The Arena used to be an equipment shed, i mean ad BIG a
equipment shed before they turned it into this
We used it for Lunging and ridingOur horse, Arti goes for a spraying after having to put up with4 students who dont know what theyre doing on the back of a horse
Foal handling was something new to us, nonetheless fun. The foals were lanky things and some of them were rather difficult. We all had a go with this guy. He was too easy so they put us on the alpha mare's foal. No photos there because it invovled us running around the yard numerous times, lots of struglling, foot stepping and kicking. It makes you appreciate that foals ARE NOT cuddly and cute as depicted below.This is our second attempt at semen collection. The first time above wasnt so successful. Im glad someone is impressed because the demonstrators werent.This is the first time i've seen flehmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response) in real life. Its rather funny to hear. I couldnt get a good shot of it-maybe at next prac =/The uni horses as anyone would gather, is used to having n00b students poking them and doing odd things that normal horses wouldnt. Below are two forms of restraints. Once we were showed how to put the restraints on, we had to try them out ourslves. V and I had to do the second restraint on a different horse and it just flipped. Literally. We got the ropes in the places where we wanted it but when it came to pulling the leg, he started to twitch but i managed to tie it in time before he lashed out. Scary stuff. Standing in a small roundhouse with 500kg thrashing around. All we could do was stand back as far as possible, and as i said the roundhouse is rather small, so this was rather hard. He ended up snapping the buckle-thing around his hind foot =/The most amazing experience was swimming with the horses. Yes, we swam with them but not like how they depict in the movies. You lead the horse into the water and have to stay in front of them. Once they can no longer walk on the floor and start swimming, you place your feet and stand on their pectoral muscles so you are being pushed with their movement. Your face is literally under their head and if you were lucky enough to already be swimming in the dam with turd from previous horses, you would get a nice nasal shower from yours.The difficult thing is trying to steer the horse. You're trying to keep your head up to breathe, so the natural reaction is to pull the bridle to keep you up, especially when the horse is wet your feet start to slip. If you pull the bridle down, you pull the horses head down = horse drowns you first then drowns all 500kg on top of you.
Classy - Boots and Boardies
View from the back of the ute to the damMe leading the horse inSwimming with the horse - you can just make out my head in front of the horseWe found this littel dude on the banks of the dam. He wont make it =/The were are odd few things we saw on a daily basis:
Stink beetles having sex everywhereThe toilets - which one do you go to?The plants adjacent to the toilet that smelt like wet-dogThe course overall is excellent. I reccomend it to anyone who hasnt had enough horse exposure. The only thing bad i have to say about it is the price and lack of staff. Orange is a lovely country town and i see myself coming back at some point in the future working here on a temporary basis. I would like to thank and congratulate the staff for putting in a trumendous effort in running the course and having to put up with weird questions from clueless vet students.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Orange Flours
The second important thing about Orange is Roberts Bakery. Its been given the title of "Bakery of the Year for 05/05" by the NSW Baking Association and you can definitely smell/see/taste why. Theyve also won "Meat pie of the year" with a trophy cupboard stack full of awards from various shows. Sign me up to be a judge of any show! We went there twice before prac so we could load our tummies with bakery goodness. All the food items were of reasonable price with the meat pies at about $3/4 dollars and the sweets cabinet made you feel like a kid in a candy store. They have a sandwich bar to which you can buy your lunch, coffee facilities, normal savoury bread, birthday cakes, cookies etc. Its such a pitty we couldnt go every morning and try everything, but then again for the sake of our wallets and my hips, i'll wait till next time im around.
I think they need a bigger trophy cabinet
Breakfast Pastie - the most popular choice by us
Vanilla Slice and Cuppaccino
Bacon pie
Plain meat pie
Latte
Apple Pie
Bee Sting - the second most bought choice
Berry and Rhubarb Strudel
I think they need a bigger trophy cabinetBreakfast Pastie - the most popular choice by usVanilla Slice and CuppaccinoBacon piePlain meat pieLatteApple PieBee Sting - the second most bought choiceBerry and Rhubarb StrudelI also bought for T and A, a Date and Walnut log, which was a bit dry. I also bought a Christmas pudding and am waiting on the verdict.
Roberts Bakery
184 Peisley Street
Orange NSW
Tel: 02 63621245
Roberts Bakery
184 Peisley Street
Orange NSW
Tel: 02 63621245
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A week in an Orange and Cherries
I have officially made it to third year! yeay! I spent my time kinda celebrating/relaxing in Orange for a week doing the Horse Course which is now run by CSU and as a result have uppity the price compared to previous years.
The week was jam packed full of horse handling and we were all buggered by the end of each day. Orange is a nice town and i have concluded that one of the two important things there are Cherries (provided you go at this time).
Arriving on Sunday afternoon to our shoe box cabin, we went to Mount Canobalas to oogle at the views. Pretty neat stuff, its a 360 degree view with some radio towers in your way. Becasue of the exceptional reception, it provided us a chance to call our mums :p
We couldnt help ourselves but to help ourselves :$
Wine tasting is a pretty fun experience. Especially if you go with friends who dont normally drink, so bring me! My understanding of wines is that they are very strong in smell, flavour and alcohol. Ive only ever had tasted red wine once because Sangria doesnt count. We tried three wines: Wine Makers Daughter, Cabernet Sauvignon 'Opus' and Cherry Liqueur. I bought their two bottles of their specialty for a gift for T and one for myself for when i can handle the strength better.
Views outside
The tasting facilities seconded as an art gallery with pieces going for a good $200 minimum. It also had views of the mountains and land below.
On the way home to Sydney, we picked up a box of Cherries at $5 a kilo. Bargain!!!!! Before i left Sydney, the cheapest i saw them in the super markets were $12 a kilo and the asian grocery stores were at $8 a kilo. It came in a 5kg box and as much as i would love to sit here all day and eat it, 5 kgs is a bit too much. Some of the girls we know got one box and split it among 5, but a split among 3 is good enough for me.
The week was jam packed full of horse handling and we were all buggered by the end of each day. Orange is a nice town and i have concluded that one of the two important things there are Cherries (provided you go at this time).
Arriving on Sunday afternoon to our shoe box cabin, we went to Mount Canobalas to oogle at the views. Pretty neat stuff, its a 360 degree view with some radio towers in your way. Becasue of the exceptional reception, it provided us a chance to call our mums :p
On the way down the mountain A took us to Borrodell on the Mt. A has been to Orange before and has made a trip to purchase Cherry Wines for her family and friends in Sydney. Just on the outskirts of Orange, there are lots of vineyards and orchards and the green life looks rather odd among the rest of the dry and lifeless land. Nonetheless i couldnt resist myself to taking a picture of the juicy cherries on the tree.
Cherry Orchards
Cherry Orchards
We couldnt help ourselves but to help ourselves :$
Wine tasting is a pretty fun experience. Especially if you go with friends who dont normally drink, so bring me! My understanding of wines is that they are very strong in smell, flavour and alcohol. Ive only ever had tasted red wine once because Sangria doesnt count. We tried three wines: Wine Makers Daughter, Cabernet Sauvignon 'Opus' and Cherry Liqueur. I bought their two bottles of their specialty for a gift for T and one for myself for when i can handle the strength better.
Views outside
The tasting facilities seconded as an art gallery with pieces going for a good $200 minimum. It also had views of the mountains and land below.
On the way home to Sydney, we picked up a box of Cherries at $5 a kilo. Bargain!!!!! Before i left Sydney, the cheapest i saw them in the super markets were $12 a kilo and the asian grocery stores were at $8 a kilo. It came in a 5kg box and as much as i would love to sit here all day and eat it, 5 kgs is a bit too much. Some of the girls we know got one box and split it among 5, but a split among 3 is good enough for me.
Borrodell on the Mount
Lake Canobolas Rd
Orange NSW
Tel: 02 6365 3425
URL: www.borrodell.com.au
Orange NSW
Tel: 02 6365 3425
URL: www.borrodell.com.au
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About me
- Je m'appelle kimmeh
- Sydney, Australia
- A sang-froid animal lover that hyperventilates at every sentence that associates with the word "free", "treatment" and "my pet"