Careers In Horses = Poop

A few weeks ago I got a call from the Elementary School my kids all attend, asking if I would come and be a speaker on career day. I laughed and asked what it was they wanted me to talk about because I didn't make a dime working horses. She said that there were a lot of kids interested in horses and if I could just come and talk about working with them that would be really great.

The day started getting my own kids ready in their career day outfits of choice. While it does make me smile that I have 2 girls in breeches heading to school today, I'm also happy to see that 3 others wanted totally different jobs. Being as passionate as I am about horses, a part of me wants to see my kids light up with it to and another part of me wants to be sure that they choose what they love and not just something because it's what makes me happy.

I arrived to find that I was booked every session with a full room of kids in various outfits (some equestrian related) asking great questions.

I talked about all sorts of careers with horses from transportation to farrier work before talking a little about taking off-track racehorses and what it meant to help them learn new jobs. I showed a video of Bandon winning a race and a video of him jumping that the kids enjoyed, I told them before it started that Bandon was the horse that won and they still cheered for him like crazy as he came down the stretch, urging him to run faster.

The most surprising thing was what I hadn't thought about that kids didn't know. Most kids thought horses only lived about 6 years, that a pony was a baby horse, that farm workers got Christmas Day off, and not a single one could tell me what the person who takes care of hooves is called.

I worked to avoid the word "slaughter" at all costs, still one kid in each class asked what happened to all the racehorses that didn't have a place to go. The nicest answer I had was to say that in some places horses are eaten the way that we eat cows. That silenced the room every session when I said it and I quickly changed topics. One little girl though raised her hand with little tears in her eyes asking me what horses were made out of that made people want to eat them.

Another student asked me if it took so much time taking care of the horses and cleaning stalls, why didn't I just hire someone to come and do it for me? She was wearing really expensive clothes...

One boy wanted to know who was taking care of my horses now. I answered that I take care of them.

"No, right now'"

"Well, I got up at 5 this morning to do all of their chores and turn them out so that I could be here at school"

"But are they alone right now? You can't just leave them alone, can you?"

The best part of my day was seeing my son who was in the 3-5th grade age range that I was a speaker for, sign up for my session AND hug me at the end. This boy is way too cool for his Mom to be seen around him at school and he walked over, told me I did great, and hugged me! Woo-hoo!

Poop is a classic word that will make even the 5th graders giggle if used often enough, fly life cycle is way more interesting when you include reproduction of bot flies, and there are a lot of kids out there with that spark in their eye I know I had when I dreamed of one day being lucky enough to be on a horse even if it was an industry where not much if any real money is made (as I was sure to point out to each class).

When I came back to watch the school parade through town I had that wonderful sense of belonging. Kids that had been in my classes all high fived me, I knew some of the parents names and called them and teachers friends. I think that we may need to stay right here a lot of years.