All Good Things Come to an End

Wow, where did eight weeks go???

We had our last official day of class today, we worked on one last horse at the dude ranch, then gathered round the fire pit for some reflection, chocolate cake and lots of tears. Thanks for
bringing the kleenex girls. We have such a fabulous group of people and we've all grown so close that I think secretly we all don't want it to end, but like the great Canadian band Trooper says "We're here for a good time, not a long time". Tomorrow is graduation which I'm sure will be fun yet sad at the same time. I'm excited for Meghan and Joshua to come so I can show them around.

Yesterday we worked on a variety of horses at a local Horse Rescue. My first horse had neurological problems so that was a bit of a challenge, then I worked on an old mare who had severe arithitis in her legs, and my last guy was a sweet Palomino named Scotch,(I would have loved to have brought him home too). But the picture of the day goes to Karen who stepped up and worked on a miniature named Lily. Word in the herd is that she was not always the nicest horse to be around but she thoroughly loved her massage. I can't help but laugh looking at this picture

After the Rescue we lounged around the pool then we attended a get together at Karen, Stefanie and Eliza's aparment. The beer was flowing like wine. Watching the video today I think we've all come to the realization that we'll never make it big as singers or dancers. Karen is still digging out M&M's out of her bra. Heidi thought Stefanie was joking when she pointed out that her beer was foaming on top of her head....yet here's the proof. Good times.

Family started rolling in today from Arizona, Oregon, California, Alberta and Ontario. Seeing that my peeps won't be showing up until after graduation I've decided to adopt a couple of class mates whose family live too far away to attend. So as of tomorrow, Sue will be my wise older sister who has a slight East coast accent, Heidi will be the neglected middle child that everyone ignores. Cat and Elisa will be my younger twin sisters with severe speech impediments.

Heidi and I are on our own tonight. Kimi and Liw are spending time with their respected families. We are managing fine so far, the apartment hasn't burnt down, we remembered to lock the door behind us and Kimi measured out the coffee for us so we're all set for the a.m.

Hard to believe this will be my last night in Loveland, my time here has been awesome and I'm walking away with much more than what I arrived with.

To my fabulous Figjam's, thanks for taking this ride with me. May the horse be with you.

Jessica

Visible Horse free to a good home

Whoa, I can't hardly believe this is our last week of class....and it's Wednesday already. Time does fly when your having fun....or assembling a visible horse (I'll explain later) Monday was a class room day with Sara and Harline. We did a lot of review which was helpful. Tuesday was not so fun, two oral presentations - one for Business and one for our Quieting and Handling class. Knowing I have to get up and talk is not my cup of tea. I tend to syke myself out but I plowed through. While out at Rick's yesterday I managed to use my "quieting" skills to sneak up on a baby rabbit.

Last night we celebrated the "end of homework" by going to one of our favourite haunts - The Rock Bottom Brewery (you get a free glass when you order beer on Tuesday's) It was also our last dinner as a class as many having family coming in on Friday.

Some of the girls from class who live in the apartment complex met down at the pool for a late night swim. It was around 32 degrees yesterday so the water was awesome. We decided to celebrate Laura's birthday a day early by throwing her in the pool fully clothed. Happy Birthday Laura!!! You really should have known better.

Today we were atop the mountain at a dude ranch. The weather held out and some of the class (myself included) took turns demostrating their techiques to the class. It was very very helpful. We worked on a couple of horses then called it a day.

For those that don't know, Heidi bought each of us a Visible Horse. We use one in the class room so we thought it would be great to have our own to use a tool in our practice. You have to paint and glue the parts yourself, seemed simple enough. It was not. I've never endured so much frustration and torture at the hands of an inanimate object. I had pieces break, glue to each other or to me and I'm pretty sure my horse's windpipe will forever tilt to the right because after an hour and a half of trying to get the piece to stick I finally gave up and glued the sucker to the side of the rib cage. Thank you Heidi for such a wonderful gift, I will try and return the favour one day. If you happen to receive a box of flesh eating termites in the mail you can feel confident that they are from me. Here's a couple of shots of the final project. Oh joy, oh bliss.

I'm off to bed. Liw is currently winning our round of "fart tag" but I just ate a bowl of beans....and she's asleep......"bring it on"

Jess

Bite White Baby!!!!

Three words......white.....water.....rafting.

Let me hear a hell ya!

Today some girls from class and I gathered on the Poudre River aka the Pood River (that's just fun to say) for some good clean, and at times cold, fun. Here's a shot before we loaded up to go up the river. Left to right Karen, Kimi, Liw, Cat, Heidi and yours truly.

Here we are getting ready to "bite white"

Apparently I'm the only one not paying attention

Here's a bit of video, we are the second boat coming down. Our guide is wearing a pink helmet. I'm in the front on the left......short but very sweet

It's officially the start of our last week here in Loveland, what a way to welcome it eh?

The Weekend Hath Cometh

Good day my fine lads and ladies, you'll have to excuse the ye olde English......the Renaissance Fair opened today and I doth brought a bit of it home with me.

Well week seven ended on a great note. Friday we had Business and then a Movement class. I was a little parched after Movement so luckily Ray Anne was able to nip that in the bud. Some of the girls met for marguerita's then we went on to an Ethiopian restaurant with some of the faculty and class mates. Heidi was gracious enough to wait until after we were finished eating to perform her nose floss trick. It was experience to say the least. Here's Cat and I doing our best "Vanna" impression.

Heidi, telling us a joke....but as you can clearly see, it was in Dutch

Today we attended the opening day of the Renaissance Fair. As you can see I enjoyed a huge turkey leg for lunch.

but then Heidi and I got into a smidge of trouble......if your not supposed to knock over the people in costumes, they should post a sign!

Is it me, or is Heidi missing some teeth???

We watched the jousting but it was over 30 degrees and the pool was calling to us so we high tailed it back to the apartment, got into our swimsuits, had a pizza delivered pool side and sat and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Liw and I made up a new game. Ring Wing. It's a variation of P.A.R.T.I.D.O.A.U.R.I.C.U.L.A.R.I.S but we incorporated a frizbee and water wings....yeah, we'd been in the sun a long time.



And now good Lords and Ladies I must bid you farewell. My bedeth doth calleth to me.

Adieu,

Lady Jessica and her jolly half witted room mates

Viva Los Coco

Today was a close call (but in a good way) I came very close to buying a horse but my inner voice won over and I've let it go....for now. We were up working at the cattle company again. These horses tend to be a bit more of a challenge then the guys and gals we usually work on. To make matters worse it was branding day at the ranch so the sound of many many moo's was echoing through the arena.

The first horse I worked on was "Coco". She is a gorgeous 2 year old bay mare that has an Icelantic look to her. Sorry no pictures, I've taken to leaving my camera at home since Heidi has become a professional photographer....anyways back to my story. Coco and I connected in a big way, she was very playful and we spent the last portion of the massage just playing around and getting to know one another. Sara (or Frau Stenson) as she is affectionally known, thought I should be taking this horse home with me.....and she refused to let it go for the duration of the day. Many in the class were looking up the horses they had worked on in the owner manuals and we got prices. So I got the price of Coco just to keep in the back of my head. Unfortunately now the wheels are turning.

Again I'd like to point out that I welcome all donations or gift offerings of any kind. You may now send them to the "Save Coco Fund" c/o Jessica in Loveland.

See the difference quality makes

Aloha.....not sure where that came from....must be because I've been chatting with my Aunt Jennifer in Hawaii.

Anywho, today we were scheduled to go up the mountain to a dude ranch, but bad weather prevented that adventure. Instead we went to the classroom to watch a movement video, then went and worked on some horses at a local dude ranch.

Happy "37th" Birthday to Frau Stenson, we gathered at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant to celebrate and then she even let us go home early today.....Love that Frau!

I've posted some pictures I took yesterday morning at the same ranch. The first picture was taken before I started working on "Cowboy" and the second was taken after the massage. This is a shot of his shoulder and withers. Hard to believe it's the same horse. Notice how he's much more filled in. If you can't see this then I highly recommend that you book an eye appointment. That's all I'm going to say about that.





Heidi says that I need to correct my last post where I state "Jessica doesn't nap". I was doing some work on my computer, then felt a little dozy. Long story short, I had a little qip.......must be cause I'm not feeling 100%....yeah that's it.

Best get crackin' on my Business homework.
Jessica

The short short version

Feeling a bit under the weather today, chest cold and such so here's a overview of my day.

Woke up
Breakfast (cereal, banana)
Went for a walk
Massage class with the horses
Lunch
Drove to Fort Collins
Stopped at Discount Tire to drop off Liw's car
Saddlefit class
Stopped at Discount Tire to pick up Liw's car
Drove home
Ate dinner - veggie lasagna
Checked email, blog, facebook etc etc
Didn't feel well
Napped....kinda (Jessica doesn't nap)
Woke up from kinda nap, not feeling any better
Walked to payphone
Called Tracy
Phone card ran out
Walked home
Started to feel better
Bugged room mates
Got ready for bed
Remembered blog
Here we are

That is all.
Jessica

Everybody's working for the weekend

It was a gorgeous day here in the city of Love and Land. We finished off week 6....yes week 6 (holy s#%t eh) with Pathology. We had a bit of class room stuff then back out to the dude ranch to observe some horses. Pretty nice group picture if I don't say so myself.

A couple of girls from the apartments met up at the pool and hot tub for a late night swim. I introduced everyone to a game of S.K.U.N.K, my peeps back home know about this. Basically you throw a ball to each other and if you miss it or throw it to where the recipient can't catch it, you get a letter. Once all your letters are used up you're out. S.K.U.N.K seemed a bit short so instead we played a game of P.A.R.O.T.I.D.O.A.U.R.I.C.U.L.A.R.I.S. (it's the muscle that controls the ear of a horse). This round took a bit longer, but I think Harline would be proud. Kimi won by the way. Here we are soaking in the hot tub after that long round.

Now I thought standing on my head was a pretty useless talent, but Heidi has beaten me where useless talents are concerned. Here she is pulling a piece of floss through her nose and out her mouth.....I think I speak for everyone when I say "gross".

Saturday the roomies and I worked with a local trainer from 9am until 2pm on some additional handling and quieting skills, then we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Absolutely gorgeous. Lots of wildlife and of course there was still snow on the ground so we made the best of it. Here are the money shots!

Sue setting us up for a pose

"Help me OB1 Kenobi, your my only hope"

Heidi actually looks scared in this shot. Probably because I was holding her very expensive camera on unstable ground.



This snow angel was brought to you at one of the highest points of the mountain.

Snowball fight! I found the perfect spot...lots of coverage.

On the way down the mountain we came across a herd of Elk. These two were having tons of fun.

Tonight we had a potluck out at Rick's house (one of the instructors). He hitched up a couple of horses and ponies and gave everyone a cart ride. I'm extremely stuffed, but it was a great time and Michael even provided some fantastic background music with his guitar. Special happy birthday to Casey "Jersey Girl". You rock!

Night all.

Jessica

Pathology and Family Night

Now today was an all classroom day, yet I've decided to surprise my dedicated blog followers to a quick snippet of today's activities.

Pathology, pathology, pathology....it get easier to type the more you do it. We were with a local vet today learning about equine diseases, bio-chemistry and breeds types. Tomorrow we will continue with her as well as go out and observe some horses, should be fun.

Kimi fired up our big ass BBQ for some burgers, here's Liw attempting to put some cheese on them. I'm surprised firetrucks didn't show up.

Family night. Yes we had family night in my little commune of equine massage therapists. For those that don't know, Liw is addicted to a horse simulated virtual web site called Howrse. She will often rise early before the alarm or stay up after midnight to feed, water or groom her "horses"...notice the quotes. She talks about them like they are real and I take every opportunity to tell her..."they aren't real Liw, they are just computer animated objects and they can't hear you". She just ignores me.


Anyways back to family night, one of Liw's "horses" was due to give birth to twins so while I prepared dessert (see picture below), and yes that is Reese shell I'm holding. Note that all bowls and spoons were in the dishwasher so I improvised and used mugs and forks...it all works.

Liw logged on to Howrse then we all gathered round the computer to witness the birth. I'm going to be honest, I wasn't at all grossed out or had that "high" feeling when a mother gives birth......maybe because IT'S NOT REAL!!!!!! Just kidding Liw, I fully support you and crazy like affection for this site. To make a long story short, Liw named one of the foals after me....Ruby Chubb, which by the way is my hobbit name and if you haven't looked up your hobbit name please log off from my blog as you are not a Lord of the Rings fan and I can't be associated with you.


I'm off to make some phone calls seeing that my room has been booked for a massage....I'm not complaining, I had a wonderful massage last week.



Toodles,

Jess

Anatomy..whoa

Hey all,

The last two days have been great. We've been working on horses and refining our techiques. Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, we all had a horse to work "quietly" on. Basically we used the softest touch possible. It was incredible to see 15 horses all standing completely quiet, all in a zoned out kinda way. Three of the girls actually had their horses lay down and roll, it was awesome.

This morning we did much of the same, I worked on two horses, Cowboy and Pawnee (who, if I could, I would bring him home....he's such a sweetheart). Cowboy had to be used for a trail ride so I had to go and get a different horse. I was delighted when Sara asked me to go and get Pawnee. I worked on him in the corral with the other horses, then Sara challenged me and a couple of class mates to take their halters off and see if they would stand and let us work on him......and Pawnee did. Now in all honestly Pawnee is a bit of a "massage whore", he'll stand at the gate or fence if he sees us coming, so he made it pretty easy to work on him.

This afternoon we had our final Anatomy exam, a written component and an oral component. All of us were a bit stressed, but it turns out it was all for nothing. Harline was very gentle with us. I was the first one up for the oral portion. As you can see from the picture, it wasn't going so well, but I pulled through.

Just heading out to meet most of the class for dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery to celebrate.

Here are a couple of shots from the cattle company that I didn't get a chance to post.

Let me hear it....awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Still flying high in Colorado
Much love
Jess

Pictures speak louder than words

On Thursday we drove two hours to another dude ranch where we went to work on some horses. We were out in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful.

It was a hard day, as you can tell

This is my buddy Prince. I gave him a massage and he was like putty in my hand. Love them big drafts.

On Friday we had Movement class. Here I am walking Icey. He liked my new hat.

Friday night we went to Fort Collins to watch the bull riding. The clown had a thing for foreigners so he posed with Cat and I for a picture. Turns out we'll be in the Rodeo News in two weeks. Must be the new hat.

Save a horse, ride a cowboy

Saturday we met with a custom saddle maker. His saddles are "out of control". Here's a shot of me in his back yard by the river. He too liked my new hat.

This sign was posted over his doorway. Seems appropriate.

Today we took in a Polo match. It was very cool. We found out later that it was just a practice....

....but we wore our big hats anyways.


Tomorrow we are in the classroom all day so I won't bother to blog. I am however addicted to this new web site that sends voice text messages to people. Just know that I'm enjoying sending them as much as you are receiving them.

Start of week six tomorrow.....yikes, the time is flying!

Hugs all round

Jessica