LTU3IND LOGBOOK - BAILEE CAPP by Bailee Capp

DAY ONE - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-10-30 09:10:39 UTC

My day started full of anxiety as I met with my supervisor and met other students also on placement. I learnt about what my responsibilities were, and my supervisor asked what I would like to learn on placement. I did the morning feed run with my supervisor and other students and learnt each horses’ name and their racing highlights and their quirks. I met Prince of Penzance who won the Melbourne Cup in 2015 his funny quirk was that he follows people to get a scratch. After this I went with the other students to clean each paddock before we went on a public horse tour with the supervisor. This was a good opportunity to learn more about the horses and their behaviour as well as interact with the public, educating them on how to feed carrots to each horse. My day ended with doing the afternoon feed run with my supervisor and understanding each horse’s nutritional needs.

DAY TWO - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-10-31 01:31:55 UTC

Today my day started out more relaxed than my first day as I had some idea of what the day would look like. We started out feeding the ponies, chickens, birds and sheep before we moved on to feeding all the horses. We counted that Living Legends has 42 horses, 5 ponies, 6 chickens, 4 sheep and 5 birds. During the feed run, we checked waters, took rugs off all the horses and looked for injuries and made sure they were eating before we went to the next paddock. I am still learning all the horses and their quirks so I was more cautious about my safety when feeding them. After this, there was a public tour of 40 people scheduled so we helped the supervisor along the tour handing out carrots and answering as many questions as we could. In between the two public tours we bandaged a hind leg that had a nasty cut and washed two horses with anti-fungal shampoo as they are prone to getting rain scold. After another tour we did afternoon feeds and put rugs on all the horses in preparation for a cold night.

DAY THREE - 8.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-10-31 01:51:14 UTC

Today started out like the first two days with starting the morning feed run. However, when students and I fed the ponies with found this pony Honey with lots of pus coming out of the eye. We immediately went to our supervisor who was feeding the sheep and showed this photo. Because it looked like it could be an infection she called her boss who is also a vet. He came in cleaned the eye and checked for anything foreign in the eyelid. He couldn't find anything so gave her some IV antibiotics and eye drops that would need to be given twice a day. This was a cool experience to watch and I got to hold the pony while he was examining her. The rest of the day continued like the last two until afternoon feed time when I got to give Honey her eye drops.

DAY FOUR - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-01 02:47:23 UTC

Today started out with the morning feed run and everyone was happy and healthy eating their breakfast. Some other students and I then washed Fawkner and Tom Melbourne in preparation for their Flemington parade on the weekend during a Raceday. Then while a couple of other students went on a tour with another staff member, two students and I helped our supervisor move some horses into different paddocks. I walked Pakistan Star, Gailo Chop, Sundon's Gift and Apache Cat into their new paddocks. Pakistan Star, or Stanley as they call him, was a little bit silly walking around the paddocks so I had to make sure I stayed in control with making him do circles and communicating where I was so another student could open the gate for me when I was ready. It definitely helped that I had previous horse experience during this because I knew what the safest and easiest thing to do was in this situation. This took us about 2 hours so after that we cleaned up all the poo and weeds in Prince of Penzance's paddock, did afternoon feeds and headed home.

DAY FIVE - 8 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-01 02:57:39 UTC

Today the farrier came to do 10 horses. My supervisor told me that they have several farriers that work on the horses at Living Legends because some of the horses had tricky feet and needs certain shoes and trimming techniques and each farrier specialises in a different area. This farrier specialised in fitting bar shoes, which help with pain in the hoof and leg. I went with my supervisor and held horses for this farrier in the morning. The entire process is interesting and changed from horse to horse. Some horses got lots of nail trimmed off their hooves while others got not so much nail trimmed. The farrier explained that this is because everyone has different sensitivities and some can't handle having lots of hoof wall taken off while others hooves grow very quick and need to be managed more. The farrier explained how they like the horses to stand and be held and each step they took on each hoof. After this I cleaned 2 paddocks and did the afternoon feed run with my supervisor.

DAY SIX - 8.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-01 03:08:10 UTC

Today we had to prepare for a new arrival to Living Legends. We moved horses into different paddocks but left Gailo Chop and Pakistan Star in their big paddock because we were going to put the new horse with them. This was strategic as these two horses are known to be quite polite and it is important to see how the horse behaves in a herd without worrying about it getting bullied. In the afternoon the truck came from Lindsay Park Racing Stables and dropped off So Si Bon. He came off the truck and went straight to the paddock and ran around with his new friends. We didn't need to quarantine him as he went through quarantine at his previous stable and got tested for any infectious disease and will be tested again in one week and then another two weeks. After we settled we checked on him at afternoon feed time. He is a very kind and happy boy and I managed to snag this funny photo. He seems like he will be a good addition to the farm.

DAY SEVEN - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-01 11:01:02 UTC

Today started out with the morning feed run as per usual with my supervisor and a different rotation of students. After this we filled water buckets and took off everyone's rugs as it was a sunny day. Because they had rugs off today we made our way through each paddock and brushed everyone to remove all of the dead skin cells and hair and also to give each horse a good assessment to see if they were healthy. By the time this was finished it was early afternoon so a group of students and I went to clean a paddock and after I harrowed 2 paddocks with the ute. This was because I had done this before at my previous job and I am the only student who can drive manual. I attached the harrow to the tow bar and drove around the paddocks dispersing all of the manure. By the time this was finished it was time to put rugs back on and feed everyone for the night.

DAY EIGHT - 8.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-02 00:43:42 UTC

Today was an interesting, crazy day. We started out doing the morning feeds like normal when we noticed a horse lying flat with no interest to get up and eat. My supervisor called the vet while I put a halter on the horse and the other students got a bucket of water. My supervisor explained to us students that it was possibly colic which is essentially a blockage in the intestines and can lead to death. Once the students came back with the water all of us as a team got the horse up and walking. This is a way to unblock the intestines and stop the horse from lying down for too long. The vet came an hour later and found that it wasn't too severe and if it clears within the next few hours the horse won't need surgery. The vet gave the horse some IV meds and told us to keep offering food and water, keep walking him and hope that he eats or poos today. We took the walking in turns all day and as the day ended he finally ate! He had a massive drink of water, ate his dinner and pooped so we left him alone overnight.

DAY NINE - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-02 01:05:58 UTC

Today was not a super busy day as the weather was rainy and cold. There was no public tours scheduled today because of the weather so after feeding in the morning we went straight into cleaning paddocks. We got one paddock done before the weather got worse and we went inside. We split into two groups in the office, one made photo packs to sell at the cafe and the other went on the computer and updated all of the files on the horses on their last farrier, dentist, vet visits worming and vaccinations. We did each task for an hour each before we went back outside to clean another paddock before afternoon feeds and heading home.

DAY TEN - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-02 01:21:59 UTC

Today it was Apache Cat's 22nd birthday. So after doing our morning activities we made him a carrot cake and took photos with some balloons. He loved the cake and the attention and we were able to get some good photos for Living Legends Facebook page. After this we cleaned his paddock and I helped my supervisor take a horse tour and handed out as many carrots as I could to feed the birthday boy. After this we did afternoon feeds for everyone and made sure they were happy and healthy.

DAY ELEVEN - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-02 01:43:16 UTC

Today was a busy tour day for everyone. There was 3 tours with 40 people in each tour one after another. So because of this after we did morning feeds I chopped up about 100 carrots. They needed to be chopped into rough bigger pieces to make it easy for everyone to feed and easier for the horses to chew. We went through everything I chopped plus some more and the boss said they go through 3.5 tonnes of carrots a year! One of the volunteer's job is to chop all the carrots twice a week but if we need more we have to do it ourselves. Everyone was lovely on the tours and very interested in all the horses. Because it takes roughly an hour and a half for each tour, after the 3 tours it was time to feed the horses their dinner and go home.

DAY TWELVE - 8.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-02 02:00:39 UTC

Today the dentist came to check on everyone's teeth. It was a 6 monthly check up to make sure everyone can eat and graze as they get older. He made his way around to all the paddocks and made a list of horses that needed their teeth further looked at or filed down. About 15 horses needed work done so one by one we walked all the horses up to the stables to get seen. He rasped their teeth and checked for oral health. 4 horses needed teeth taken out that was simple and could be done under a pain block and sedation whereas 2 horses got referred to the vet surgery to go under general anaesthesia to get teeth removed. He explained what he was doing and said that everything is common as horses age and it is important to make sure they can eat so they can stay healthy. By the time he was finished it was the end of the day.

DAY THIRTEEN - 7.5 hours

21236407 — 2024-11-02 02:16:33 UTC

Today the barefoot farrier came to Living Legends to trim 25 horses. All these horses do not have shoes and need a trim of their hooves every 6 weeks. I went with my supervisor to catch and hold horses for the farrier. He explained what each horse needed in terms of a trim and if they had any sensitivities he needed to keep an eye on. This took up all morning so after lunch I took the manual ute and harrowed as many paddocks as I could before feed time. I managed to get 4 paddocks done and went to help the group of students and my supervisor in making afternoon feeds. While we fed everyone we kept an eye out for those who had the farrier today to see if they were sore from the trim. Some were sore so they got painkillers given orally. All of the students had a go with a different horse. The horse I gave medication too was not happy about it and I struggled to get the syringe in their mouth. Some had to hold the horse so I could do it.