It’s a whole week since I last posted! Actually, 8 days; and I blame it all on the horses :-). It feels like a lot longer than that because so much has happened. May I fill you in?
The ad said “Horse Farm Help.” Since I grew up around standard bred race horses, I decided to apply. Keep in mind that I’ve applied for about three dozen jobs since March without hearing back from any of them. I’ve been using it as a guide for whether to keep working on this book project.
You see, I figure if God wants me to keep working on this book then jobs won’t pan out. They haven’t and I’ve kept working on the book. I expected the same thing this time around.
Well, Thursday was my first day of work. Boy! Was I sore!? Yikes!!
I had to soak in a hot tub, then stretch – and I was still sore when I went to bed. Of course, I also went to bed at about 8:30 Thursday night. Fortunately, I felt much better Friday morning.
Each day, I clean the stalls for 11 horses, turn 20 out into paddocks, feed them lunch, clean their water buckets, and bring them back in. I guess it’s about 7 miles worth of walking each day, and probably 400 pounds of shite, hay and wood shavings (instead of straw for bedding). It’s a wee bit of work every day. 🙂
Maybe I should share some photos. What do you think? Do you want to see pictures of horses? They certainly make me happy. Or do they?
We’ve all heard that psychology stuff that says nobody makes you feel anything. You choose how you feel. Right?
Only, I don’t think we do choose how we feel. For the most part, I think we just feel on autopilot. That’s a big reason for why we’re most;y unhappy. It’s a great way to evade responsibility – feeling on autopilot – but it leaves you out of control.
Anyway, the horses make me happy because I like being with them. It brings back good memories from growing up, plus I get along well with animals. All my life, little children and animals have liked me. Guess that means I can’t be too bad a guy. 🙂
Find things that help you feel good. For me it’s hiking, good conversation, being with animals, and reading to name a few. A daily habit that helps is reading scripture every morning. A hot shower makes me feel good, too. Use the things that make you feel good as boosts toward getting happy.
You know, this is the first job I applied for that I really thought was good. It’s something I can enjoy. Yes, It’s shoveling horse shite. It’s also meeting the owners and riders of the horses. It’s being with the family that owns the farm every day – and they’re good people. And it’s spending time with the horses and talking to them (better than talking to myself, yes?).
There’s more I’ll share another time that makes this job a particularly good fit. It’s some cool stuff that I couldn’t possibly have known about before getting this position.
So, do horses make happiness? For me, the answer is yes. For a friend of mine, the answer is no way. I don’t suppose many people would be genuinely happy mucking stalls. 🙂 It doesn’t exactly fill me with raging ecstasy either, but it’s all part of the package so it’s okay.
