Hello Everyone!

This week's topic is asking people to talk about their first part-time job. I didn't have a real part-time job until I was in college which is rather late for most American kids. Before my study abroad trip to Tokyo, I worked at a winter hunter-jumper show circuit in Arizona.
Here is a picture to show you what hunter-jumper is. Other words that are horse-related so might be new are defined at the bottom.

My job was as a groom. The trainer (the person who rode, cared for, and trained horses and their riders how to ride and how to compete) had 8 horses under her care. Only one of those horses was actually her horse; the others belonged to other owners, some who entered the competitions themselves (they rode their horse in the competition) and others who paid the trainer to ride their horse in the competitions.

My job as the groom was to feed and water, brush, bathe, and tack up the horses for shows (as well as make them look pretty!). I only worked part-time as there were two grooms and the other groom worked full-time. The shows were only in the morning, so as soon as I finished bathing the last horse, I was finished for the day. The other groom took care of exercise, feeding, and watering in the evening by himself, when it was less busy. The show lasted about a month.

The interesting part about this job for me was that it was the first time I had taken care of a horse breed besides mustangs. I had grown up riding, grooming, and training mustangs but they are a different type of horse than most domesticated horses. I found it interesting that the temperament of these horses was very different. These horses were pushy, had a lot of stable and social problems, and some of them were simply mean! It was very surprising when, after living with horses for 20 years, I was bitten for the first time! It was really painful too. The horse bit me on the side of my knee. Ouch! After working as a groom at this show with these horses, I came to appreciate mustangs even more, not only for their hard-working nature and health, but also their temperaments which are usually quite calm and not likely to have problems (like biting!). I enjoyed the show and the experience and I got to see a new side of horses and horse-people than what I grew up with, but mustangs will always be my favorite.

Have a great day~

Groom - a person who cares for the physical needs of a horse (Brushing, feeding, watering, exercise, etc)
To tack up - to put on and attach the equipment used for riding (for example, the saddle and bridle)
Stable - a building designed for housing horses; the small box inside of a building designed for horses where one horse lives
Domesticated - bred by humans to be tame and kept as working animals or pets