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Intern Insights: Sylvie

Sylvie “Sunshine” Daggett is a long-time volunteer at the Red Barn. This past Summer, she accepted a position as an intern and worked three days a week at the Barn. Sylvie helped with lessons and daily operations while receiving training in order to become a certified instructor through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH). We appreciate all the hard work Sylvie puts in to helping the Barn, and are thrilled to announce that she recently accepted a full-time position on our staff! I decided to sit down with her so she could share some insight into her experience over the past few months. I hope you all enjoy this exclusive, behind-the-scenes look into the life of a Red Barn intern!

Connor: You’ve been volunteering at the Red Barn for a few years now, correct? How’d you originally hear about the Barn?

Sylvie: Shelley Jones (a former Red Barn instructor) came to my school, Evangel Christian School, for a school orientation and mentioned the Red Barn as a place to volunteer. I had been looking for a place to serve and like horses so it sounded cool to me.

ConnorWhat drew you towards pursuing an internship at the Barn?

Sylvie: Having the opportunity to work more with so many of our awesome students, like Hailey Grace.

Connor: In what ways has your experience as an intern differed from your experience as a volunteer?

Sylvie: You get to see the background, like all that behind the scenes jazz, at the Barn more as an intern and how much work goes into everything. As a volunteer, you’re more guided from lesson to lesson.

Connor: What advice do you have for anyone interested in becoming an intern?

Sylvie: Just to get ready to fall in love with the hardest job that gives back the mostest.

Connor: Do you plan on going into the field of therapeutic horseback riding or do you have another career path in mind?

Sylvie: Yep to the first part! I’m currently working on becoming a PATH-certified instructor.

Connor: Do you have horses of your own? How long have you been riding?

Sylvie: I’ve been riding consistently since I was 13 and I have two horses, Chica and Molly.

Connor: What’s your favorite color?

Sylvie: Uhhhh… Peach, it’s a happy color! Or maybe grey.

Connor: Anything else you’d like to add? Any shout-outs?

Sylvie: Yeah, I’d like to give a big shout-out to my boy, Billy the goat.

-Connor

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Welcome, Ducks!

We are very excited to announce four young ducks as the newest additions to the Red Barn herd! The ducks are American Pekins with all-white feathers and light-orange bills and feet. Though they were born this past winter, they are already fully grown. Two of them are female and the other two are males. We haven’t decided on any names yet, mainly because it is difficult to tell them apart individually (I, personally, think it would be neat to get different color anklets so we can distinguish them).

The ducks are living in the same pasture as the goats. During the day, the duck squad will wander around the pasture, playing in any rain puddles or in their plastic baby pool. At night, they go into a cage to help protect them any potential predators. The four ducks always move as a single unit, never straying more than a few feet from one another.

Though they were cautious when they first arrived, the ducks quickly warmed up to both people and the other animals. Originally, we had to herd them into their cage every evening. But after a few weeks, they learned to trust us and now eagerly wait outside their cage come bedtime. The ducks can still be a bit shy when people try to approach them directly. However, a handful of seeds is all that is needed to bridge this barrier. They will eagerly eat out of any hand that offers them food, much to the delight of our students.

While initially distant towards the goats, the ducks now seem to enjoy the company of their four-legged pasture pals and often follow them around. They have even grown to trust Xena whenever she wanders into the pasture to receive her daily tribute.

We’re happy to see the ducks adjust to becoming fun and friendly members of our herd. They did great in groups this past Summer and hopefully they’ll continue to be amazing for all individual lessons this Fall term!

-Connor