We went in two vans to go see the horses at Wishing Well Farm. We saw two horses and their names were Sky and Hawkeye. Sky was brown and white and Sky had brown eyes. Hawkeye was a brown and black horse and had brown eyes. Sky ate grass when she was tied to the fence. We took Sky for a walk in the indoor arena. We all took turns leading her around. We went inside the horse barn. We saw Sky's food. The food was kept in a small storage room. The horses ate oats, sweet feed, crunch and hay. The oats felt dry. The sweet feed was sticky. Crunch is hard and in cubes. Horses also eat green hay. Our class got to feel and see the food. It was fun!
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Ernie is standing beside the hay in the barn. The horses eat the hay that is stored in the barn. They also use it to sleep on. Sky and Hawkeye must have fresh hay put down every morning. The dirty hay is shoveled into a barrel to be taken away. The hay made our skin itchy.
The whole class took turns brushing Sky. We used all different kinds of brushes to clean Sky's hair. Two brushes were red and the curry comb was black. Mary brushed Sky's hair with the red brush. She brushed from Sky's head to Sky's tail. Christine used the black curry comb in a circular motion. Sky loved being brushed by all of us.
The blacksmith uses a long, narrow, gray file to smooth out the nail on the horse's hoof before he puts on the metal shoe. He wants to make the shoe fit properly on the horse's hooves. The shoe is hard and it is silver. Brian, the blacksmith, is the person who shoes the horses. Before Brian can shoe the horse, he checks the horse=s hooves to see if they are clean. He removes hard sand and small stones. The horse stays still and quiet while he is being shoed. His tail is braided and covered with a blue cloth because he is a show horse and this is to protect his tail from becoming all matted or knotted.
We were walking Sky in the indoor arena. There was sand on the ground. When we led her, we walked on her left side by her shoulder. We used a white lead shank attached to her halter. Sky's halter was green. We had to use special words and signals in order to make Sky move. When we were holding the lead shank, we had to be very careful not to wrap it around our hand. If Sky was to run away, it would hurt your hand. We all had a turn leading Sky in a circle. It was fun! Dan looks happy! Ashley took a turn too walking Sky. She felt nervous. Jeremy was really happy when it was his turn.
revised 06/01/01
